The years seem to have their own personalities, at least to this casual gardener. And certain bugs wax and wane.. it all seems very unpredicatable. You do have to try new things to know if you can do better. (Celebrity tomatoes are declining and I thought they went gangbusters till fall last year.)
This year I ditched National Pickler and planted 4 'burpless' starts bought in a local greenhouse, and they did well, but it was a horrible year for leaf disease. I did stick some Pickler seeds in for a second crop, ate one fruit before they very quickly got the leaf disease and croaked. All my cukes are gone now.
