What are You Planning to Do Next Year?

[FuriousOne]

As the season winds down for some of us midwesterners and northeasterners, I am busy in the planning stages of next year's garden. As this was my first real attempt at putting food by of course I realize I have made mistakes.

Mistake 1. More corn!! http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u75/furysangel/BILD0054.jpg Even for two people this wasnt enough. I was only able to put by about 3 dozen ears with what the groundhogs and raccoons ate.

Mistake 2 I planted mint in my main herb garden. Though as you can see my first planting of garlic did well but as I grew it from seed rather than bulb it was smaller this year. Next years crop ought to be alot bigger.http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u75/furysangel/BILD0052.jpg

Other things I plan to change or add. In the back of the barn I will be adding two potato bins one for regular taters and one for sweet. The herb garden will be moved or expanded while trying to tame mint. The main garden is being enlarged for more rows of corn and such. And next year I will plant LESS cherry tomatoes ...they are still producing and I cant give them away! :p

What are you going to do different next year?

[daddylonglegs]

I am saying goodbye to growing vegetables in pots. No workey. I figure between what I spent for soil, pots, maneur, peat, vermiculite each tomato cost me about $10.
Will be building my beds over the winter. Still wondering what the right soil mixture is though.

Another change is I won't be ordering plants from QVC. Enough said.

I have to figure out how to grow seeds successfully, (always too leggy) plants are too expensive.

Definitely putting more vegetables in the main decorative landscaping. They were very pretty there. Pretty sure the New England rain excess and cold spring is largely to fault for a bad yield.

I am going to try and build some irrigation by instructions of Garden Girl's Video. (that could be a challenge though)

Will be spending long cold winter evenings reading all my gardening books, planning and hanging round this site.

That ought to keep me busy. Hope your harvests were great and you all had as much fun as I did.

DLL

[Cynthia]

This is an interesting thread. Taking notes about what works and doesn't work is good reference as youd evelop your gardens.

DLL - Leggy seedlings might be because of light. Putting seedlings under lights as soon as they sprout will help and there are special grow lights if you are so inclined - fit in the regular florescent fixtures.

I'd also say that if you got your tomatoes for $10 you are doing well for your first try. We want oodles of produce, but there is a learning curve.

FO - The photos are beautiful nd you are definitely off to a good start.

[Cynthia]

I'm not growing okra or garlic next year.

I am going back to all heirloom tomatoes next year. I tried a few hybrids and they never do much for me other folks have great luck with thme but not this garden girl.

We can garden all winter here so I have lettuces planted and will get beets, carrots, broccoli, etc. planted in the next couple of days. Its quite late to be planting but our heat wave just ended and I believe I'd have lost the seedlings anyway if I planted sooner.

Cynthia

[redhead5318]

Cynthia said

I am going back to all heirloom tomatoes next year.
I want to do more Heirlooms next year too. I usually do 2 or 3 tomato varieties, and i want them all to be heirlooms next year!

I also want to attempt beans next year. We shall see how that works on a balcony garden. Could be cool, could be a mess.

[Garden Addict]

Heirlooms are the way to go. I grew several types this year and was very happy with all but (1). Only next year i will trellis them, no more wire cages. I've tried a small trellis and it worked great. I make up clips out of 12 gauge wire with clear tubing over the wire. They are about 10 inches long and i clip it over the vines back to the wire fencing to hold the plants as they grow (they look like a wire handle on a bucket). Gives a better view of whats growing and when their ready to pick. I'm also going to put in more potatoes. I had (1) row each of kennebec and yukon gold and it still was not enough for us and friends. More corn also. I have frozen about 8 gal. bags so far but that won't last until xmas..:) More herbs also, basil and oregano are not enough! I only wish i had more growing time. This year went by way too fast. All in all it was a good year but next year will be better! I saved seeds from the heirlooms and bought a few more varieties for next year....hurry 2010!

