It's always sad to deal with putting away the pool, but we did get a shitload of potatoes.

[HopeHoops]

Whoa - disconnect.

Okay, first the pool. It's an above ground seasonal pool and we store it in the garage (usually). They're good for about three seasons before the lining starts to deteriorate. A mouse took a nibble out of it this past winter so I had to patch it, but it held up. I think the filter is shot but I'm not going to worry about that until spring. It is raining now so I'm glad we got it put away yesterday.

The potato bed is still quite workable soil-wise. The girls started digging them yesterday and we apparently had a REALLY healthy crop. They usually keep us stocked until at least February and I used blue potatoes from last year's crop along with a small bag of "seed potatoes" from the local nursery. This is probably the latest in the year we've dug them but it just hasn't been that cold. The blue potatoes make the most wonderful mashed potatoes you'll ever see, and they're creamy and sweet.

We got a shitload of onions as well, but the girls pulled those up about two months ago. Weird growing season though. The peppers did better than I've ever seen and I guessed right that the tomatoes were going to be a bitch because of the wet spring so we didn't plant heirloom varieties. We got a lot of them, especially the cherry style, but not anywhere close to what we usually get. The pattypan squash went ballistic and we've still got a bunch of 6" diameter ones. Unlike most summer squash, those keep well at room temperature for MONTHS! Rabbits ate all the bean and pea sprouts but we did get a lot of radishes and my wife's herb garden went nuts this summer. The asparagus had a short but profoundly productive season and then became its usual fairy forest. Damn the ferns are pretty, especially when the berries turn red.

There are still more potatoes to dig up, but that's going to have to wait until at least Thursday because of the weather. Bummer. We don't actually need more rain right now.

[Lucinda]

1. Yep. I have it.

Garden envy. :)

[HopeHoops]

2. I spent a few years without a garden or a dog (rented), and it was hell.

Gardens rock (hopefully without too many rocks).

[Lucinda]

6. Growing rocks isn't much fun.

We have a tiny, tiny lot but can still manage a few tomatoes, and herbs, but I would love a proper garden. :)

[HopeHoops]

7. We use a lot of in-ground raised beds, but we also use container gardening.

[Lucinda]

9. We did raised bed at our last place. Efficient way to grow.

[InvisibleTouch]

3. Oooh, excellent!

I've been wanting to grow potatoes for a few years now, but I don't have a lot of garden space. I'm planning to try a potato tower next year.

Mostly I got tomatoes this year. Usually my summer squash goes nuts too, but I got *one* squash this year. Plenty of sunflowers, plenty of raspberries. Some carrots, some herbs. But each year I get a little more focused and leave out what didn't work the year before, and add what works well.

[monmouth]

4. Oooh asparagus. Want so badly, with Italian bacon wrapped around..n/t

[Denninmi]

5. I've been "perennializing" some of my potatoes the last 3-4 years.

Instead of digging them, I just leave them in the ground, dump about 8-10 inches of leaves on top of the bed to insulate against the worst of the cold, and then digging them again as needed when the ground thaws until they get too "sprouty", so a spring harvest window of roughly mid-late March to mid-late April here. Seems to work great. I kind of did this by accident the first year, I planted a bunch of fingerling and miniature types and decided they were kind of small to bother with, so just left them, and they regrew beautifully. Not sure how well it will work out this year, it looks like one of the beds had voles move in, so they'll probably eat them all over the winter. Oh well.

[femmocrat]

8. I planted sweet potatoes. I still have to dig them out.

I had one for dinner tonight and it was yummy! :)

I have a grocery bag full of green tomatoes in the garage... they should continue to ripen for awhile yet. It's fun to pull out a red tomato in December!

And I have tons of home-made pickles that I made from my zillions of cukes.

PLUS--- I got my first 2012 seed catalog today!!! We will be gardening again soon! :)

[era veteran]

10. We got our last corn 10 days ago

We had tomatoes like yours and also had fantastic peppers. The stand of castorbeans I planted for green manure and nematode control grew to 16 feet. A top 10 year for rain in Central Kentucky. Still have to get in carrots and potatoes.
Another season.