No, it's not early... I have been thinking the same. I have grown too much of the same variety and wind up not consuming fast enough. I have to literally bag my friend and neighbors to take some produce. I have 8 raised beds that are 4x8 each plus a different area fir tomatoes and berries. Next year, I am thinking trying out square foot gardening for some if the raised beds and plant more varieties. I also plan to grow some durable produce such as winter squashes and kale.

While this year's harvest is still fresh in our minds, it's a good idea to think about what we would like to grow next year. Perhaps less tomato plants? Different varieties? More of something else? At least we should mull it over, make some notes, and try to figure out how we could improve upon the enjoyment of our gardens.

Linda

I already have next year's rotation down and I finish things up this year with that in mind.

I've got my plans and plot layout spread sheets but can't really post them here where they would be legible.

Oh boy where to start!!!

Only 3 tomatoes compared to 6 this year. Probably 1 Black Krim or Cherokee Purple, 1 Big Beef and a Sungold or SS 100 cherry. 3 tomatillos (Tomayo and Toma Verde) will replace the other tomatoes since I want to can a lot of Salsa Verde next year. I put up over 30 pints of Annie's salsa this year so that should last us 2 years.

Peppers - 10-12 total - Carmen, Escamillo, Anaheim, Jalapeno, and some type of red or yellow bell.

Cucumbers - This year I canned enough pickles to last 2 years so I'm going to cut back on cukes to only 2 - 4' rows. Probably a few slicers TBD and a some Vertina picklers.

Potatoes - German Butterball and Pinto fingerling from Maine potatoe lady will be new for me and I will also grow some Yukon gold and French Fingerling from saved tubers from this season.

Garlic - already planted 231 cloves of 10 varieties a few weeks ago and probably close to 100 have sprouted.

Other alliums - Overwintered Evergreen white bunching onions plus some more grown from seed. Pontiac and Red Marble bulbing onions from Johnny's. King Richard and Bandit leeks.

Brassicas (Spring) - Bay Meadows and Early DIvidend broccoli, (fall) Jade Cross E Brussels Sprouts, Cheddar Cauliflower, Early Dividend, Arcadia, and Bay Meadows broccoli.

Asparagus - 4 beds planted total (~ 80 crowns)- Jersey Knight and Mary Washington from 2009, Jersey Supreme from 2013, Purple Passion and Pacific Purple 2015.

Squash - mutipik yellow straight neck, Elite Zucchini, Waltham Butternut, Honey Bear Acorn

Lettuce (Spring and fall) - Dragoon, Breen, Muir, and Sparx.

Beans/Peas - Mammoth Melting snow peas, Provider bush, Maxibel fillet bush, Rattlesnake pole, and maybe Emerite pole.

Other - carrots, radish, horse radish, herbs, shallots.

AND WHATEVER OTHER SEEDS THAT MAGICALLY APPEAR IN MY MAILBOX :)

I'm mulching and putting beds to rest. Plans for next year:

keep up with the fruit trees and try to get a few fruits to eat. So many years of failure and no fruits so far.

Kids don't like tomatoes, cut down to one plant of Rutgers and one of Sweet cherry variety.

plant more Calima beans, did great this year.

make two trips to the nursery, one in end of March for cool crops and one in early May to hot weather stuff. Going mid/end of April isn't good for either cool or hot weather stuff .

And so on....

Wow Lone Jack! That sounds exhausting, but I don't think you have enough tomato plants in your plan :P .

Chris, I'm sure you are right! I had too many tomato plants this year, but what if I grew less than 30 plants next year and something catastrophic happened or some of them didn't perform?????

Linda

Jack, I wouldn't expect anything less from your detailed, methodical self! lol Always great to see what you're up to over there.

Linda, 30??? I only had 5. Hence my search for more space!

Susu what kind of fruit trees?

Jack, I always grow a few extra early varieties in 3 gallon pots on the patio. (Seeds are germinated in mid-feb for ripe fruit in mid-May). They get put outside early, but can come back inside if the weather clamps down!

