The key to a good garden is good preparation in the fall. Spring weather can be erratic and if the ground isn’t prepared ahead of planting, the plantings will be late or not happen.

Maybe hit thistle and other hard to kill weeds with RoundUp in the fall, that way the residual amount will be negligible in the Spring. The beds need to be tilled and then top-dressed with mulch in the fall to keep the spring weeds down.

The Early Girl II tomatoes have been producing since mid-June, and the Champion II plants are producing as well. These are both winners for early tomatoes, and kept producing well into October until the daytime temperatures dropped into the 50s.

The okra is not growing well, and that needs to get in earlier.

The basil in pots is doing well, and I probably need at least 3 pots and should seed every three weeks.

There is no reason to plant mustard greens.

8 romaine plants are enough. It bolts too fast to plant any more than that. Parsley should be seeded early, like before May 1.

It looks like the Malabar spinach is doing very well in the pot. I’ll definitely do it that way next year.

My eggplant did very well, all though most of it went to waste as we didn’t use it. We’ll need to prepare better for it’s usage. With the kids here we didn’t make as much pasta with vegetables as we used to and they were no completely content eating mostly vegetables.

There were a few pole beans in October, but not enough to use. I planted them July 15th, which is way too late. Also, some critter chewed through the stems after the plants were a couple feet high. It might not work as a follow up to peas.

I think I want to get the cucumbers closer to the house so that I can water them more. I think that they would have produced longer with more water.