I learned something this season that I knew was coming down the pike but didn't know when, now I know when. For the first time in my gardening history I'll have to stop expanding the garden and start to shrink it next year. I've reached my upper limit on what I can successfully maintain and due to slowing down myself so goes the garden. Missing from next year's planting list will be Onions, Cantaloupes, and perhaps Butter beans. I'll still grow watermelons but on a smaller plot with smaller melon varieties, I just can't pick up those Big ones trying to tippy toe through vines without twisting my ankle or getting a hernia, ha. Will hold onto planting the main staples of the veggie world....as long as possible :)

Hi Marcia, I got your email and will look up those members...I fear a lot of folks may not find your post here, so I suggest you post it over on the Discussion side. And maybe add 2008 to the subject line as well...please and thanks. I'm so pumped about it! My suggestion is May 31st, or June 7th though...not too early...not too late, and not on a holiday weekend...but I'm free for whatever is chosen. Sue

I like this thread it's nice to read the truth spoken regardless. heh, I've got a few I'd like to add too. Observation: It's best to brag after the season is over, for instance I'm using Earth Boxes this year for the first time and thought there would be no disease problems well.....I think all tomatoes eventually "catch" something no matter how careful you are. I believe that different varieties display disease in various degrees some being a little more resistant therefore last longer but the day usually comes when they all get infected. Never say never. :) Observation: Yes, hybrids are not quite as good as heirlooms/OP but they can't be dismissed entirely. I had my first tomato today from a hastily store bought "something-or-other", lol And Jet Stars are a wonderful addition to the garden in both taste and production. But still, I wait for patiently for those OP gems still green but coming on strong err, that's if disease don't get 'em. :P Pondering: Why do seed companies choose to describe a tomato as "tasty" I will NEVER buy a variety called tasty!?!?!. I look for words like "fruity with a great aftertaste" or "absolutely the best green/white/yellow variety there is" those kind of word descriptions are convincing. It makes me wonder why they choose to use that word, have they actually tasted the tomato and if they have isn't it possible to say something a little more descriptive about the flavor. I think they they use the word tasty for tomatoes that aren't very impressive better to say something nice and non-committal just my 2 cents on unimaginative seed catalogs. :D (Note: please don't take this as directed towards you, jeremy_davis because you used "the word" in your post. This has been something I have wanted to say for a long time about seed catalogs and this seemed the the right place unfortunately. It's also mostly tongue-in-cheek so please don't take personally. :) Observation: Watering seems like the hardest thing to get right sometimes especially for new gardeners there's a tendency to either over-water or as the season wears on to not be as diligent with this task. Observation: At the start of the season I'm beginning to realize that my family will never be as tomato-crazy as I am, lol I could talk endless hours about this and that variety and can't wait for the first ripe one to appear. However, this does not foster an increased affection for tomatoes on the part of my family members but (horrors) it has the opposite affect that's why I love coming to this forum, thanks for listening. *sniff* :)

What can I say, this has been the weirdest growing season ever, Brita's Foot Long has really produced lots of beans, lots of seed and is finished pole pulled. Barksdale planted the same day is just flowering now and starting to produce pods, mind you the vines have gone wild, gone up the pole, down the pole, up again and reaching out for anything it could grab hold of like my clothesline. Several other varieties are behaving the same way like they're on steroids. Grandma Nellie's and Frank Barnett are also finished, got a bumper crop of seed from 8 plants planted of both of these. Had a bit of a boo boo with Rattlesnake and Louisiana Snap, the seed looks identical and before I realized what I'd done I threw the first dried seed from L.S. in with the Rattlesnake seed I'd already collected, dumb, dumb, dumb. Oh well lots more pods to pick of Rattlesnake so threw that lot of seed in a jar in the kitchen to be used in some recipe or other. Had a couple of failures but the sample of seed given me could have been old Chevrier Vert didn't germinate and Flaro French Flageolet I ended up with one plant. Surprisingly enough I have a tub of Fagiolina del Traimento producing beans, Yancheng Bush looks healthy enough but hasn't begin to flower yet. The runner I'm growing this year Aeron Purple Star has produced fantastically for me, we've had a few meals and now the rest have been left for seed. I have a few pods that didn't turn Purple and as the vines are so intertwined I couldn't find which plant to pull :). Next year I'll only plant half as many plants with a vulgaris variety in between so I can rouge out anything that only produces green pods, mind you that will probably be too late due to the bees. I'll only plant seed from purple pods and keep my fingers crossed. The first Big Mama I planted turned out to be a purple bush bean not a pole variety, have no idea what they are so will scrap them. I managed to find another source for this Big Mama, although planted late it's almost at the top of it's pole and is flowering so there's hope for this one even if I have to put an umbrella over it in the fall. It seems this is another heirloom that is endangered so will grow it again next year. Bosnian Pole is producing lots of beans, not quite at the full bean stage, my trial of the 3 different Tennessee Cutshorts is just about ready for picking and comparing and the samples of quite a few of the other beans I'm growing, seed already picked. I'll come back later with final results, lots of beans at different stages of development yet to report on. This has been one H*ll of a summer I have to admit the heat has been knocking the stuffing out of me, yeah I know the 90's are just warm to some of you but when you are used to most of the summer being in the low 70's it makes a difference. On the the other hand when we were in Arizona one December temps were in the mid 70's during the day and we were all hitting the pool at the motel we were staying at :) the residents all thought we were crazy. They were all sitting around bundled up and some even wore socks to bed at night to keep their feet warm, or so we were told. it's all what you're used too. Annette