I'll go first...

1. In planning 2008, what are you most excited about ?
I am excited about sunshine, applying what I learned last year, being in the garden with my youngest son who is my greatest helper, and learning more about herbs.

2. What new items will you be adding to your garden?
I am excited to try onions and garlic and brussel sprouts.

3. What plants are you not planting this year?
broccoli- no one eats it but me so I'm going to skip it

4. What plants have you had difficulty with that you are going to pay extra attention to this year?
Green peppers- I'm going to start them in the house a couple of weeks earlier than last year to give them a better head start.

5. Are you expanding or reducing the size of your garden in 2008?
I am doubling my garden by adding 3 more 4X4 frames.

6. Will there be any major changes this year?
More herbs, more herbs, more herbs.

7. What is your greatest gardening success?
I wrote about this last year but my youngest son was ill last winter and the whole experience of planning the garden with him and being excited, planting, watching it grow, journaling with him helped make us refocus our energy and lifted our spirits. Ours truly was a garden of love so everything seemed like a grand success.

8. Do you have a gardening "AH-HA" moment?
I learned that if you can't plant before May/June, you don't need to start your seeds in January. DUH! By this time last year our entire house was FULL of seedlings.

9. What is your best piece of advice for a newbie?
Don't give up! It is a labor of love but it is worth it.And don't listen to the neighbors tell you it isn't worth the time or money to garden- it is worth it.

10. 2008 will be a successful year for me if..........I have time and cukes enough to can pickles, I can develop the patience to let carrots grow longer, and I can get my four kids to eat more of our yummy veggies.

1. In planning 2008, what are you most excited about ?

Like others, I'm most excited about applying what I learned last year from trial and error. Also, I'm excited about growing some honkin' huge tomatoes!

2. What new items will you be adding to your garden?
New, but familiar Asian vegetables to give to my mother.

3. What plants are you not planting this year?

Beets.

4. What plants have you had difficulty with that you are going to pay extra attention to this year?

Zukes. They were plagued by BERS and nasty black aphids last year!

5. Are you expanding or reducing the size of your garden in 2008?

Expanding, baby!

6. Will there be any major changes this year?

I may add bird netting to keep the squirrels away from my maters.

7. What is your greatest gardening success?

Mustard greens. Mmmmm...
8. Do you have a gardening "AH-HA" moment?

Yes, one doesn't have to stick to one distinct form of gardening. I can do Square Foot Lasagna Intensive Organic all at once which (theoretically) may even be better than just doing one of the three.

9. What is your best piece of advice for a newbie?

You don't have to spend a bunch of money to get a Sq Ft Garden started. Work with the geometry of SqFt Gardening, with the materials of Lasagna (nice and cheap) and practice the companion and rotations of Intensive.

10. 2008 will be a successful year for me if..........

...I am proactive, rather than reactive with possible hiccups.

1. I am excite about spring, my new (yet to be built) raised beds, and trying the square foot method for the first time.

2. I am adding for the first me heirloom tomatoes, and a few varieties a peppers.

3.none, if my family doesn't eat it, i will. I don't plant a lot of one thing since i lack of garden space.

4. Believe it or not "cilantro". Should be easy but i have a hard time growing it.

5. Expanding the garden size.

6. More tomatoes, more peppers, more tomatoes, more peppers, more eggplants.

7. Organic food safe for me family.

8. Not yet. I haven't learn to be patient yet, is in my blood, so i start in February anyways.

9. Gardening is super easy, specially if you mulch. Mulch makes life easy, less weed, less watering, and if you use grass clippings or something similar, it decomposes. Dont walk on your garden, you safe tilting every year. Cut all dead plants in small pieces in the fall, and mix it with the soil, it should be decomposed by spring. No tilting, no cleaning, better soil, less work.

10. 2008 will be sucessfull to me if my wife approved the use of more backyard space for gardening.

1. Trying SFG in Central Texas for the first time. There are two seasons here, Spring and Fall. Summer is to dammed hot for anything but peppers which love the heat.

2. 2 kinds of heirloom tomatoes and squash. Cilantro before it goes to seed.

3. Beans and egg plants.

4. Zukes and Tomatoes.

5. First time, will use 4 - 4'X4'frames, drip irrigation

6. SFG

7. Anything surviving Texas Summer. My grapes and antique roses.

8. Mels Mix

9. Patience Grasshopper.

10. If we are eating homegrown veggies in May

My turn!!!

1. In planning 2008, what are you most excited about ? Probably the fact that I'm putting in a new garden that I've been planning for a couple of years.

2. What new items will you be adding to your garden? Nothing new really as far as veggies go -- but, I do plan on adding 5 of the SWC (self-watering containers) to grow 10 of my tomato plants in. I want to give them a try and see how they do.

3. What plants are you not planting this year? Hmmm. I don't think I will be planting any hot peppers (no one eats them in my house). Also I may not be growing eggplant -- I haven't made a final decision on that yet.

4. What plants have you had difficulty with that you are going to pay extra attention to this year?
I would say my tomatoes. Last year they all got the wilt! They were beautiful plants loaded with fruit and one by one they started wilting and then dying.... So this year I'm trying the SWC :-)

5. Are you expanding or reducing the size of your garden in 2008?
Expanding!!! Yeah!!!

6. Will there be any major changes this year?
Yes, I have been gardening in only 2 - 2x8 beds fo rthe last couple of years. My first garden was 2 - 4x8's and 1 - 4x16. Of course that was BEFORE Mel came out with the Mel's Mix. The area that I had the garden in has a very invasive type tall grass. It absolutely took over the garden :-( So I abandoned that area and just put in 2 - 2x8's in a different area to use temporarily until I could get my new garden area going (which will be this year!). I had to fence the new garden area in because of the puppies who love to dig in the fluffy soil.

