My 2021 Garden

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

window
Happy Tuesday! I'm so excited to chat about my 2021 garden!

dahlia-bunch
I've always been drawn to gardening, but really got into it a couple years ago when we moved into our own home. I've grown a little more each year, and it's become a huge source of joy for me. The pandemic made me appreciate it even more. We are so lucky to have space to spend time outside and grow things! Since I spend so much time and effort on it, I wanted to chat about it here too.

driveway
A little background on what we grow/where we grow. We don't get a ton of sun in our yard because of all our trees, so we are constantly learning what we can get to grow and what we don't have the right conditions for. We're right in between growing zones 6b/7a. We grow a variety of cut flowers and vegetables. I primarily like to grow things from seeds/tubers but we do buy seedlings too. Our vegetables garden lives on our driveway and is all grown in containers. Flowers are grown on the side of our garage and in the front yard.

zinnia
I started a lot of seeds in 2021, both indoors and some direct seeding outdoors. Indoors from seed I started marigolds, zinnias, dahlias, morning glories, portulaca, strawflowers, winged everlasting, pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes. Outdoors I direct sowed arugula, radishes, carrots, and morning glories.

trellis
A satisfying project I undertook for 2021 was building an arched trellis. I looked all over the place for something ready made, but I couldn't find what I wanted, plus the ones I was finding were really expensive. So I made my own with some stakes, plastic fencing and some covered wire. I think it turned out pretty darn good for being practically free. I wanted one because my neighbor grows morning glories every year with great success and I wanted to grow some too. I planted a couple varieties around the base of the trellis at the bottom of my garden and I loved it. Definitely doing that again for next year! I let tons of seeds drop around it.

geraniums
One interesting thing I tried in 2020/2021 was overwintering my geranium plants. I tried dormant storage for mine (like this) and I had great success with it! I think maybe only one or two didn't make it. I'm doing it again this year too!

tomoatoes
The most exciting thing I grew from seed last year was our tomatoes! I had never grown tomatoes from seed so it was really satisfying seeing them do well and getting a great harvest. I grew all small varieties: black cherry (LOVED), super sweet 100, and minibel. This year we grew lots of peppers, tomatoes and herbs. We didn't have very good luck (at all) with growing pumpkins, squash or mushrooms.

garden-arch
Flower wise, the biggest thing I grow is dahlias. I grew my first dahlia plants in 2019 and became immediately hooked. Last year I think I grew around 60 plants. It was my best year for dahlias yet! I tried a new spot in the front yard for my zinnias that did not work out well. Will need to re-think that for 2022! Finally time for some pretty flower photos, let's go!

marigolds
My favorite non-dahlia flower I grew in 2021 were these giant marigolds! The variety is called 'mission giant' and they look like a chrysanthemum. They were huge and stunning. Definitely growing these again!

dahlia-bunch
I had my first dahlia blooms at the end of July, and they really started kicking off in August. I had great luck with my tuber storage over the winter, so I grew many of the same varieties as I did in 2020, plus lots of new ones! Here are some of my favorite dahlia varities I grew in 2021:

take off Take Off. I grew this in a bad spot in 2020 and it didn't bloom. Thankfully it was worth the wait and bloomed a bunch this year. It was the only aneomone style dahlia I grew. I love the purple color.

robin hood
Robin Hood. Photos don't do this variety justice. In person, you can see variation in the petal colors on a single bloom. I was surprise by how much I loved this one!

lark's ebbe Lark's Ebbe. The colors on these blooms were incredible. Soft buttery yellow and peach.

karma choc Karma Choc. Ordered this one for Michael, he loves the dark red ones the most! The waterlily style blooms didn't look real. And it smells faintly of chocolate!

jowey winnie Jowey Winnie. My favorite dahlia variety of 2020 and 2021. It is such a stunner, even more so in person.

esli Esli. A new one for 2021. It was a sweet short plant, and I grew it in a galvanized tub. Bloomed a bunch considering how little sun the plant got!

crichton honey Crichton Honey. A very close second for my favorite. The color changes so much throughout the season. Sometimes it's more pink, sometimes more yellow. In this instagram post I shared ten different blooms of this variety in my garden.


I better stop there, or this post will have 100 photos! There were successes and failures, but in the end I think it was our best garden yet! We were rewarded with lots of produce to eat and share as well as loads of flowers. Our garden was constantly full of bees and butterflies.

I can't wait for the 2022 gardening season! Each year I learn more about what I grow and how to improve. I'm anxious to put everything I learned last year to good use!

Happy Gardening!

22 comments :

  1. Beautiful garden. Your Dahlias are stunning!

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  2. Your trellis looks great.Many years ago,I needed 4 or 5 trellis for the side of my house- one of the only places that gets sun. The prices on the trellis were crazy expensive! I went to the store and bought copper tubing and joints and made beautiful trellis. Copper is SO expensive now that it probably wouldn’t be affordable but it was pretty cheap back then. Love your flowers. I’m jealous,I live in the mountains and sun is in short supply and so is soil. We have to buy it but we have lots of rock……

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    1. thank you! Oooh I bet those are pretty! I did look at copper and you're right it was just a bit too expensive for what I was wanting. Especially when I realized I could make one with stuff I already had :)

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  3. What a lovely garden - love all the plants and those beautiful flowers are just stunning..
    Love to garden also here we have hot hot hot summers so some of yours would not do well here
    but hey we keep trying...

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    1. Thank you! It gets pretty hot here too, which the peppers like! The dahlias are pretty sturdy too, as long as I keep them well watered :)

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  4. Wow your garden is beautiful. Your dahlias are stunning. Your pictures and talk about your garden was just a treat on this dreary day in January.

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad. It's a great time to look back at garden photos!

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  5. I always enjoy your blog, and I loved reading about your garden. Thank you!

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  6. Well done with your green thumbs! So many pretty colours in among all those gorgeous flowers and your archway was a very clever idea. I absolutely love the first photo of the window frame looking out to the flower bed.

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  7. dahlias don't like my heat and humidity of the midwest, but am going to find seeds for the marigolds. 3 more months until spring equinox !!!!

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    1. Darn! I love growing marigolds! The ones I showed in this post I got the seeds for at Target actually, they're burpee!

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  8. I thought you had purchased your trellis...I didn't know you created it. Your garden turned out super great...the flowers are so beautiful...I wonder about the pumpkins and squash? I didn't have any luck either, but the weather here is very hot...I wonder what your thoughts are in general about the growing pumpkins and squash? thanks for the post.

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    1. Thank you! I think for us they didn't get enough sun. It is super hot on our driveway but they only got a few hours of direct sun, which I don't think was enough!

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  9. Lovely photos of your beautiful dahlias.

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  10. You have some serious talent in the plant business. Impressive. I on the other hand, lack talent in that area. But you may think about opening up a nursey. People that are plant challenged, go there for plants. Hanging baskets were my favorites.

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    1. Thank you! I have learned so much through trial and error, with lots of fails along the way.

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  11. Beautiful photos of your garden - you must have a green thumb! I have only last Spring (in Australia) started to appreciate the beauty of dahlias, when I planted out some tubers for my elderly father in his courtyard garden, then watched them bloom. I now grow some dahlias in my garden, my favourite big bloom at the moment is, Show n Tell, it's a stunner.

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    1. Thank you! That's so sweet. Oooh, Show n Tell is beautiful!

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  12. Love your gardening skills. Your flowers are so beautiful. How did your strawberries do?

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    1. Thanks! I don't grow strawberries but I wish I could!

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