Christina, my garden is in Missouri and my peppers also did much better than the tomatoes. Next year I'm going to put some tomatoes into big buckets and hope for better results

Hi ladies! I look forward to hearing from more newbies...what a great post idea, Christina! This year was NOT a good year for alot of tomato growers. I'm in the northeast and it wasn't a good year here.

Glad to know it wasn't poor skill on my part! I got a ton of jalepeno, banana, and baby belle peppers. I deseeded and froze a lot for soups and stir frying. Even my cherry tomatoes didn't go well, which was disappointing. I'm looking at raised bed plans. Any suggestions?

I would go to youtube and do a search on "raised bed ideas" and "raised beds easy".

Are you or your spouse crafty in that way, will you build, buy or will you contract out?

This is actually good timing because there are other things to consider like how to prep the area and what will you fill the bed with.

My spouse and neighbor are planning and plotting. I kept them happy in peppers all summer/fall so they are being helpful. As far as I know, it's going to be 10x4x18inches but that may change by spring. It going along my fence, as I live in a townhouse. But I hope to use the fence for snap peas and cucumbers.

Good to see your names again -- I've missed our "May" update thread for the past 7 months! :)

My garden did okay this year... tomatoes weren't great, as others have reported. In fact, not much really qualified as "great", except maybe my tomatillos (first year growing those), onions, beets, and some herbs. I got a few squash, lemon cucumbers, and small numbers of radishes, tomatoes, peas, and various peppers. One of the squash was a butternut, which was fun and delicious (if a bit small).

Didn't manage to harvest any Brussels sprouts, and only got a little bit of broccoli (which took all season to grow), but the broccoli got MUCH larger than last year, so I think the soil amendments I started this year did help.

I also built a composter (top-down style), and that's been fun to fill up. We'll see whether it actually works. :)

Lastly, I got some blossoms from seed-started flowers for the first time this year: a few marigolds, and tons of violas (which only just died last week)! I also had my first ever nasturtium grow /almost/ to blossom size before being killed by the cold.

Yay for successes, even if they’re small! I never thought of growing broccoli, was it hard? My marigolds from seed did well, but my snapdragons didn’t flourish much.

This was my second year doing broccoli. I wouldn't call it "hard", but I'm also not sure I'm doing it right. :)

It's supposed to have a fairly low DTM, but last year mine grew about 2' tall over the entire season, and this year it took almost that long to get a single head. It /was/ delicious, though, and didn't seem to have any problems with pests/disease. It also doesn't mind a bit of frost.

Seed ordering! I got my 2018 burpees catalogue today! All the wonderful photos. I've started my lists (have to have, wish list, and in my dreams). What is everyone thinking of planting?

An update from our school garden :)

So much has happened in The Garden of Hope over the past year! In collaboration with our community growers who were willing to help grow our extra plants, we were able to donate over 150 pounds of produce to our local food pantries! :) thank you all for your generosity toward our students. It is so much appreciated! :)

If you would like to follow the events of our school garden, you can check out our school garden Facebook page. It is called:

The Garden of Hope Millersburg

We also have a website that is under construction. The address is:

www.gardenofhopemillersburg.com

Thank you all again! Looking forward to more growing news this spring! :)