Nancy,

They all look absolutely delicious. What a lucky family to get fresh veggies like that.

Thanks for sharing the pics with us.

Cindy

My biggest producer was bell peppers. I froze them and dried them in a dehydrator and ate them fresh - I probably have enough for a few years (and I eat a lot of them). Behind them was the cukes - ate them til I couldn't stand them anymore and made refridgerator pickles all summer long. I also grew Tomatillos for the first time and they did great - made the best salsa ever.

Basil did ok but not great. Tomatoes produced but didn't have great flavor - my yard is not the best for tom's, not enough sunshine.

Normally I would have a lettuce crop in now but I've been busy so thats fallen behind. I usually have lettuce growing in a cold frame all winter long and have enough left over to take it to work and give it away.

Oh and it was my first year with Strawberries and Blueberries here and they did great. So well in fact that I am doubling the size of my berry beds. I did freeze some but I ate just about all that I produced - Yummy!

Boy, bandito, you have picture-pretty veggies and such neat and tidy gardens (martha would be proud!). When do we eat?

My own successes were not huge. Maybe more in the design area, creating a place that is sort of like a "garden apartment" with different rooms and pathways. I love my new beds and almost-finished water feature. All the digging has kept my biceps firm...I guess that's a success of sorts!

I had lovely tallllll branching sunflowers, which is great for me with less than full sun. And I've kept a variety of things in bloom pretty much all through the seasons, but now winter is my challenge. A friend kept telling me how "bare" everything looked in the early spring. Eeeek, it's good to have a few very honest-to-the-bone friends.

Sorry I don't have pix...I hope Santa reads my letter about the camera!

peace, claire in sanford

Nancy,

Your vegetables gardens look great! Claire's right, Martha would be proud.

We did get a lot of tomatoes, my favorite were the Black from Tula, Black Brandywine and the cherry tomatoes. I got an absolute bumper crop of blister beetles -- I even have a scar on my leg as a momento.

Wow, I feel healthier just looking at your photos, and now I'm REALLY in the mood for a salad! :)

Great job Nancy! Looks like you've got a knack for this!

I had a wonderful harvest this year from May right up until now. The jury's still out on what I planted mid September (spinach, swiss chard, beans and peas.) My basil is still thigh high- I may never want to see another jar of pesto in my life. :-) So my producers this year were: cukes, sugar melting pea pods, green and yellow beans,black seeded simpson, lots of cherrie toms and tons of beefmasters and romas and zukes. The crooknecks were "ok" but I had much more production from them last year. All my herbs went nuts for once. And boy am I going to miss not having to buy produce.

-Nan

Well there may be much debate about it, but I think THIS is MY Masterpiece of the season...

{{gwi:586959}}

:-P

EEEEWWWWW!! That is SO GROSS!

:( Fran

Sorry, Fran, ya know I had to get it out my system early... I promise to be good for the rest of the thread :)

Hey, that's the best thing for the slug... quickest way I know... never saw it comin'... just wipe my shoes off good in the grass before I come inside, lol.

Is THIS better ?

{{gwi:586960}}

I think most of y'all have seen it before, but I'm hoping it makes a BIT of amends for the prior photo.
:)

Jeff, the slug was pretty gross. I like to watch them suffer... I use salt. Doesn't do much for the lawn, though. Fortunately, I don't have them as bad at our new home.

What's the beautiful flower? It's gorgeous!!! Some kind of brug? Question? Are they hardy here in the south? We drove by a huge lovely brug tree yesterday. It was so big it had to be in the ground. I can't imagine digging up something that big and bringing it in. Yours is lovely, Jeff.

Nancy

Yes, Jeff,
The beautiful brug is much better and prettier then the squashed slug....yuck! Glad you went ahead and got it 'Out of your system.' You know we will hold you to 'being good' for the rest of the thread....lol

MY success this year?
LOADS of Squash, str8 necks, Zukes, and 2 other kinds I can't remember. Had so much I called my mom many times to say come pick....guess that is what happens when you have 16 plants.

Tomatoes, Sweet Millions gosh thoses where good. Beefsteak, Big Beef, and Park's Whopper, was NOT impressed with this one and will stay with the other kind I liked. And an old timey classic called 'Fantastic' very good strong tomato favor.

