Elisabeth

Bush Beans had a good year, required some reseeding, but produced through the first pole bean harvest; green produced terrifically, purple did well, Dragon’s Tongue had a super bad year (consider going back to Baker Creek?).
Fava Beans fared better, but still need work; new variety was started indoors (possibly earlier?), but were planted in a bad spot in the garden and were overwatered from a leaky soaker hose; hit by aphids but we didn’t spray this year, try underplanting with nasturtiums next year (probably need to start indoors).
Lima Beans (pole variety) grown on pea trellis this year, planted at same time as bush beans, grew well and produced beautiful beans over a long period, give more space next year?
Peas (spring planting) all types had great germination and produced well, shell type was hard to tell from other varieties, try putting snow peas in the middle next year and mark divisions more clearly.
Peas (fall planting) had poor germination due to heat, virtually no harvest.
Pole Beans had good germination except for Romano type in center (mostly washed away by flooding), new trellis stringing worked perfectly, purple type was first and fabulous, green type followed and did not disappoint, hoping to have Garden of Eden seed next year!
Scarlet Runner Beans had great germination, grew well on arbor, pretty and attracted hummingbirds, overall harvest (mostly dried beans) good.
Soybeans had spotty germination again, thinned/transplanted seedlings; some plants produced spectacularly well, consider giving them all a solid start by sprouting indoors.

Eggplants had a less-than-stellar year; lost some Galine plants to wilt (removed leaves, but plants stopped producing) and lost some fruit of both varieties to end rot and sun scald, marigolds seemed to help again with small insect holes in fruits; plants in crescent bed were healthier.
Ground Cherries did well in the tomato bed, though maybe not as robust as in raised beds; fruits were very attractive to critters, offer some protection?
Peppers had a reasonably good year despite mix up labelling seedlings, plants a bit cramped for space due to large marigold plants, and many still needed to be picked green to avoid rot from insect holes, marigolds didn’t work again, don’t plant them in bed next year.
Tomatillo plants were floppy and dense, characteristically late to produce and had tons of small fruit at season’s end; not hit by striped potato beetles, some kind of insect damage was significant but only in mid-season, attractive to critters again, consider staking and pruning through season.
Tomatoes grew well with larger than usual fruits (lots of rain?) and fewer predation problems (no drought); used straw mulch (from garlic) around base of plants, pruned to single and double leaders again. Supersweet 100 did well, Jaune Flamme failed early for the second time, Moreton was unimpressive (same at Lisa’s), Bolseno from Etsy wasn’t Bolseno, and Black Cherry wasn’t popular with lots of split fruit. Sadly, seed was unavailable for Red October and Plum Perfect.

Beets were awesome – do again with insect screen, trap, and thinning protocol.
Daikon was perfect – only planted as a late crop again (with first planting of radishes); thinning was good, allowing each plant to mature.
Jerusalem Artichokes in new location this year, tall plants, but not a great harvest, possibly too crowded; consider moving back to corner near hydrant?
Potatoes all produced well, had to cut seed potatoes into many pieces, a few didn’t come up but transplanted volunteers from previous year into the bed (and they grew!), virtually no potato beetles, gold variety came out a week earlier working out well for planting the cabbage seedlings.
Radishes early crop: staggering planting over 3 weeks spread the harvest over 4 weeks, with some grub damage; late crop: staggering planting over 2 weeks worked well to spread harvest over 7 weeks. Wasabi variety was reasonably successful, but there wasn’t much interest in the harvest.
Rutabagas generally did well, a few did not mature, no aphid damage.
Salad Turnip spring crop did well with 3-weeks to second planting, but had more than usual grub damage (wet weather?); fall crop germinated well with 2 weeks between plantings, but most of the seedlings died – not sure why.
Sweet Potatoes all three varieties produced well, harvested at first sign of predation (only lost 1 tuber) though soil was wet and heavy, seedlings had some critter damage during hardening off.

Cucumbers produced yet remain a challenge, some plants hit by early wilt (even supposedly-resistant new pickling variety) and mildew (it was a wet summer), sprayed w/Bt in June & July, try planting seedings in other spots around garden again to avoid wilt.
Pumpkins did reasonably well this year (7 from 5 plants) despite borers being a problem again.
Watermelons were less awesome than last year, producing fewer – and smaller – melons; experiment with saved seed was successful, good germination from saved and left-over seed, try fertilizing next year.
Winter Squashes had a reasonable year, with some borers and critter damage at end of season (use mesh bags to protect), new Delicata attractive (5 from 8 plants), Honeynut plants very productive despite borers (15 from 5 plants), Butternut less productive this year (6 from12 plants), Futsu was interesting (3 from 4 plants).
Yellow Summer Squash both plantings did well, best variety to date for quality, quantity, and longevity; harvested for 7 weeks!
Zucchini both plantings did well (planted in groups in soil saucers) had some vine borer damage, plants nearest corn didn’t do as well (shift them away a little?), harvested for 8 weeks!