[Warlord]

I plan on finishing up my rain barrel system. I will have to connect it to the rain gutters(which we don't have yet). The barrels will be linked together and will be a gravity feed system. My wife bless her heart has twisted my arm:rolleyes: to expand our garden from a 20 x 30ft. into a 20 x 60ft. Which means I get to till up more of the yard:D. This will alow us to plant tomatoes & potatoes in an uncontaminated zone. I also will enjoy re-landscaping the whole yard for my wife after the city of Fremont tears up the street and puts in new drain tile & sidewalk. I am not sure yet what I will plant next year. Although, my wife did say something about trying to grow things in the basement this winter.:eek: C-ya in the garden. Warren

[nandmsmom]

I'm expanding the garden again. I have a 1000 sq foot fenced section already. Outside the fence I'm building 4 large raised beds for another 248 sq ft of growing space. It will also be my first year trying corn. My ultimate goal is to provide almost all of the fruits and veggies for my family.

[leydaleon]

Next year we are moving to Puerto Rico! There I will be able to garden local veggies and fruits! I am so excited!!!!! Can't wait! I have my family members saving some seeds and seedlings of stuff I want to grow...

[vermmy35]

Next year HMMMMM, let me see. I plan splitting my beehive if it is half as strong as it was this year. I would also like to build about two or three raised bed gardens so that I my plant even more veggies next year.

[GoldenAcres]

Amending, Amending, Amending. That is the plan this fall and maybe in the winter too. I really need to find an organic fungicide for my soil but so far can't find anything local. Next year I plan on a fifty foot by fifty foot garden, hopefully this will be enough for canning and fresh eating but I may have to make it larger to meet my families food demands. :)

Root crops are something I really want to try I have had some success growing carrots in the past but next year I will try beets, turnips and potatoes.
Popcorn is on the list, we eat it by the ton so hopefully I can get some to grow. The biggest item will be tomatoes, around fifty plants or more. Half heirloom and half hybrid but only until I can find the right heirlooms for my environment.

There is so much to get done but I am really looking forward to it. :)

[kitsapFG]

I've actually had a really great garden season this year - so most of my improvements are just fine tuning or new items I want to get to.

Things I will be doing differently next year include spacing my tomato plants further apart to ensure better air circulation which should reduce the likelihood of disease. I am also going to go back to having at least four tomato plants in the greenhouse as a backup to the outdoor plantings. I only had peppers in the greenhouse this year and had no fall back tomato plants when late blight hit the tomatoes.

Unlike many of you, I am actually planning to return (at least in part) to tried and true varieties of tomatoes that are more disease resistant. I love my heirlooms but they are not worth anything to me if they succomb to disease before the harvest can come in. I will always have some in my garden but I need to balance them with some plants with hybrid vigor.

I would like to add another series of rain barrels next year. I run my current series dry during the dry summer season and need more storage to get through that period.

[rdsaltpower]

I plan on planting my tomatoes further apart next year. I don't think I will plant corn because wind storms blew part of it down twice this year. Also plan on putting more compost into my plot, especially now that my two compost bins are really producing!

[Backyard Permaculture]

If the wind is knocking down your sweet corn, especially easy after a lot of rain or a good soaking, try this trick.

Before planting your corn, dig a furrow down deep. Plant your corn seed at the bottom of the furrow, not at the top as is customary.

The corn will germinate just fine. When the stalks are 4 or 5 inches above the sides of the furrow, fill in the furrow, up to the corn stalks. That will give the corn plants deeper roots, and thus able to withstand the windstorms better. It also has the benefit of the plant being able to last longer between irrigations, and since corn, as many members of the plant family can, can grow additional roots from the nodes or joints on the stalk, giving it more nutrician.

I am also planning on experimenting with "slave labor" this coming season to perform pest control duties, cultivate, weed and fertilize my sweet corn plantings.

The slaves are chickens.

The theory is that once the corn stalks are tall enough to not be of much interest to the chickens, I can surround my corn with the movable (chicken tractor) pen sides that I show on my page here, and turn the chickens loose in the corn patch. They will joyfully perform their "slave" duties.