Oct. 7 Column: Season Wrap-up

Everyone who is familiar with my writing schedule knows that this day has to come eventually: this is my final column for the 2018 garden season. In it, I do a season wrap-up in which I evaluate how my vegetable garden performed. Here is a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Use lessons from harvest to plow into planning for next year’s garden.

Now, just in case you freaked out at the word “final” in the above paragraph, let me assure you that my column-writing season always goes from February to October. So this doesn’t mean I won’t be writing any more columns ever again! OK, feel better now?

In my column, I point out the two biggest challenges we faced as well as what performed particularly well in my garden. I have also created a 2018 rating of every vegetable cultivar I grew. You can find it under the “Guides” menu on this website, with the name of “Susan’s Garden – 2018 Vegetable Report Card.” So be sure to check it out.

Several years ago, I began the tradition of doing a season wrap-up for my final column just because I thought you might find it interesting. Well, little did I know that many of you are out there (virtually) watching my garden like a hawk, to see what’s worth growing! Yikes. That’s quite flattering and also very daunting!

But you can rest assured that I take this role very seriously and am more than happy to share what I’ve learned. So I hope you’ll find this “final” column useful and interesting.

And now for this week’s “Everyone Can Grow a Garden” video. Since it’s fall and we are experiencing a particularly lovely one this year, I decided to photograph nearly all of the plants in our garden that are putting on a colorful display. This is both to provide you with some visual enjoyment and to give you some ideas of plants to add to your own landscape. My goal has always been to grow plants that provide interest year-round and now you can see which ones they are:

I hope you enjoyed that! So now my columns are finished for 2018. What does that mean? Well, much as I’d like to just hang out, I still plan to post on my Facebook page daily and to continue to produce videos on a fairly regular basis. I don’t intend to leave you hanging! You wouldn’t think there’d be much to write about in the off-season but surprisingly enough, there is PLENTY to talk about!

Also, I would love to hear how your vegetable garden performed for you this year. Just drop me a note at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com.