I would like to go back in time to 2019 me and sincerely thank you her. All that backbreaking labor of tilling and hauling compost (and planting and weeding) has produced, in just one year, a beautiful cottage garden. There is something blooming from April until October, and I even managed to sneak in some color over the winter by planting pansies.
Although I went a bit overbudget last year, I don't think I'll need to spend much, if any, in future years. Even now, only one year in, some of the plants had grown so big that I could divide them to fill in gaps in the garden. Also, I'm continuing my policy of allowing unidentified plants to grow, while carefully monitoring them before they produced seeds. Last year that resulted in the hallucinogenic jimsonweed, which I destroyed before it caused problems. This year it has resulted in the lovely, purple-flowered "doubtful knight's spur." I'm not sure why the knight was so doubtful. Here it is, with the French hollyhocks in the background.
These bright yellow and orange flowers are called calendulas, which are often confused with marigolds (but should not be because one is edible and one not so much).
