What we need less of:
The first major lesson that will lead to a revision in next year’s garden is: I purchased way too many seeds that were too successful of the wrong type. I have WAY too many big ole tomato plants for a family of four with one tomato-lover among them. I need more non-tomato fruits for the kids.
The tomato plants were planted in just one half of one raised bed. Now they stand well over 4 feet tall and loom over the second half of the bed.
NOTE: the sharp water spray technique from controlling aphids and white flies worked very well. So far.
Jim says he is certain we can find neighbors to take tomatoes off our hands.
In this photo you can see a volunteer pumpkin vine I’m winding around the beds. This sucker has very sharp spines on the leaf stems that break off and stick in your fingers. We hope for some pumpkins in the fall to make the finger-stabbings worthwhile.
These tomatoes are called Harlequin F1 Hybrid. 
They look great and are growing in such great numbers that I got scared and went looking on line for ways to use them.
Salads. That should be good for about 1/10th of them.
I saw mention on about.com of roasting them with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese on top. I’d eat that.
We’ll see how much actually comes off the plant once they ripen. Meanwhile I’m warming up the neighbors to take lots.
What we wish we had more of:
This is the Thompson & Morgan Mixed lettuce. The seed packet said it contained 5 varieties: Avondefiance, Diana, Romany, Bubbles and Court. I am convinced only one variety actually grew because all the plants looked exactly the same.
The family ate this lettuce well through the spring, Jim look leaves to feed our salt-water yellow tang, and we skipped buying a couple of weeks worth of Romain at the store. A success. But I think this one is done now.
It’s now tall and lanky. This does not look like the nice compact head of lettuce on the label, and in fact it never formed a nice “head” shape. The plants have not flowered, but I wonder if the taste is getting more bitter. It was always a touch bitter compared with store bought.
I think we’ll try a different seed, and no mixes next time. I also think we should get a packet to plant in the fall as temperatures drop.
I enjoyed the Herby Salad leaf mix, but as mentioned before in this blog, these greens were not for the faint-of-pallette. They were very spicy and even ‘hot.’ The seed packet said it contained Mizuna, Salad Rocket, Greek Cress, Giant Red Mustard and Chicory Puntarelle. I’d like a smaller amount of this, maybe in a pot instead of sharing the second half of the tomato bed. Next time I’m ordering arugula. I think some was mixed in, but cannot be sure since I don’t find it on the packet.
The girls had fun picking beans again this year… and this year’s variety, Climbing Bean Cobra tasted great!
There were just enough beans for a couple of meals, though, and some of the vines died back pretty quickly.
This is where I will take a lesson learned about watering from our rain barrels. One rain barrel is close to the side of the house where the beans grow. What is needed is a drip irrigation system of some sort that stays in place so I can turn on the spigot and water these beans more easily and regularly. If anyone reading this has an idea of a drip irrigator that works well with the spigotted rain barrels, let me know.
This is a garden adventure in its truest sence. someone asked about the point of the blog. Just journaling for me. I am learning and using the blog for note-taking to cultivate a better garden next year. I welcome ideas and comments to speed the learning process.
I will say I enjoy the blogs in my links– they are fun reads and I learn a lot from them. Take a look!
