Dawn I plan on doing a end of the year wrap up post and also post some plans for next years garden in a separate thread before too long. The main reason for the change is the drought and no real sign of it changing. We just finished year 4 of this drought cycle. And those of you who just experienced year 1 of one can hopefully understand why I've finally decided it may last a few more years and time for me to adjust my growing methods and varieties some. Setting records every year it seems. The kind you don't like to set. There are some other reasons for the changes also. Like you mentioned it is hard to fairly judge anything during the last 4 years here. Many of the varieties that didn't set a thing all summer were just loaded when I pulled them this week before the Wed night frost. Had bushels of green tomatoes. More than I expected. The hail also made judging anything fairly difficult. Because I had several loaded plants that were wiped out by the hail and then the intense heat set in. I'm sure that I will give in and try more new to me and give more a second chance than I plan on. But my intentions are to plant those varieties that have proved they can somewhat handle the extreme conditions we've had. Also I plan to start planting a few seeds in the next few weeks and experimenting with grafting techniques and hopefully get at least one method perfected enough I don't kill them all when I do it next year. Then will grow some grafted plants next year. My plans are to grow several hybrids that have done well along with some of the proven op/heirlooms. My plan was to take vacation in October and finish my big greenhouse frame and then set out early in it after starting plants early in the lean to and grow in containers in it this next summer. Due to work I wasn't able to take vacation during Oct. Taking some in 2 weeks. Hopefully weather will allow me to work on it during my time off. My plan it too cover the sides with polycarbonate. Then to cover at least the south top and the top of both ends with plastic early and replace with shade cloth later in the season. Hopefully this will eliminate some of the pest borne disease issues I've experienced and also with the shade I can get better growth during the hot spells. Although nothing will help if we have the extreme heat again. I tried a greenhouse variety outside this year that showed promise that I will grow again. I have 4 plants in the lean to. Not really what I had planned to put in there. But the ones that ended up in containers late and were the best of the 8 container plants at the time I moved them in. Two weeks later I was tempted to do some changing but didn't. I have Ambrosia Red Cherry, Beduoin, Goliath hybrid and Big Cheef. All have continued to set since I've moved them. I think the fans blowing in there along with me brushing them every day has helped. I'm looking forward to tasting Beduoin soon. It is a large pear shaped black tomato. In the 3-6 ounce range. The grower who sent it too me said it has always won the taste tests at the farmers markets he attends. So to summarize my plans are similar to what you stated earlier. To grow varieties I feel will have the best chance in an extreme drought year. To start several early and then to plant another planting later for the fall. But even with planting early and going to the bigger house if I can get it finished I don't plan to carry as many big plants through the heat and drought of summer. I will try if the spring weather allows to grow an early garden and a later version and to slack off during the summer heat. The late garden I planted this year did very well. If the heat would of slacked off 7-10 days earlier I would of had a bumper late tomato crop. This year just seemed to have one hardship after another. I had some late disease issues that hit certain areas but nothing major. Jay

Glad you're ok, how scary to have a tornado so close. Alex and I got woken by pounding rain, thunder and sirens going off in our town. On and off they went, the rain and wind would ease up and then it'd start again. Finally went to bed and got woke up again around 3 am. Lauren slept through the whole thing. Lot of wind damage here and in nearby cities. I'm so tired but had to wash some scrubs for work tomorrow, otherwise I'd be in bed already. I hope everyone else is ok. Lot of people died here and surrounding states.

The yellow stuff is PINE pollen Socks...it's so big that it's not supposed to bother peeps meaning it can't get up your nose...but it does...I was outside most of the day on Tuesday and felt soooo gritty when I came in...It's like working in a dust field and you know that can't be good for ya! This morning the count was 5695...it rained just enough to make a yellow mud mess...COME ON RAIN...We need some more to wash this stuff outta the air!!

Back in August, I had a freak thunderstorm roll thru and smash two of my largest glazed ceramic pots. Each pot cost roughly $60 by themselves. It was my fault, really. Towards the end of summer, it hardly ever rains. So I foolishly went and placed my plants on plant stands to give them some added height. I intended on staking them to the ground to secure them in place, but never got around to it. All was fine and good, up until I left and went to do some shopping. I stopped to grab a bite to eat and an isolated thunderstorm came rolling thru with some vicious winds. When I got home, just as the storm passed, I noticed everything was thrown around and knocked over. The storm didn't even last that long, a half an hour at most, but that's all it needed. Fortunately, both plants were okay. Just my two largest ponytail palms. I wasn't worried about them, I knew they could handle it. But but both pots were history. I was able to buy two more identical pots to replace them with. I just didn't like having to spend another $120 to do so. Especially since I had just bought those first two pots a few months prior. My neighbors noticed the damage and offered to give me some pots. I thanked them for the offer, but I have plenty of those already. I had carefully chosen these glazed ceramic pots for the look, and didn't want to settle for anything less. Sorry to hear about your jade. Mine were outside when the storm did its damage here, but they were able to escape unharmed. I'm sure everyone here can relate to caring so much for our plants, some of them for many years, only to have one little incident come along and ruin it all. It can be very frustrating.