Linda

You are probably right Linda but if I am not canning any then 3 should be enough for fresh eating. I harvested almost 350 tomatoes from 5 slicers this year. If something catastrophic happens I can get all I need from a market farmer a few miles down the road that grows ~500 tomato plants of which about 1/2 are heirloom.

Something new for me might be trying to grow some of the potatoes using the deep straw method where the seed is placed on top of the ground and then deep straw is used to hill them up.

I've got one single 4x6 raised bed and a few 5-gallon buckets. Trying for the first time to extend growing/harvesting into winter weather. Things still in the garden (we haven't had a freeze yet, but any day):

sugar snap peas
kale
chard
carrots
radishes
turnips and rutabagas (although these roots aren't developing well so I'm harvesting the leaves)
mizuna
lettuce
broccoli
garlic (just planted)

Plans for next spring are coming along. Going to try moving the peas and beans out of the raised bed into the 5-gallon buckets. Going to try growing edamame. Seeing if I have any better luck with spring turnips, since the fall ones have been mostly bulbless. Other warm-weather crops I've done and will do again: cherry tomatoes, lots of basil, purple heirloom beans (but less than this past summer), more carrots.

I am amazed you can cramp so much into so little space. Kudos!

Chris I got grapes Reliance, peach Elberta, Fuji Apple, unknown variety raspberry inherited from previous owners and few Blue Crop blue berries that I just planted this year. Not expecting anything from blue berries but sad that all the other fruit trees get loaded w fruits in the spring and by August non left on the trees to ripen because of pest and diseases. I've tried no spray method for years but no fruit just trees. But I finally decided to get a bottle of Liquid Copper and spray the heck outta them. Hopefully I'll have home grown fruit in my future.

This year was my first serious year gardening but I got a late start. My plan next year is to be rather promiscuous when it comes to tomatoes, peppers and pollinators. I hope to plant many varieties of tomatoes, peppers and flowers to figure out what works best for me. I also plan on planting eggplants, cucumbers, herbs, peas, lettuce, melons and other veggies.

That is impressive Laura in such a small space! I will not grow any berries... too many birds, too much work and they don't taste as good home grown for me. I have apple trees that won't flower or fruit and I don't get it... but also two wonderful pear trees.

Alright! It's early but I am game for sharing some preliminary plans. I will try to compete with Jack in completeness.

First, the losers.

Okra: I give up. 3 years of failure, one meal's worth of frozen okra, not worth the trouble. Maybe if I get a real okra itch I will try a plant in a pot. They just don't do well for me for whatever reasons.

Asparagus: After not harvesting any last year despite vigorous plants I could have cut, they were inexplicably a dud this year. I neglected weeding and they are probably dead. I won't replant.

Broccoli: So much space for so little reward. Still on the fence, but will definitely not grow Green Magic again. I will look to Jack for advice on a variety if I do grow them again, but I doubt it looking at the list below if what I want to cram in.

Soybeans: Not worth the space/effort

Cardoon: Too much work for the reward.

Artichokes: On the fence... require chemical aphid control and not a big fan of that.

Hmm I thought I had more losers than that...

So what will I grow?

Pumpkins: I cut them out this year and I regret it. Cinnamon Girl pumpkins will be back next year.

Zucchini: I wound up with 5 plants this year and it was a nightmare. 2, 3 tops if I have people to give them away to. I tried some frozen blanched zucchini last night and it was rubbery and gross. I will not plan on preserving any. Alexandria and maybe one other variety. Probably not Zephyr again.

Beans: Fortex again of course, looking to add something unique to go with it.

Winter Squash: I will cut spaghetti squash, and go back to Table Queen Acorn, it was pur favorite we have grown, along with Bush Delicata returning again.

Tomatoes: Like Chris I grew less this year and it was no good. I preserved none. I will probably replace Sungold with Sun Sugar, fed up with the cracking, and the rest maybe 6-7 Golden Rave, as they are the only tomatoes my wife will eat, and plan to do some canning, and grow maybe 2 Jet Star for my own fresh eating and gifting.

