Trial and Error

My garden has do on pretty well this year. There have been some successes and some... Well duds. I have learned a lot this year and continue to write down notes of what is working for me and what isn't. Gardening is really a trial and error type of thing. You never know if things will work for you unless you try it. If it works~ great, make note of it and triply it again next time. If not - try something different next time.

I have 3 varieties of small tomatoes and all three have done well. I will continue to get different varieties in the future. It makes my salads more colorful! In the past I have tried large variety of tomatoes with little success. I may try the again some day, just not yet.

This year I learned that I prefer the Japanese eggplant. The skinny fruit tends to work better and the skin seems thinner. This I will try again next time.
We tried cantaloupe again - first time in a very long time. We got several delicious cantaloupe. And we learned somethings that will help us have more success in the future. I had opportunity to go to a little gardening class at my church. I learned of a technique I want to try with my cantaloupe.

Bell peppers haven't don't that great. I heard from a gardening club in this area that it's a challenge to grow bell peppers in our area. I think I will try jalapenos in my fall garden.

Okra plants love the Texas heat. But apparently so do ants. I have had an issue with ants getting my okra- like actually getting into my okra. I will be doing some research to see what I can do about that.

My Swiss chard did really well- my only complaint is I didn't plant enough. Will probably plant twice as many for my fall garden.

My malibar spinach did very well as well- they grow upward. We placed a short fence by the planter I planted them in- the problem is I need to plant them next to a taller trellis- so they can grow taller. Hoping I can harvest seeds from them to have for my next garden.

Can you tell that I have my new gardening plans on my mind. I don't think we have every planted a fall garden before but that is about to change!! I have been researching what plants do well in a fall garden and I'm so excited that there is quite a few to choose from!! I have list of what I want to plant and when I need to plant. Now I need to draw a chart of my gardening area and decide where to plant things!! I am excited about this.

In the past I have allowed  things to intimidate me. Thing I didn't know how to do well. But I am learning that many things are trial and error. We have to just Troy to do things - we won't know if we can unless we try.  I got a new appliance for my anniversary a couple of weeks ago~ an Vortex. I was very intimidated by it, but since my husband was busy with other things. I got it out and I actually roasted myself some eggplants the very first day I got it! I was so proud of myself. Sometimes we just have to press passed the fear and try it. Accepting the fact we may fail- but then we can try again and see if we can get success.

Gardening takes a lot of trial and error. We gotta just try stuff till it works. I even suggest trying things you don't know if you would like or not. Growing your own might bring a new appreciation to a new food. I plan to plant radishes. I have not been too fond of radishes in the past. But I have hope that growing my own will change that. I will let you know! :0)