notes for next season.

I keep meaning to make notes of what's working—and what's not—in the garden, so that next summer I'll repeat—or not—my planting plans. So here's my online garden notation (I'll need to remember this post come next April).

What worked:
• Lantana—it takes full sun and intense heat with vigor; this will be my workhorse for summer color in the front and back pots, in the window box and hanging baskets
• Midnight blue salvia—sturdy, with gorgeous dark-blue flowers; frou-frou likes!
• Yellow Million Bells—super hardy and heat-resistant; they love fertilizer
• On the side porch—another mix of interesting foliage; ferns have done well
• In the veggie garden—Heatwave Blend lettuce from Shepherds Seeds has been incredibly productive, even in this summer's nasty dry heat. Plant two crops of beans more than two weeks apart. Expect that sweet and jalapeno peppers won't bear until late, late summer. Forget mystery varieties of tomato; stick with the knowns. Try a zucchini again, and maybe baby cuke; let them wander through the veggie patch.
• Try another lavender.
• Plumbago—at the street end of the flower bed and around the red "tuteur" with the clematis. Holy smokes, that stuff's hardy!


What didn't:
• See above re: the weird heirloom tomatoes. Ick.
• Three different kinds of plants, max, in planters.
• Herbs don't do well in pots.
• The black-eyed Susan vine on the trellis (west side of the S.P.) is a little out of hand.

For next summer, Pipkin's Market is totally my source for all plants, including veggies. No sense ordering those from Burpee—I can get exactly what I want, and no more than I need, by buying locally; there are tons of choices these days beyond Beefsteak.

I really, really, really want a grapevine from Napa Style. (Rob?)