Happy Wednesday! Today I wanted to look back on my 2022 garden. I really like having a record I can reference to remind myself what worked and also spend some time appreciating my garden in the middle of winter. It's a nice time to think about flowers and fresh veg!
I'm happy to report that 2022 was my best year in the garden yet! It was actually a tough weather season, but our unique growing conditions helped mitigate some of that. It was hot and very dry here in CT last summer. We're along the border of growing zones 6b/7a. We grow a mix of vegetables and cut flowers, along with a yard full of landscaping.
Our vegetables are all grown in containers on one section of our driveway. I think this is the third season we've done our driveway garden. It's worked great for us. It makes it really easy to care for, and we can easily add to it. We made the cedar boxes a few seasons ago, and have a variety of pots, grow bags, and galvanized tubs to grow in too. This year we added some plastic crates (lined with landscape fabric). The peppers absolutely loved these, but the dahlias weren't quite as crazy about them. I currently have some tulips in two crates, but will probably do mostly peppers and tomatoes in the crates next year.
A new thing we grew in 2022 was onions! Specifically Walla Walla onions. They were a great success. It was so nice to be able to run out for an onion when we needed them. We grew them in two big grow bags. One thing we're going to do differently next year is to replace some of the soil in the bags to make it a little less dense. I went a little too compost heavy last year, and since they don't get a ton of sun they stayed a little wetter than I think they'd prefer.
Other than onions the two main veg we grew was peppers and tomatoes. This season was my first time trying to start peppers from seed. I only started a couple varieties, but it was totally worth it. Those peppers were way ahead of the nursery plants I bought. I'm planning to start all of our peppers from seed in 2023. In 2022 we grew anaheim, banana, serrano, sriracha, lunchbox snacking, sugar rush peach, and aji peppers.
I was so happy with our tomato crop this year! We grew all cherry tomatoes, which is our favorite. This was my first year starting tomatoes from seed and just like the peppers it was very worth the extra effort. My plants were nearly 2 feet tall when I put them in the ground, and we harvested our first tomatoes on July 1st! We grew sungold, black cherry, sunrise bumble bee, sun sugar, indigo cherry drops, and a CSA tomato I saved seeds from. Sungold and Sun Sugar were our very favorites and the only two we'll continue to grow of the bunch.
At the end of the season, I planted out a perennial garden in our front yard. Previously I've grow dahlias, zinnias, and cosmos here, but they have struggled. This spot gets full sun and most of the water/nutrients get used up by the huge oak tree. So I focused on perennials that don't need a ton of water and love sun: echinacea, rudbeckia, coreopsis, and feverfew. I also planted some allium bulbs here too. Hoping this becomes a pollinator haven!
On the over side of our front yard I planted a big patch of different marigolds. I'll be doing that again this year, I just love them. These giant orange ones were new for me this year!
Similar to year's past, the bulk of my flower gardening efforts were dedicated to growing dahlias! I'm as obsessed as ever with this flower. They're just so enjoyable to grow. The magic has not faded at all! Lucky me, my patch of dahlias did incredibly well this year and I had flowers in from June until the end of October. Starting plants from cuttings not only gave me earlier blooms but it also allowed me to have more plants!
This year I had great luck with my dahlia seedlings. I had around 20 plants that I started from dahlia seeds. All seeds that I collected from my plants last year. It was so much fun to see each new plant bloom. I ended up saving 4 or 5 seedling tuber clumps to grow out next year. This purple one above is one of my favorites.
This is another dahlia seedling that bloomed right at the end of the season. I just love the yellow orange color. Another keeper for me!
My favorite new variety that I grew this year is Clearview Peachy. It had been on my wishlist for a while and I was so happy to finally get to grow it! Thankfully it lived up to my expectations. Can't wait to grow it again next year.
Another new favorite was Caitlin's Joy.
Jowey Winnie still has my heart. This was one of the first dahlia varieties I bought and I still love it.
Crichton Honey may have moved into the top spot as my favorite dahlia variety this year. It is so changeable! Sometimes it's mostly yellow, sometimes mostly coral, and other times it's this gorgeous sunset-like mix.
I could share a million more photos, but I think that's plenty for one post. I love to garden and I can't wait to grow more things in 2023.
Happy Gardening!
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