Peppers: You can never have too many peppers. They are expensive, and both freeze well and can well (roasted). I will grow my usual Ace red bell, Goddess bananas were a huge win this year, I am going to cut Biscayne cubanelle and replace with Carmen. I will grow again 1 Numex Suave Orange mild habs, and perhaps 1 super spicy just for fun. Maybe a Peter Pepper if I can find some seeds.

Eggplant: Galine is wonderful and will return, I will probably cut Hansel and replace with a different speciality type. They get hard and inedible sometimes and produce tiny eggplants... a bit of a hit or miss. Maybe I will look for something more colorful.

Potatoes: Red Gold and Kennebec will return, maybe add a fingerling variety.

Onions: I will grow 2-3 varieties, haven't decided which yet.

Shallots: Planted Crusader shallot sets last week. (A few)

Garlic: Planted 105 or so cloves of Russian Red and Music last week.

Leeks: Megaton leeks were a winner.

Beets: Red Ace beets are a huge winner.

Snap Peas: Ditto for Sugar Snaps.

Carrots; Bolero and Purple Haze again probably.

Lettuce: Sparx, Muir, and a yet to be decided variety (we did not like Adriana this year... very grassy.)

Cabbage: Quick Start again.

Cauliflower: Due to the exquisite taste of home grown cauliflower, I will try a yet to be decided variety again next year.

Whew I think that does it, but I am probably forgetting something. I have also got the perennial chives and sage and thyme, and self seeding oregano and mint and mustard greens.

Did you get any snow Chris? I came home and the plants are still miraculously alive. Frost in the garden has still failed to fully materialize.

Susu, I'm sorry to hear about your apple trees. I know they can be a big pain to maintain. How tall are the trees? Is there just the one apple tree?

Laura, now that's making the best of what you've got!!

Peter, wow! Looks like Jack and yourself have your work cut out for you. No snow, that I saw. If it snowed at home, it melted before I got home from work.

Even for a northerner with long winters like me, indoors seed starting time is only 4 months away, better start thinking about it!

I have a small backyard and managed to build two 4'x8' plus one 2'x8' (with cold-frame) raised beds and used over a dozen 5gal pails for peppers, without taking over the whole space.

Peppers: mostly a success this year. I will grow less varieties, but more of those I liked and performed well. Planning on: Scotch Bonnet, mild Jwala, mini-sweets and yellow Rocoto. I'm respectively overwintering 1, 1, 0 and 2 plants each variety. I might start one more SB in Feb, one or two Jwala and 5-6 mini-sweets.

Tomatoes: were awesome in 2015, but a dud this year, very few fruits, but tasty. I'm hoping next year goes better, love me some 'maters. I'll be growing more variety from seed I brought back from family in eastern Europe.

Cucumbers: also did not perform well this year and it was apparently like this for most folks in my area, for some reason. Will try again with Cornichon de Paris pickling cukes. What little I got was good enough. I'll have to implement a vertical solution for the vines, so as not to waste space like I did the last two seasons.

Bush beans were truly plentiful this year, over 3-4 heavy flushes, will grow same variety next year. Will perhaps try runner beans too.

I'll be starting more root vegetables early in the season, namely carrot and beets. I'll still do lots of French Breakfast radishes, those worked wonderfully. I'll also try fall radishes in the spring, black and daikon. Those have not been doing well in the fall this year.

For leaf vegetables, lettuce and spinach will return. My Swiss chard mostly got trashed by leaf miners and then got bitter in mid-summer; don't know if I'll bother again, sadly. I also often just throw a bunch of mustard seeds in empty spots, these make for some quick and tasty baby greens.

Might try okra again. This year's failure is most likely my fault for burying the stems too deep and having them rot.

I have 11 cloves of garlic already in the ground, from the only 3 plants that survived frost heave last spring. I hope the scapes don't get mined by insects again.

For herbs, I'll do parsley, cilantro, basil, maybe others if I get seeds on a whim.

I'd like to try potatoes, but don't have a lot of space to devote. I might build a stacked 2'x2' bed and bury the plants over and over.

