How Does My Garden Grow?

Let's just ask Mr. Tomato Head:

His smile says it all.

Tomatoes, despite their close company with the weeds, have been very content and good producers. I planted too many, since I'm the only one in the family who likes to pop them in my mouth like candy.

Next year: One cherry tomato plant is more than enough. Make salsa.

Peas: weren't too plentiful, nor did they persevere. June was too cold and rainy, and July scorched them.

Next year: Plant more peas, and pray for a warmer spring.

Green beans: did alright, but I need to be better at picking them before they get too large and tough.

Next year: Plant the same, pick more often.

Squash: Zucchini must have gotten cross-bred with something, because half the plant produced large albino zucchinis. Anyway, zucchini is not so good for me, since mostly we either fry it or bake it in sweet breads. Yellow squash, I've decided, is not that good.

Next year: Try one plant of zucchini again, because I love to bake; but instead of yellow squash, plant spaghetti squash and acorn squash and pumpkins.

Cucumbers: Kept me guessing. I was always surprised to find a couple of good sized cukes on the vine, because I never noticed them until they were ready to pick and eat. Yummy.

Next year: Plant more cukes.

Watermelon: One vine produced two little melons, which grew to about softball size. I expected them to grow bigger, and by the time I tried one of them, it was overly ripe. The other got mushy on the vine. I don't know how to pick a watermelon from the vine, but I'm pretty good at picking them from the grocery store.

Next year: Give watermelon another shot.

Beets: I didn't give them the attention they deserved. They never got thinned, and they never really got picked or cooked.

Next year: Leave the beets alone, and let them be a treat for dinners at Grandma's house.

Jalapeno peppers: This little plant wins "MVP" of my garden. I picked it up on a whim, threw it in the garden box, and it just did its thing. It produced so well! I've made a couple of batches of jalapeno jelly, and I've still got enough peppers to make at least one more batch. I'll be smiling when I think of this little plant all winter long, as that jelly warms me up a bit. Yum.

Next year: Continue the tradition, and give this little guy some friends of the "bell" variety.

Four mature fruit trees came with this house, and we discovered that there were two varieties of peaches, and two varieties of apples.

Next year: Prune the fruit trees. And try to figure out how to keep the wasps away from my peaches!

With all our garden space, one thing is seriously lacking: Berries! I've already planted a strawberry patch, and I hope it will give me a little sneak peek of its bounty next spring. I want to plant raspberries and blueberries (do they grow well here?) as well. Lots of berries.

How did your garden grow?