lessons from my 2009 garden

1)even though the seedlings are itty bitty....they really WILL grow big! very big!
2)dont plant more seedlings than you need....the cucumbers came in a pack of 9, and I just couldnt BEAR to waste some of those seedlings, so I planted them ALL in various spots around the garden, and I was positively covered up with cucumbers that year....they took over the planet (and they were delicious...I learned that homegrown cukes are ALMOST as tasty as homegrown tomatoes....who knew cukes actually had FLAVOR!) I deduced that it would have been a WHOLE lot easier to toss a cuke seedling or 2 rather than storing and eventually tossing the bushels of cucumbers that took over our garden.
3)melon vines and cuke vines NEED ROOM...lots of it. I kinda already knew that...but foolishly I thought I could train these vines to grow in the direction of my narrow beds...nope....not a chance, they grew out into the yard no matter how hard I trained them, so my sweet hubby mowed around them....it was a jungle out there....and stayed so damp that almost all of the melons ended up rotting on the vine anyway...bad idea....probably not going there again anytime soon.
4)when growing herbs, it's in my best interest to grow ones that only use a few leaves when used in cooking....most of the time I use cilantro, I use a whole bunch (we love fresh salsa and cilantro in general) so it was a big demoralizing to spend all summer growing this beautiful plant, only to use it all in 1 maybe 2 dishes. Basil on the other hand, I grow a lot....I love the flavor....and it freezes well both as is, and as pesto...YUM!
5)lettuce grown in the ground gets DIRTY! I did a bit of a fall garden and the lettuce I put in the ground was very tasty, and super convenient to access....but took FOREVER to clean from all the splashback. I learned a)to plant them in containers, thus keeping them at least a little bit cleaner and b)to pick and wash well ahead of time, because it just takes too long right before a meal. I also learned how tasty buttercrunch and mesclun lettuces can be! Much tastier than iceberg, and much more cost effective than those bagged fancy schmancy lettuces in the store! definitely a keeper!