Disappointments, Patio Tomato, Cloud Nine Eggplant, and Peppers all kinds, Choc bell, Orange bell, Yellow bell, Sweet Banana, Pimento and others. Guess I planted those out too late and they didn't produce much of anything, but the bells are now making a lots of pepper, but are slightly bitter.
Biggest disappointment, Spaghetti Squash, was growing great and was going to actually get a crop of them this season, have tried for 3 seasons now just to see what they taste like and SO mowed them down when he cut the dang grass over there near the garden patch!

Oh well, there is always next year, I hope!
:) Fran

You know we will hold you to 'being good' for the rest of the thread....lol

at what?
:-P

{{gwi:172398}}

* amazing success with propagation. a new world for me.

* the day i stumbled into this forum was a huge gardening
success - so much has been put into perspective for me
and what i continue to learn from y'all is priceless.

marsha

Pulling of an outdoor wedding in my backyard and having it look lush and beautiful - it was at its peak with both lingering spring blooms and the first heavy flush of summer blooms - over 50 8" caladiums pots were right on schedule and provided the wedding guests with a nice take home momento - my long border of pink/white impatients in the woodland area filled in in time and all the hanging baskets of impatients that I had planted were full.

The veggie garden which was pretty small this year - produced an abundance of yellow and butternut squash and zuchinni. Tomatoes and bell peppers were OK but not great.

All in all I considered this year a great success in many ways - came to terms with my husbands passing, had a new grandaughter added to the 3 grandsons we already had and married a wonderful man who shares my passion of gardening and the dreams I have for my acre of paradise......and like Marsha found all you great gardners here on GW Forum and have profited from your sage advice. Looking forward to another great gardening year with y'all

My tomatoes did very well this year, my dissapointments were my peppers, they flowered but did not set fruit.

I have broccoli, beets, turnips, lettuce in the ground now and I am hoping for better results with the fall planting than I have had in the past with the spring planting.

well, I could post pictures of the garden, but here's my son instead: he's the trumpet player on the left. So here's to all the afternoons I missed gardening while waiting in line for band practice to finish!

Oh, while they did not finish in the top at the WCU competition, they won the Land of the Sky band competition and the Appalachain State competition. Next week they travel to Allentown, PA for the Bands of America competition. Here's hoping they do well!!

Here is a link that might be useful: N. Buncombe Blackhawk Marching Band

Hi Nancy,
I didn't have much success with veggies, but here are my favorite flower successes. One of my brugs grown from a cutting I received in a trade in January, and my pineapple sage. I had 12 plants all grown from cuttings that I took last year.

{{gwi:586961}}

{{gwi:586963}}

{{gwi:586964}}

Gorgeous, I have a profound weakness for salvias and pineapple sage is worth growing, even as "just" an annual. That brug is gorgeous also. On my way to work every day I pass a house where the main walkway is lined with them. They also use them in island beds to great advantage. These past couple of weeks they have been literally dripping with flowers. On those couple nights of frost here, I always wondered in passing them in the morning if those gorgeous trumpets were frozen. Adele

Unfortunately, my veggie garden was NOT a sucess this year. Mostly because we didn't amend the soil before planting.

Most of my sucesses were plants I saved in one way or another.

I had wonderful sucess with some orchids that I "rescued" from Lowe's sale rack in January. Most had little or no healthy roots. I only lost 2 and one cattleya's blooming for the second time.

I saved two roses, easter lilies, century plants and daylilies from houses being demolished. One rose I was still pulling out of the ground as the bulldozer was tearing down the houses' front porch!
My red leaf hibiscus was a success, so much so that I'm going to plant more next year. This was the first year I planted one in the ground and I'm very pleased with the results. It is much happier and is getting ready to bloom - a LOT. If I plant earlier next year, I bet ya, by this time next year, I'll already be enjoying the blooms. WHICH you can use, along with the leaves, in teas and stirfry recipes.
My swamp sunflowers are gorgeous right now - happy as hogs, full of blooms and requiring NO care!
Now if I could just get my brugs to be happy, it'll all be good. Next year, in the ground they go.
You can see pics of the plants at my webshots page:

Barb

Here is a link that might be useful: Barbie's pretty plant pics! ;)

WEEDS! JUST ABOUT THE ONLY THING THAT SURVIVED THE LACK OF WATER!

Hey ggwrn, what salvia is that?