Nice well thought out plan Peter. I'll let you know how my Cheddar cauliflower turns out to help you decide if you want to try it. It is very slow to form heads but heads are forming. So far it has been pretty self blanching (although not needed since it is not white). I have to carefully pull back some leaves just to see the little 1-2" heads.

I think I will try the Ace bell peppers on your recommendation as well. I have some California wonder and Big Bertha seeds. CW is ok but nothing special and BB indeed puts out some huge peppers but not that many and are slow to ripen. I want uniform sized blocky peppers to use for stuffed peppers.

I forgot to list Galine Eggplant on my list. I think I can fit a couple in the same bed as my 2 tomatoes. I think I have 6 seeds left.

Thanks guys! I do square foot gardening to maximize my space. We also have a "roof" built over our bed with chicken wire framing to keep out most larger pests, birds, squirrels, etc: Covered Raised Garden Bed

For winter, I'm covering the "roof" with clear plastic tarp to create a greenhouse environment. That's how I'm hoping to get a few more months out of the harvest.

Great plans, Isgen. I agree with the cucumbers, but I didn't grow nearly enough. I'm going to trellis them next year as well. I think I'll build an A-frame style one and put it on the northwest side of the garden, so it doesn't shade anything. If you want to try pole beans, I wonder how Fortex would do for you. Peter can speak to how prolific they can be. I had them in a bad location, but the ones I did grow were delicious.

Fortex is fantastic! But they are a regular (large) bean. They seem to prefer cooler weather and are extremely prolific.

I have heard some bad things about Cheddar.... but let me know how the fall planting turns out.

Bell Peppers weren't great for me this year in the drought. Last year I grew North Star F1 which tasted way better than Cal. Wonder and Shepherd. This year I grew North Star, Donkey Ears and Lipstick which were all ok raw (when red) and excellent cooked.

Beans weren't great either, but at least Insuk's Wang Kong runner beans came back when it rained and we enjoyed several meals of them.

My Macintosh Apples were great. Productive and tasty. Liberty was skimpy (must fertilize that tree next year) and Courtland was a dead loss - yet again, because of insect damage. I'm planning to spray my apples with Surround next year.

Linda

Never too early. I make notes for the following year during the current growing season, and I have a tentative tomato growlist planned years in advance, LOL. So many varieties, only so much garden space and time!

Some things I'd like to try next year are: winter sowing, more multi-season gardening (being better about taking advantage of spring and fall to grow fast-maturing cool-weather veggies), and trying out some DIY clay ollas.

I also am constantly tweaking and building my ornamental beds (the ones in the back and side are basically pollinator-oriented and less about what humans find decorative) and now I'm trying to put together some nice shade beds in areas where the former owner just let a bunch of goutweed grow. I also have plans to try to replace a lot of lawn with less demanding cover, and I'm always testing out plants and researching that. So I already have tons of things on next year's to-do list.

I'm always planning ahead but I also stay flexible and open to changes. That's the most enjoyable way to garden for me.

What I learned from my garden this year is that making it smaller made it much more manageable for me. I was able to keep up with it better, so I enjoyed it more.

I grew a four row block of corn, which was very good, and gave me lots to freeze. Next year I'll use that space for a short season summer melon and some winter squash that I didn't grow this year.

I also need to grow 1 1/2 times the amount of Zinnias to line the street side of my garden. So pretty!

Right now I'm enjoying the three different kinds of mini pumpkins I grew. Can't eat them, but they make great fall decorations.

Wow it is nice to see everyone come out of the woodwork to share their 2017 plans... the site has seemed very slow lately. Keep it coming. :)

I forgot to mention cukes... they were another fail for me this year and I don't think I will try again next year, I just don't have the space to put them where they will do well and don't like them that much.

I plan on planting pretty much the same things as in 2016. I have 3 gardens with about 7500 sq. ft. ...plus some fruit.

