This was the first year with our new hardscape, greenhouse, and double the area of raised beds! We began to see all the natives we planted over winter begin to bloom and take-off, as well as integrate many more flowers to feed the pollinators. :) But this year was hard. Portland broke temperature records with both a crazy freeze in February and the heat bubble in June/July. Both of these extremes put our plants, even natives, through a serious test. Annual crops that did amazing last year were stunted with the heat bubble and did not finish growing or produce. Some annuals still seemed to thrive (still with attentive watering), such as our sunflowers, tomatoes and lemon cucumbers. But most everything else suffered.
Our critters had a great time this year with all the new beds and more flowers. The chipmunks harvested all the snap peas and a number of cherry tomatoes. The squirrels harvested a ton of sunflower heads. And the finches had the best time at the ‘salad bar’, feasting on sunflower leaves and swiss chard.
This was also my first year canning — and I preserved a number of tasty things from the garden.
