I'm next... I'm next...

Ok, now that that is settled. My garden year had its ups and downs too. I got too busy with my summer classes and did not get the tomatoes staked, so they took over all the walkways. The stakes were there, but NO they can't just be good tomatoes and grow nicely up them. The potatoes, peppers and squash did fairly well. Lost the garlic and shallots, I know I planted them, I know where I planted them, but when I moved the tomato plants, they were gone. I guess tomatoes really do love garlic!! The corn I need to get in earlier and I need to put the electric fencer back up, that should keep the neighbor and his blasted goats out!! I keep asking DH to wire the fence with 277, that way there will be no evidence, LOL.

Bonnie, sorry for the lost of your father and uncles this year. That is rough. I just lost my father December 7, 2008. It was totally unexpected and is pretty hard on my mom. I am their only child and mom is down in Tucson so everything is long distance. She plans to sell the house and either buy something smaller or move here with us, so I am planning everything for next year around that.

On December 7 the kids had a Youth Group shoot planned. They decided to go shoot Grandpa's shotguns that he gave them the last time he visited, sort of a 21 gun salute.

Next year, I won't take summer college classes. Sixteen weeks of school crammed into 8 weeks was not fun, I will never do it again. I hope to have the fence finished around the garden to help protect it from the wind and I will have space for the chinese veggies and other greens this year, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Happy New Year, pass the rumballs!!

Billie

It is always hard to lose family members. I lost one sister and my mother in 2007 and have several brothers and sisters who are having problems. Getting old is not for sissies! Have had a few problems of my own.

Tomatoes, peppers, winter squash and cukes did not do well because of a late cold spring and cold nights. However the pumpkins, beets and corn did produce well as we had a late fall. Lots of snow this past week and ice. So that may mean plenty of water this summer. So if we can have some warmth to go with it it could be a decent year. Did have lots of pears, some plums and apples and 0 apricots and cherries.

Bonnie, I'm sorry for your losses. My review of the horrible year of 2008 is in my thread "I'm back." Both of my parents are very ill (stepfather - lung cancer; mother - Alzheimer's), and both my brother and I have been unemployed all year. It's been a miserable year, and I'll be glad to bid it good-bye.

I seem to have figured out the zucchini. This was my third year trying to grow them. I moved them to a spot near the fence that got full sun, and I worked a lot of homemade compost into that spot. The zucchini went wild! I couldn't keep up with them.

The potatoes did better this year than in years past. I'll definitely try Kennebec again next year and maybe try a couple new ones as well.

I finally got a broccoli head...but the aphids got to it before I did. I don't know if I want to give up on brassica or not. I love broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower, but I have no luck with them.

The tomatoes did okay, but I think I need bigger containers. I didn't plant garlic this fall. Instead I'm going to plant one of the raised beds with pea pods and lettuce.

I'm giving up on the partly shady beds. I'm going to plant blueberries and raspberries there instead of vegetables.

I'm going to try the melons in a different spot. One watermelon plant grew and even flowered, but I never got a melon off of it.

I'm also going to try sunflowers again. I would love to have fresh sunflower seeds (if the birds and squirrels don't get them first).

Here's hoping 2009 is a banner year.

My thoughts and prayers go to all of those who lost loved ones during the last year. And those who have experienced personal hardships.
First on a personal note I'm thankful for the relatively good health and good job I've been blessed with the last year. During times like these I realize how fortunate I am. My Mother starting showing signs of Alzheimer's this year. And on the 23rd fell and cracked an elbow and also had to have stitches above her eye. Her memory is starting to fade. She was always so active and bright. So a change for all of us. And really hard for my youngest sister who visited with Mom every day and cherished her advice. And my step dad still can't accept it. It is a part of life we all wish we could avoid but most don't.
Now to gardening. Being raised in farming and ranching and having gardened for 40 plus years I've learned to never get too high when things go good or too low when they go bad. This was my worst tomato growing year ever and we set records for the worst drought ever here with hot dry constant winds. The only year when I picked fewer tomatoes was four years ago when a late June hail wiped them out. We did start getting rain in August and the last two weeks before frost was good. Thankful for what I did get. The rest of the garden did average. Brussel sprouts did good. Peppers were a little later but plentiful. I left out some crops this year because we were so dry and wanted to cut back on water usage some. Have built up my mulch in the garden and will put them all back this year. Mulch really cuts down on the water usage. My garlic is up and now just waiting on spring. it has a good mulch winter blanket on it now.
In hindsight I'm so thankful for all I was blessed with in 08 and pray everyone has a prosperous and banner year in 09. JD

A Very Happy New Year to Everyone!