I plan on 7 plantings of sweet corn with 4 varieties; 2 plantings of tomatoes with about 45 plants of several varieties; a dozen watermelons of about 5 varieties with more Raspa than the others; about 7 cantaloupes, especially Burpee Early Hyb. Crenshaw and Willhite Sugar Queen; 6 rows of Fordhook 242 green lima bean; O'Henry yellow sweet potato and a few orange ones; Kennebec and a few Yukon Gold potatoes; Romance carrots and some beets in 2 plantings; Candy and 2 or 3 other onions; 3 varieties of broccoli and 2 cauliflower in both spring and fall; perhaps some popcorn; winter and zucchini squash; some bell peppers and eggplant.

I have a very nice new strawberry patch coming on...Earlyglo, Galletta, Flavorfest, and Jewel. I also specialize in gladolias and crested cockscomb, red poppies, and Oklahoma series zinnia. Yes, it is an ambitious gardening plan, but it is my delight.

Wayne do you sell that stuff? It is my dream to have a garden like that and make a living off of it.

No, it is spaced out pretty good during the season and over winter.

Peter, you could probably produce enough to sell. Maybe not on a large scale, but definitely enough to cover your garden expenses, until you get more space :-)

I have heard some bad things about Cheddar.... but let me know how the fall planting turns out.

Now I am curious...what bad things have you heard?

Other than it being very slow I don't have any complaints but then I have not eaten any yet. lol

I gave my brother in Minnesota a few plants in late June and he just harvested the first heads last week and said they were the best tasting cauliflower they ever ate.

I am considering doing a farmers market next year.

I don't recall exactly what I read about Cheddar, but I do recall making a mental note not to pick it -- IIRC is was regarding bolting.

OK cool. I don't plan to grow any in the spring and I don't think they will bolt on me in November :)

My (very nice) neighbor came over and cut down 3 scrub trees for me, so I can expand...I am mostly going to use that area for squash , but now I have my old squash area open for business! I am all set for space for most everything, but would like to expand my pole bean varieties. My neighbors are older people, mid 60's, and I keep them in produce all summer, but would love more beans. Now that I have more space, I would like to try artichokes again...I love them, but they took up so much space...huge alien looking things!!!!!!!!!!

As for planning, I think I start planning my next year's garden as soon as I'm done planting in the Spring! I am constantly tweaking the varieties on my favorite list, and pretty much plant what grows best and produces best for me. I try a few "new" things every year, but they are all heirlooms.

I used some of my winter squash space to grow a melon. Melon was tasty (chose a variety I found at the previous summer's farmers market) but we didn't get enough squash.

Opalka is my preferred paste tomato but I also like the small Vilms for dehydrating. Paul Robeson was new to me this year and will grow again. I always have too many tomatoes but I did a better job this year shifting to more paste types and fewer slicers.

I grew too many peppers after being seduced by catalog descriptions. I don't think I like any of the "tastes like habanero but not as hot" types. But, after making yesterdays Asian cayenne hot sauce with Sweet Cayennes, I will grow that variety again. Will also try to grow more Aleppo peppers since I've fallen in love with the dried, ground pepper (fruity and a little hot). Carmen always has a place in my garden but this year I found some new sweet peppers that I'll also grow next year.

Thanks to a seed starting workshop, I came home with some seeds and seedlings. Two plants turned out to be a purple cauliflower which is much sweeter than regular cauliflower. Here in zone 5, the second one is finally mature, maybe a month different than the first. Now I need to find out what it was.

My husband loves potatoes but I need to put more effort into growing a good baker. I do a first hilling with dirt but then hill with straw. You need to pack the straw well around the plants because some varieties try to grow out of the ground and any sunlight turns them green.

Was very happy with the two varieties of patty pan summer squash so will grow again next year but one hill of Romanesco zucchini is enough. Need to make hills further apart to avoid a squash jungle where squash hide until overgrown.

Did not grow parsnips. We will miss them next spring.

I need to learn how to grow better leeks. Last year did fine with purchased seedlings. This year, not fine.

Need to solve furry critter problem. Lost many beets and carrots to voles.

