Okay, so what did you use for fertilizer? How often/much did you water? ETC.

A bumper crop in the deep south is serious success! Think hard what you did differently this year...(top dressed with compost last fall or spring?)

I had a good garden too, but it could be better....:)

Gloating, huh?
"sunny California" has had an average temp of about 75* this summer!At least 10-15* below normal!
I've only got a few tomatoes, a couple cukes, maybe 1 meal of GBs, 2 peppers that got eaten...that's IT!
I'm a 9 year gardener and it has just baffled me!
I'll just start my winter stuff, then the heat will come!LOL
Oh well. Will try winter, then hope for next year!

He, he, yeah I guess I'm "gloating"! Its just funny because I am not a serious gardener by any means, I just seemed to luck out this year especially. I have other friends who live in the same area who have had dismal returns this year and they are all lamenting what a bad season this is. I just can't account for it.

I have a tiny little plot, only 225 sq ft. It is just amazing to see how prolific that little patch is. I haven't used any fertilizer - in past years I've used Miracle Gro, but not this year. I water sporadically, maybe once a week, plus the occasional light rainfall. I haven't added compost for a couple of years now. The only thing I did differently this year was to add some lime to the soil back in February when I did my initial tilling. (My home test kit showed high acidity). Otherwise, I just did the normal thing where I put seeds in the dirt and hope for the best!

You raised the pH and used the stored nutrients in the soil. Don't expect this outcome to continue for long unless you attempt to keep the nutrients up.

I, too, had a bumper crop of cucumber but unlike you I know it was because I really worked on the soil in that row.

I would have no clue what bumper means in home gardening due to lack of comparison. But I know this year is not as good as last. My garden do produce about 50 lbs of harvest weekly now. Due to limited space, I remove old plants when planting the 2nd round or fall crop to keep the harvest in check.

One thing I do know is the quality of harvest. The tomato this year are just not good. The fully grown ones used to be 2 lbs each fruit, now down to 1lb. And the flavor this year is just not what they used to be. Since I'm not sure what went wrong, I'm blaming this on the unusually cool summer weather. But if this poor harvest continues in the future, I may need to get a soil test too.

Many mornings this summer when I walk in the garden in the mist and fog, I thought I lived in Seattle and decided I should probably move to the south for better gardening.

Hey Lisalu! I, too, am in Ga, and this is only my 2nd year with a garden. I've had a great season as well! My banana peppers were beautiful! I have 6 jars preserved and ate many fresh! My tomatoes were huge, juicy, and perfect! Besides eating them fresh daily on salads and sandwiches, I've canned them diced, crushed, quartered, and sauced. I have 10-12 jars in there! I've also learned that next year I'm definitely going to plan pickling cukes rather than slicing. I had so many cukes that I couldn't eat them all nor give them all away! It's been great! :-) I'm getting ready to transition over to my fall garden though, so it'll be a sad day next week when I demolish my tomatoes and cukes!

You Georgia people are lucky indeed...I think all of your gardening misfortunes blew over to me in South Carolina...terrible year so far except for green peppers.

It's ok...it all evens up in the end ;-)