7. What is your greatest gardening success?
Year before last -- I had the BEST tomatoes!!! They were beautiful!

8. Do you have a gardening "AH-HA" moment?
Yeah, when I learned a couple of months ago that tomatoes don't like onions.... something on the onion roots that maybe causes wilt for tomatoes. Not really sure about this but I will never plant onions around my tomatoes again (just in case).

9. What is your best piece of advice for a newbie?
Gardening is an art and it takes patience. Don't expect everything to go right the first time. It's a learning process. Also, it's the best therapy you can get. There is nothing like eating vegetables out of your garden that YOU grew in your dirt.

10. 2008 will be a successful year for me if.......... my SWCs work like all the pics I've seen online LOL and I can get my new garden finished (meaning the 4x14 raised bed completed) in time to plant my corn :-) If not, that's ok -- I'll still have my 2 - 4x8 beds that I'll be planting other veggies in.

Here is a link that might be useful: Judy's Square Foot Garden Blog

1. In planning 2008, what are you most excited about ?

Getting back out in to the sun.

2. What new items will you be adding to your garden?

Brocolli. We eat a lot of it and I'm hoping I've finally figured out how to keep the caterpillars off it :-)

3. What plants are you not planting this year?

Sweetcorn, garlic & shallots.

4. What plants have you had difficulty with that you are going to pay extra attention to this year?

Basil, I've never given it the attention it deserves.

5. Are you expanding or reducing the size of your garden in 2008?

It's staying the same but we're reducing the number of crops.

6. Will there be any major changes this year?

Yes, all the beds have been moved to accomodate a new plot plan, the large greenhouse has been eliminated (tree fell on it) and the sowing plan has been adjusted to more accurately reflect what we like to eat fresh from the garden.

7. What is your greatest gardening success?

Tomatoes & Leeks

8. Do you have a gardening "AH-HA" moment?

Oh there have been several. The first taste of organically grown, fresh vegetables after 30 years of supermarket produce. The gamma hoe for weeding and 4' x 4' 20" high raised beds for kitchen gardening using the square foot method. If we're careful we can supply all the summer and fall vegetables we crave using 97 sq ft of raised beds and a 6' x 8' greenhouse.

9. What is your best piece of advice for a newbie?

Have fun and don't get hung up on what everyone else is doing. Start small with one or two 4' x 4' beds and a good vegetable gardening book like Mel's or the Vegetable Gardener's Bible.

10. 2008 will be a successful year for me if the kids have as much fun in the garden as I do.

Great thread!
Here I go...
1. In planning 2008, what are you most excited about ? Starting my SFG!
2. What new items will you be adding to your garden? Everything's new from the landscaping fabric on up. My entire veggie list is new and I'm hoping it all works out.
3. What plants are you not planting this year? I'm only planting what we eat, so no okra, zuchini, squash, asparagus. Oh and no mellons because it never dawned on me to actually grow them.
4. What plants have you had difficulty with that you are going to pay extra attention to this year? I'll let you know after this year.
5. Are you expanding or reducing the size of your garden in 2008? Definitely expanding, since I didn't have one last year.
6. Will there be any major changes this year? A new 130 SF raised bed garden.
7. What is your greatest gardening success? Designing and building my garden from scratch.
8. Do you have a gardening "AH-HA" moment? When I found out I can get 200 stalks of corn in my 44 SF corn bed rather than Mel's suggested 44 stalks. We'll see how 8 inch rows with 4 inch spacing works.
9. What is your best piece of advice for a newbie? Read my blog to see all the mistakes I make so you don't make them.

10. 2008 will be a successful year for me if.......... Most of what I plant for the first time works half as well as I hope, and I learn how to do better next year!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

1. Beginning my "remodel" in my front flower bed.
2. Japanese boxwoods, Golden Euonymus and mini roses.
3. Daylilies. I have SO many, I don't know what to do.
4. Hostas. I love them. But so do the slugs. YUK.
5. Keeping what I have, but "upgrading" everything. May take a couple years though.
6. Yes. I am adding small shrubs and hedges to front bed so that it will have more year-around interest.
7. Pretty much my whole yard. When I moved in 19 years ago, it looked like a little house in a flat meadow. Now I have trees, shrubs, hedges, and flowers. I have taken pictures every couple of years since I moved in and the changes are wonderful.
8. Oh yeah. DO NOT plant privet hedges. They are HORRIBLE.
9. Always keep in mind what the MATURE size of the plant will be. Never get discouraged. It is the best therapy for what ails you. Even if all I do is deadhead all my flowers, I find all the stress is gone. And I have a tan.

10. I don't throw my back out again and I finish my mile long winter blues list for spring, summer and fall.

Hey newgardenelf! Just wondering, are you planning on compiling the answers?

1. In planning 2008, what are you most excited about ? Smoking my own chipolte peppers

2. What new items will you be adding to your garden?
Pablano peppers, thunbergia (black eyed susan vine.)

3. What plants are you not planting this year?
winter sqaush.

4. What plants have you had difficulty with that you are going to pay extra attention to this year?
cantelope and tomatoes (dang blight!)

5. Are you expanding or reducing the size of your garden in 2008?
staying the same.

6. Will there be any major changes this year?
no

7. What is your greatest gardening success?
Kentucky Blue greenbeans. The greatest success becuase they are always a success.

8. Do you have a gardening "AH-HA" moment?
When I learned that tests showed that caffine kept slugs away, it wasn't much of a leap to figure out how to use all those coffee grounds! Mulch for tomatoess! It works!

9. What is your best piece of advice for a newbie?
Don't stress over it! This is supposed to be fun and relaxing, remember?

10. 2008 will be a successful year for me if..........
    We get any rain at all in July.