Last year we spent 4th of July in upper mid-coast Maine where I found a nursery selling great veggie 6-packs, timed for the arrival of summer people who don't get their gardens in early. By July 1, any 6-packs around home aren't worth buying. I need to do a better job of seed starting things like broccoli etc. Did not plant bush beans after harvesting garlic so we didn't have the late fresh beans we've had in the past. For me, this requires using a low tunnel to protect them from a mid-September frost. Wouldn't you know, it was later this year.

Out of the 15 or so tomato plants I had this past year, I pulled all but two of them almost 3 weeks ago. The two remaining; a black prince and a sungold are still producing as of today...November 3rd in Mpls!

With the forecast this coming week, I will not pull them until after my week of deer hunting, and expect to get many more fruits by the time it finally freezes here.

It was a long season for us here. I planted my first bed of greens outdoors in March this year as an experiment. That bed is still loaded with huge Swiss chard plants.

My kale and august planted spinach are still going strong.

It has been great year overall for me with the exception of my carrots, as I lost about half of them to rot due to a torrent of heavy summer rains.

Now I am collecting leaves from our neighbors to cover all my beds and eventually fill up my shed with at least 40-50 bags to be used next year as a carbon mix with my yard grass clippings.

I have diagrammed out my 2017 garden already and now am looking forward to more hunting, canning deer meat, and finally a long winter of relaxation and solitude ice fishing and time in the darkhouse spearing pike here on our frozen lakes.

This year I tried various ways to deal with several week long times away from home and the garden. By picking some very tiny beans,cucumbers, and summer squash right before leaving, the plants stayed in flowering mode and continued to make veggies that were about the right size when we returned home. Lots of mulch, mostly leaves saved from the previous fall, kept the soil moist enough for everything to stay alive through dry and hot times.

I plan more of the same for next year which will probably have multiple times away again. I'll probably try some succession plantings of bush beans so that when I come home to large pods they can just be left for dry beans and a new planting will soon come into production to take it's place. The usual pole beans may be used mainly for dry beans that I don't have to work to keep picked when I'm not even there to do so.

Tonight, my husband and I began working on next year's plan. Since tomorrow is trash pickup day, we drove around collecting bagged leaves from the curbs to store and use as mulch next summer :) We also continue to get unbagged leaves from 2 neighbors that will cover some areas through the winter. While leaf-napping, we also found a screen door in the trash that will replace the front panel of our compost bin that I broke today. Since it would not fit easily in the car, my husband walked through the neighborhood carry it. LOL So nice of him to help with my gardening addiction!

naturegirl - that must be challenging trying to garden when your not there to harvest but it sounds like you made it work for you. I don't think I could be away from my garden for longer that 4 or 5 days at a time from about mid may until sometime in September. I wish I could find someone to collect leaves for me here. Most of my neighbors just burn them since we are in the sticks.

tbenjr - Good luck with the deer hunt this week. Our opening day is Nov. 12 here in Missouri. Yesterday a co-worker showed me a picture of a buck taken about 20 miles north of me by a 13 year old girl on the youth hunt weekend that was HUGE - it scored 218 points on Boone and Crocket!

NatureGirl - that is hilarious about the leaf-napping. I'm glad you are taking them, because they shouldn't be thrown out. I think I read that about 25% of municipal waste is food and yard trimmings. That's all potential black gold... and FREE!

It begins...

Today the final decisions were made for 2016 garlic. The spot was chosen, the soil prepared and the cloves were planted. Now the bed is mulched and set for several months. Funny thing is, for the last two or three years we have been saying that the area where I just planted garlic should be put back into lawn. But so far, I just haven't been able to get along without that space :)

Awesome naturegirl. what did you plant exactly? Garlic is a find space to plant it anywhere thing for me too.

It's the Pinetree catalog.

Johnny's has the new stuff up on their website. I really want their catalog though, it is great and compares all the varieties.

