Robert, loved your thoughts! I was very surprised at the watermelons I grew....they were larger than I expected....and sweeter.....but it was a very hot summer! I don't think Fava beans grow well in the north....I think of them as a southern veg.....same with lima beans.....wish I could till the garden & plant a cover crop like rye, but I have to rent both a tiller & a handyman, so it gets too costly for me....Yes, I wish it was March, not October.....don't much like the thought of a hard winter.

Thought of another thought...

7) Purple Sun (aka Peter Wilcox) potatoes are AMAZING. Best potato salad potato ever. Is also perfect for cubing up to use in baked dishes. If anyone here grows potatoes...I highly recommend these. Potato (Solanum tuberosum 'Peter Wilcox')

RobinD said:Robert, loved your thoughts! I was very surprised at the watermelons I grew....they were larger than I expected....and sweeter.....but it was a very hot summer! I don't think Fava beans grow well in the north....I think of them as a southern veg.....same with lima beans.....wish I could till the garden & plant a cover crop like rye, but I have to rent both a tiller & a handyman, so it gets too costly for me....Yes, I wish it was March, not October.....don't much like the thought of a hard winter.

I don't like the thought of another hard winter much either. Hope it doesn't turn out too bad.

robertduval14 said:Thought of another thought...

7) Purple Sun (aka Peter Wilcox) potatoes are AMAZING. Best potato salad potato ever. Is also perfect for cubing up to use in baked dishes. If anyone here grows potatoes...I highly recommend these. Potato (Solanum tuberosum 'Peter Wilcox')

I like the idea of the home made potato salad.

robertduval14 said:I love hot peppers as well. Though when I grew Ghost peppers last year...those were too hot, though they have great flavor. Made them a touch tricky to work with when trying to make chili that was not over the top scorching.


Well...garden is officially done for the year over here. Got a hard frost a couple nights ago which finished off everything that had not yet been yanked out. Got out there this morning and pulled that stuff out, removed the soaker hose's and ran the tiller over the whole thing. Will get out there and add compost and till again then will plant some winter rye which will continue to grow till freeze and will get tilled under next spring.

Thoughts from this season...

1) Amazing year for tomato. My heirloom variety selection was awesome. Found a new fav...Rose de Berne, will grow that forever from here on out. Dorothy's Green is the best green when ripe type I've ever tried and German Striped grew the some monster, super meaty slicers. All in all every plant I had but two performed far above expectations.

2) Cosmic Purple carrots are now one of my new favorite carrots. They are simply delicious and the color puts them right over the top .

3) Fava Beans...I learned that I suck at growing Fava beans.

4) Peppers...hot peppers had a great year while my bell peppers did not. Worst year ever for me for Bell Peppers...from 12 plants I only got about 15 peppers for the whole season. Hot peppers, however, I'm swimming in.

5) Growing decent sized watermelons is still proving to be elusive for me...I won't stop trying though...I love them far too much.

6) Why isn't it spring yet?

I'm sure I got more thoughts on the season, but these were the things that popped into mind at this moment.


Gonna go watch some football now while the oven is filling my house with the smell of baking apple crisp that I put together this morning from the Empire apples I picked at the orchard yesterday.

I will just skip the hot peppers!!

I never till so I don't plant a cover crop. I am sure it would be good for the soil of I did do so. But I don't have a tiller and in the spring there is just so much to do.

Don't grow watermelons here, just too difficult. And the vines go on forever!!

On the tomatoes. I am really pleased to read your report about Rose de Berne. I already have seeds for that one and will for sure be growing it next season.

I have read things like the European Version of Brandywine about it so I just knew I really wanted to try it.

Potatoes sound yummy! Only grew taters once....they brought a lot of insects into the garden......

I just found a large, ripe Hawaiian tomato in the garden....don't remember ever picking one this late in the season!

Went to pick the tomato....totally rotten on the bottom.....did pick a large green tom off another plant.....I guess it's really the end!

RobinD said:Went to pick the tomato....totally rotten on the bottom.....did pick a large green tom off another plant.....I guess it's really the end!

That is too bad about it being rotten. Yup, it is getting really late for tomatoes.

Quite a few peppers recently and many tomatoes!

pirl said:Quite a few peppers recently and many tomatoes!

That looks great!!

I still have tomatoes on a plate on my kitchen counter from the garden.

I have tomatoes in two bowls and will take photos tomorrow. More are turning red!

Peppers are really beautiful!

my veggies are done for this year.

I must have posted my recent harvest on the wrong thread! Here they are, along with just two photos of tomatoes still on the vine. Last year we harvested tomatoes through 12/20.

My goodness. they look great! Just a few zones makes all the difference!

Better than store bought!

pirl said:Better than store bought!

That's for sure!!

Will be buying red peppers for my salads instead of tomatoes.....I bought some purple sweet potatoes the other day....I've bought them before, but apparently there are several varieties....when cooked & mashed, they were a neon purple.....good, though!

We also buy red peppers in winter instead of those horrid store tomatoes. Also, the roasted red peppers (in jars) are very nice salad additions when you don't have fresh on hand.