Keeping my perennial garden healthy and growing
by kbean
Gardening Journey Overview
Follow this step-by-step gardening journey to see real progress updates, challenges overcome, and practical experience.
Progress Updates (8 total)
Update #1: Keeping my perennial garden healthy and growing
Want to track the growth in my perennial flower garden! It’s a lot of work weeding, mulching and planting perennials/taking care of them so they come back year after year
Challenges Overcome: Last sunday I weeded the entire flower bed on my hands and knees (ouch!) and mulched everywhere.
Obstacles Faced: I know some plants won’t come back this year for some reason so I am anticipating that
Looking Back: I learned that it was definitely best to wait for mulching until after things started to poke through the ground. I was worried that the mulch would be too dense
Update #2: things are popping up!
25% completethings are starting to come up through the bark mulch and starting to see things that i wasn’t sure made it through the winter
Challenges Overcome: i finally started to see some things that i planted last summer like a lot of cone flowers! the lillie’s of the valley are in full force too!
Obstacles Faced: need to be consistent with watering and really soak the garden on hot days.
Looking Back: be patient and remember that some things take longer to pop up through the ground!
Update #3: things are blooming!
35% completemy climbing rose and sweet pea are climbing the trellis, planted a bachelors button plant and the irises are about to pop!
Challenges Overcome: i’ve been really good with watering after work and it’s paying off!
Obstacles Faced: it’s going to only get hotter so keep up the watering.
Looking Back: wait to see what pops up before going wild at a green house. i didn’t think any of my bee balm came back so i bought 3 quart containers only to get home and see it in two spots in the garden
Update #4: Irises are blooming!
40% completethese double bearded irises are my favorite! they are so striking and are almost as tall as me!
Update #5: sweet peas & roses!
45% completeSweet peas and roses are taking flight! The sweet peas are about 3 feet tall!
Challenges Overcome: With consistent watering every evening, another climbing rose bloomed and the sweet peas are getting so tall!
Obstacles Faced: I’m worried the tiny sweet pea vines will tangle around the rose so I need to be mindful of that
Looking Back: I have to check on the sweet peas nearly every day because they have tiny little vines that twist around everything
Update #6: end of june flowers!
50% completemy bee balm has finally
bloomed! this is one of the flowers i didn’t realize was coming up in the garden and i went and bought more
Challenges Overcome: bee balm, evening primrose, sweet peas and lillies have all bloomed!
Obstacles Faced: I feel like June hasn’t been super hot- it’s actually been kind of mild and rainy which helps the garden but I know july and august won’t be so forgiving
Looking Back: I have to check the sweet pea consistently because they have little tiny vines that can wrap around my rose bush and interfere with its growth
Update #7: lillies are blooming
60% completemy lillies have bloomed! we have orange, yellow, pink, and yellow/orange!
Challenges Overcome: these lillies get super tall and i transplanted them a little late but i’m happy they still bloomed
Obstacles Faced: it’s going to be 100° in NH the next few days so lots of watering!
Looking Back: any moving of plants should be done at the end of the season or super early before they start to form buds
Update #8: hollyhocks!
65% completei had previously struggled with growing hollyhocks in the past but wanted to try again!