? ? ? ? ? I did not see any plant on the chart that bears 'all season' and don't see how I implied it in my post. The one that bears the longest on the entire chart is squash and it only bears for 3 months in her area according to the chart. What the chart does help with is figuring out what to plant and when so you can have a variety of things in your garden at all times. Even the chart isn't the answer to everything under the sun. As an example, my local ag. office says we can plant bush beans here from May 1 - Aug 15 in 2 week succession plantings with harvesting June 21 - Oct 15 (and even plant as early as April 1 using row covers). But if you look at the zone 7 chart (my area), it only shows planting May 15 - July 15 and harvesting July 1 - September 1. BUT, the chart is certainly better than nothing and I think the chart is a good start to figuring out what & when. Especially for a beginner like me who had no idea that broccoli should not be grown in the heat of July in my area. I am growing for immediate consumption, not for storing, so I also did not want gallons of bags of beans (or squash or tomatoes or whatever) ready at one time. I wanted a little bit of a bunch of different things ready each week. I did not want to have beans for dinner *every* night !! One thing I had to figure out was what was the recommended number of plants for 2 people to be able to consume the harvest. Also what plants are a once and done plant and what plants would be able to be harvested over a long period from one plant. For example, squash are harvested for a long period from one plant, but bush beans are for approx 2 weeks. Carrots, obviously, once you pull the carrot out, that plant is done ... no more producing carrots from that plant, LOL. So ... 1 or 2 squash plants might be enough for 2 people for the whole time squash produces. But 20-80 carrot plants (depending on how much you like carrots) split up into succession planting of 4-10 carrots every week from Feb 1 - Mar 1 would give you 4-10 carrots ready every week once they start producing, rather than 20-80 carrots all ready at one time. I also think 40sf is a good size. Our garden is 36sf (11 feet of that is trellised) and I have open squares that I am not using right now. But as soon as I am able to plant fall crops, I will have room to start them early without pulling a summer plant. Then as the summer plants are done I can start pulling them and planting more fall crops in those newly emptied squares to extend the harvest. The one thing I would like is a little more trellis for my summer plants (or I need to cut back on my tomatoes some!!). I would like to have some honeydew on the trellis and more cantaloupe, and maybe have moved my watermelon to the trellis(?). As it is now, my trellis is divided as follows ... each square is 1 plant per square except the cucumber ... 6 squares tomato (2 each of 3 kinds), 2 squares cantaloupe, 2 squares squash, 1 square cucumber (2 plants in 1 square). However, in the fall, the only thing I have planned that will be trellised is peas. I doubt I need 11 squares of peas !!! That being said, this is my first ever garden and I am very excited about it so far. I have read a lot on the internet, but I am not an expert ... I haven't even eaten my first veggie yet !!

Thanks for the compliments and, um, "sympathy" (smile). It's good to hear other GW friends admit to being crazy, Katie, and I happen to think it's a good kind of crazy. I mean, truly insane gardeners like us don't need to come inside when it starts raining either (like today). I'm glad (and surprised) that daffodils do well in the desert, though come to think of it a lot of bulbs evolved in high deserts in Turkey and such. You might try the low botanical tulips that are the size and timing of crocus, as they like it dry. You're right, Sharon, by this point I can just dig and replace the bulbs by now to plant the rest of the roses, but for me it doesn't really help fall planting. I just dig where I know not enough bulbs will survive, and again in the fall, if I dig up a bulb to plant another one I just replace it and move on. Carol, it sounds like we have a new convert to bulbs and roses, and Canada should be a good place to mingle those, as JJPeace can testify. Cadiarose, I do appreciate the work of keeping up with both obsessions, and I agree that if I had to choose I'd pick the roses. However, self-sustaining bulbs like crocus or daffodils don't really take any work once planted, and they can be at the back of the bed so you can forget about them once the roses start. Just a thought to maintain the insanity a little longer (smile).\ Cynthia

I've decided to transform the leaf mould bin into a compost bin sooner rather than later. Instead of emptying out all of the leaves, I've started incorporating grass clippings and kitchen/garden scraps into the bin, making sure it gets a good green/brown ratio. Over time, by turning the existing brown materials in with the new green materials, it should make good compost. The negative about this is that I won't be able to use this stuff for about two years, when I could have actually collected leaf mould in one year. The positive is that compost is more nutrient rich but can also be used the same way, as a top dressing or mulch, for water retention and weed suppression, but giving those plants a boost that leaf mould may not do. I'll work green materials in for about a year (or unless we get it so full that it absolutely can't hold any more) then setup another swimming pool composter up. On appx April 2018, the plan is to collect compost from the first bin. On appx April 2019, I'll collect compost from the 2nd bin. Then, April 2020, from the first bin, and on and on. Meanwhile, I'm slowly building up a small farm, with rabbits, cows, chickens, and eventually, ducks, possibly turkeys, etc. Rabbit poop = instant garden fertilizer + worm food, for vermicomposting, to collect worm castings for the garden, and the worms themselves could feed some fish, for a future aquaponics setup. Cow, chicken, duck, and turkey poop will be composted. As of right now, it's all about slowly moving forward, to try to obtain a balance, where everything works together.

What you describe is an option of course - especially if you prune them back to approximately 12-18". But it isn't the standard practice, even your zone, as the new growth and production, if any, the following year on plants that are carried over isn't near the quality you'd get from starting with fresh plants as most do. As an experimental leaning exercise why not plan to trim back a few of the healthiest plants to try carry them through till next season. That way you can learn what all is involved in the way of continued work, watering, feeding, and support for them to survive. Then plan to pull and dispose of the rest so you can work on soil improvement or plant some winter crops. That way you can compare the results for yourself. Dave