While it's fresh in your mind, what improvements will you make on next year's garden?

[igorsMistress]

I'm working on a pile of cardboard for next year, need to put up my little greenhouse so I can plant my seeds for an earlier start and I now have row covers. I figure when the plastic rots I can zip tie shade to them and keep using in summer.
Working on the compost, but it's more like a hugel mound with all the tree limbs in there. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.
Working on calling tree removal companies to see if they'll dump some good stuff in my back yard.

 

[lazy gardener]

@lazy gardener

So if I read that right......
I basically make a channel between the panels 15" or so wide with the plants in between.
I assume T posts to hold it all up.
I LIKE it. Easy, sturdy, long lasting my kinda thing.

I have one panel already laying about doing nothing.

Not sure why I never thought of it.

Yep, you got it. 6' posts do the job nicely. I like to put the panels up about 8 - 12" above the ground, so it's easier to cultivate as needed around the tomatoes. I put up one panel, plant the tomatoes along side it, then put up the second panel, sandwiching the plants in the middle.

Yes to this -- I didn't have nearly enough this summer, and what I did get suffered from bottom end rot (my soil was crap this year -- I'm working on it!).

I don't have any salsa or canned tomatoes for this winter. Meh.

Bottom end rot is usually caused by poor calcium uptake in the plant. Usually, calcium levels in the soil are fine, but with cold weather stress, or changes in water uptake, the plant can't take up and utilize the calcium. Ensuring that the plants are warm enough will go a long ways to preventing this sad affair! BTE will ensure consistent moisture which will be an other BER preventive.

https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/blossom-end-rot/5354.html

I'm working on a pile of cardboard for next year, need to put up my little greenhouse so I can plant my seeds for an earlier start and I now have row covers. I figure when the plastic rots I can zip tie shade to them and keep using in summer.
Working on the compost, but it's more like a hugel mound with all the tree limbs in there. Not sure what I'm going to do with it.
Working on calling tree removal companies to see if they'll dump some good stuff in my back yard.

I call appliance stores. They are more than happy to save their appliance boxes for me. I call ahead, and set up a pick up time at their ware house. I can bring home a truck load at a time. A load will go quite a ways in the sheet compost, poison ivy control, and BTE areas.

Good luck with the tree removal companies. We had a wild storm that toppled trees throughout our state, and put power out for many days. All the companies are working as hard as they can to clear the roads and power lines. Yet, with all this activity, I have not been able to score a single load. They simply won't deliver to a private residence, even though I have very good dumping access.

 

[deepbluesea]

Very mixed bag for me this year. I traveled in July and then had a health set-back (fixed now, thankfully), so it got out of control much earlier than usual this year.

Good
Cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes did well. Saved seeds.
Hot peppers (habanero and jalapeno) were prolific and tasty.
Bell peppers were productive but much smaller than I wanted.
Fennel and dill did their things as food for caterpillars.
Greens did well overall
My lemongrass is about 6'x6'

No-so-good
The German Johnson tomatoes didn't set fruit at ALL. It was very hot and humid here, so I'm wondering if it was just above the temp at which this cultivar sets fruit. Back to Black Krim and Hillbilly Potatoleaf for me.

The cilantro bolted waaaay before I could do more than freeze it.

I let the jasmine vines gain the upper hand and now it's going to be a pain to get rid of it all. They've draped all over my blackberries.

Next year--new large tomato type, plant only one type of squash, set up redneck coldframe with straw bales and old shower doors.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Very mixed bag for me this year. I traveled in July and then had a health set-back (fixed now, thankfully), so it got out of control much earlier than usual this year.

Good
Cherry tomatoes and roma tomatoes did well. Saved seeds.
Hot peppers (habanero and jalapeno) were prolific and tasty.
Bell peppers were productive but much smaller than I wanted.
Fennel and dill did their things as food for caterpillars.
Greens did well overall
My lemongrass is about 6'x6'

No-so-good
The German Johnson tomatoes didn't set fruit at ALL. It was very hot and humid here, so I'm wondering if it was just above the temp at which this cultivar sets fruit. Back to Black Krim and Hillbilly Potatoleaf for me.

The cilantro bolted waaaay before I could do more than freeze it.

I let the jasmine vines gain the upper hand and now it's going to be a pain to get rid of it all. They've draped all over my blackberries.

Next year--new large tomato type, plant only one type of squash, set up redneck coldframe with straw bales and old shower doors.

I used old shower doors in the roof of my coop as skylights. Works great!

 

[Killer Tomato]

I love the straw bales and shower doors cold frame idea, and actually HAVE them ready to go, but my sweetie says "No way!" He says I'm one step away from an old couch and washer on the porch if I put that "stuff" in the garden. "I'll build you a *nice* cold frame!" <tick tock tick tock>

I see nothing wrong with a couch and washer on the porch, either.

 

[lazy gardener]

Your hubby has no sense of adventure. Doesn't he know that those straw bales will be your winter cold frame, then they will be a straw bale garden in the spring. Tell him that he can even pee on them in the spring to give them a nice dose of nitrogen to get them cooking! And if he's gonna build you a cold frame, he'll surely want to use those shower doors to cover it. Then, where will he store the cold frame in the spring when it's no longer needed? Tell him he'll have to store it on the porch with the couch and the washer.

 

[deepbluesea]

I used old shower doors in the roof of my coop as skylights. Works great!

I'm writing that down for my next coop---thanks!

 

[Killer Tomato]

Your hubby has no sense of adventure. Doesn't he know that those straw bales will be your winter cold frame, then they will be a straw bale garden in the spring. Tell him that he can even pee on them in the spring to give them a nice dose of nitrogen to get them cooking! And if he's gonna build you a cold frame, he'll surely want to use those shower doors to cover it. Then, where will he store the cold frame in the spring when it's no longer needed? Tell him he'll have to store it on the porch with the couch and the washer.

He built my cold frame with those plastic plumbing pipes, and thick plastic cover. It's been three days, and it's already falling over! Sometimes I have to let him do it his way, and fail, to get it done *my* way, and succeed.

 

[lazy gardener]

I just go ahead and do it my way. Then, if I fail, he steps in with his engineering brain, over builds to the max, and gets it done "industrial strength".

 

[Killer Tomato]

I just go ahead and do it my way. Then, if I fail, he steps in with his engineering brain, over builds to the max, and gets it done "industrial strength".

I do that route too sometimes -- I couldn't move the hay bales, and he was dead set against it (at first!). Well see what transpires next.