Peter, I planted about 7 cloves each of about 12 varieties. Unfortunately, my labels for 2015-16 had some troubles and I'm not positive what everything was. I planted cloves from the best bulbs of several varieties...pretty sure of Chesnok Red, Bogatyr, Duganski, German Red, German Extra Hardy, Music (doubled up on these...14), Spanish Roja, Turkish Giant, and then some others I'll try to match up with my previous grow list when they grow and scape next summer. One unknown is a very colorful hardneck that has nice sized cloves. I grew more varieties last year, but some of the ones with missing labels also grew poorly, so I figured this was a good time to take them out of the line up. This years planting has excellent labels AND 2 maps (located in separate places inside) of the bed's contents. There should not be a mix up at the next harvest!

There was a bit of extra space so I added a few yellow shallots, gourmet red shallots, and some leftover onion sets that were kinda shriveled.

I planted yesterday in sunshine and 65-70 F weather. Then this morning we saw our first snowflakes of the season. It is very windy and the snow is now mixed with rain and sleet. Quite dreadful, but I dropped my husband off to watch a championship high school football game nearby. He is wearing 6 layers or so top and bottom. I'm staying inside the rest of today unless he decides he isn't going to take his normal walk home and calls for a ride.

Wow sounds great, nice variety, post pictures of the harvest next year on the Allium forum! I planted a similar amount but only Music and Russian Red. They did get planted everywhere so I also made a map. I have never seen yellow shallots before... I planted some home-grown shallot sets myself as well early in the fall. A few have sprouted but not many. Hopefully they didn't rot.

It was absolutely gorgeous, 65F today. I was outside dealing with leaves all day. I wish I could say I was nearly finished. I put 1-2" of poorly shredded leaves throughout the garden, mixed with some Espoma products for N to aid in breakdown and P/K for next year. There's a small amount of grass clippings in there too. I have some half finished compost (mostly weeds) I am debating whether to put down now or in the spring... it will probably depend on if I have the time.

Tomorrow it will be back to cold weather here... forecast of about 45F High/ 30F Low for the entire 10 day forecast. Glad I got to enjoy this beautiful day outside, even if it was shredding leaves. I think I will skip on the yard work tomorrow as well.

I think I am going to order some stuff from Baker's Creek this year. I want to try something fancy rather than all the old tried-and-true hybrid varieties. I'd like to try my hand at saving some seed too. Plus, they've got the veggie porn catalog.

Thinking about this onion: http://www.rareseeds.com/wethersfield-red-on/

Maybe a lavender eggplant: http://www.rareseeds.com/rosita-eggplant/

I'm going to try Nadia eggplant for my reliable variety next year for the verticillium resistance.

A colored beefsteak tomato. Maybe this one: http://www.rareseeds.com/lucid-gem-tomato/

We got snow last night, and boy there is a winter chill in the air this morning. I think winter has arrived. At least it wasn't enough to have to shovel.

We received about 3" of snow here and it got cold and very windy. I heard that some locations in upstate NY received as much as a foot from lake-effect snow. Looks like the temps will still yo-yo a little, but less than before. Some cold air might penetrate deep into the central US by late next week.

Peter, the Lucid Gem tomato looks interesting. I've grown some other varieties bred by Brad Gates. Pork Chop is one of his I really like. In the past, I've been given a few seeds of quite a few varieties of Baker Creek seeds. It was fun to have free seeds so I could grow a plant or two of lots of varieties and see all the interesting results. However, many of the tried and true heirlooms AND hybrids that aren't unique looking are great producers and good ones to have, too.

I'm planning to have a few Big Beef, Early Girl, and Sungold or Sunsugar tomato plants next year...and whatever varieties with unique colors and shapes that make their way to the top of my seed stash by planting time next spring. Our local library has a seed exchange early in the spring where I usually pick up a few new-to-me tomatoes, so I won't decide for sure what I'm growing til then.

I'll be going with unusual tomato varieties as well next year. I was given a bunch of seeds from family in eastern Europe, with nothing more than descriptive labels, such as; black, yellow, brown, fish, pear, etc... I've eaten most of these when I was there on vacation though, good stuff and looking forward to grow them here! The "fish" tomatoes are neat and I like the appellation as they really do look like fish peppers with the variegation.