Here in Bowling Green where the land is flat and soybean and corn surround us, gardening can be a challenge. The growing season does last long enough to enjoy many phases of plantings from the later winter bulbs to the late fall mums and many varieties bloom for a long time.

Not so good is the quality of the soil does not allow for good food crop of anything. It seems the flowers take to the soil well and may have less blooms or other small maladies but I just can't get a good crop of tomatoes, cukes, etc. I am working hard each summer to figure it out. This year with a wet spring, hot summer, and a wet fall, the tomatoes were a big bust.

What a neat idea for a thread. I live in Nyssa,OR which is in high desert. My soil is very alkaline, but lucky at this house the volcanic basalt is very deep (my last house, I only had 12" of soil). The good parts are distinct seasons, easy access to irrigation water and less pests and disease since we have little to no humidity all summer. The bad part is at zone 6 a lot of the lush tropical plants are not hardy. Many plants prefer acid soil so there are no hydrangea's for me. The seasons don't always change smoothly, so late springs and early winters can really disrupt the growing season. Finally, everything must be irrigated to survive. Oh and my last "hate" puncture vine (sometimes called goat heads) love it here. I step on at least one a day I swear, since my little boys drag them in on their boots. My favorite flowers I grow are roses, hollyhocks and iris. I jokingly say anything that looks like a daisy grows well here...but I have a lot of echinacea, rudbeckia, galliardia, sunflowers and coreopsis.

looking forward to reading more of these posts.