I first became aware of the world as a 3 year-old in my Grandmother's garden. We lived with her for a year or so and she passed away a few years after we moved to our own little farm.

I have the tomatoes my other grandmother grew from the 1930's (Thank you, Uncle Marvin!). I often think of these 2 gardeners when I'm in my own garden - seeing foxgloves for 1 grandma, plum tomatoes for the other. It is probably important to talk with our own children about the people who came before us in the garden.

I experienced Margaret's Cold Spring but was surprised to find the tomatoes and flowers doing well by mid-season. It was so difficult early in the growing season that most of the melons died and the cukes had the worse year I can remember but all the tomatoes and flowers came on like Champions!

Maybe that's a lesson learned from 2008:

LIFE, like Hope, Springs Eternal in the Garden.

steve's digits and all the rest of him

I am sad to hear of those with family loses and job loses as well. That is part of our "gardening" life as is all things effecting life!

I took a year off from work, I just quit! :0) I dug up a 17 year old iris bed, DH & I put up a windsor stone retaining wall for it & replanted the iris. Redid the iris bed out front as well. I purchased new terracotta deck pots, threw out the old crumbling ones. Purchased 10 new rose bushes.

I joined a hiking club & bicycling club. Travelled to Indonesia for 3 weeks, sight seeing, riding elephants, going to temples & scuba diving with DH. Came home & got a part time job to keep me busy. It was a "VERY GOOD" year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

{{gwi:43351}}

Oh, there's what I like to see - - sunshine and some things green!

Thank you, Nichole.

d'S'

Hi all,

It's been a long time. It's good to hear what others are up to. The ups and the downs.

Bonnie, I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad and his uncles. It's good you feel connected to him in the garden. You'll have to garden even more this year!

One of the reasons I've been so scarce was because I had a really old computer and it was so slow on this site. It crashed yay!!! And I'm typing on my new MacBook. It's so fast, I love it!!

My gardening took a bit of a backseat this year. I still got some good crops but not like last year. I need to redo some of my soaker hoses I think because some things just didn't get the water they needed in certain areas.

I did plant a perennial garden (with many of the plants from previous swaps) with a drip system in the front (east and north side of the house). Looking forward to seeing that pop up this spring. This is my first official flower garden since moving to Colorado.

We became licensed foster parents and have had a baby girl (22 months old) living with us for three months. Don't know if we'll get to adopt her or not but she sure is a joy and we are madly in love with her. I can't wait to introduce her to gardening. She is our fourth foster child. We had two toddlers in Oct for a brief time and an 8 year old boy for about a month that went to live with his sister.

We are also playing music again about once a month at a local coffee house and are hosting house concerts for local musicians every few months. It's good to have that outlet again.

Really excited for the season to begin already! And wanting to expand the veggie garden a bit to give the pumpkins, corn & potatoes their own space to ramble.

Happy New Year!! Cheers!

Charlene

Hi all,

I had a good year! WellÂexcept maybe for the concussion  and the West Nile Virus! ;-) But I survived them both  and now I have WNV immunity! So it all turned out well! Just wish I had "future concussion" immunity too!

I have resolved that in Â09 is will NOT break any more bones, have any more surgery, get stranded in the mountains (or woods!), or get thrown into any more airplane walls  and I WILL  LAUGH AT THE MOSQUITOES!

IÂm very happy with my gardening year. A few things didnÂt make it or didnÂt do well  but most things did! My perennials and veggies are doing better and better every year, and IÂm expecting that trend to continue in Â09. I have a LOT of perennials that need to be moved or divided or just plain need to be out-of-here this spring. Hope I can find time to do it. Things are getting too overgrownÂand I want space to try some new things. I think IÂll have a lot of stuff for the Spring Swap!

Charlene, IÂm glad to see you back! And very glad you finally got your new computer! Slow computers can be beyond frustrating. Mine is getting really slow after four years, and within the next couple months IÂm going to get a new CPU. This time IÂm not going to waste money trying to get a hopeless cause fixed, like I did last time. Thanks for the update, and glad to hear your fostering, music, AND gardening are going well. People were looking for you a few months ago, so donÂt be a stranger around here!

Wishing everyone a GREAT year in 2009,
Skybird