Resolutions for next year’s garden

Hill the potatoes. The potatoes, mid-season white Kennebecs, were in the old compost pile this year, and I think it was actually too well-drained. I need to mix in some regular old dirt. I’ve started this, but I need to do more. This past season I also tried the “build up as they grow” potato-growing method (some people use old tires – I just used chickenwire), but I didn’t try particularly hard and didn’t get a single potato out of that area.

Rotate the tomatoes out of the area where they’ve been for a few years already. Boo’s tomato plants outperformed mine because they were in a new patch. And sadly, I think I’m throwing in the towel for heritage tomatoes. They don’t produce enough for the space they use.

Try some new stuff. Soybeans, aka edamame. Beets. I just heard you can roast them on the grill. I love beets.

Grow both bush beans (we had a good year for them) and pole beans. Neighbors of ours have what they call “magic beans” and they promised us some seeds.

N says he’s going to change our biggest (12x12) raised plot into 3 sections with walkways in between. This will help with weeds and productivity.

Try eggplants again. Now that I’m flushed with the relative success of my green peppers, I should try eggplants again. I could never figure out when to harvest them when I last grew them.

Did I mention that we are ripping out ornamental trees and shrubs (purple plum, Bradford pear, golden privet) in the spring to plant our new honeycrisp apple, red rome apple, and some sort of self-pollinating pear tree? They are all semi-dwarf varieties. We have a lot more sun in the front yard, so that’s where they are going.