So, the costs from the previous post were a little over $300, but I'm pretty sure I got a few other little things—little flags to point to ripe stuff, fish fertilizer, replacement basil plants. Let's say a total of $400. And I bought a second raised bed for next year (a little under $100).
I ended up with a LOT more plants than planned. I already had grape tomatoes, Lady Bell peppers, swiss chard (from seed), zuke and yellow squash (from seed). A friend gave me a BUNCH of tomato plants (3 Sun Gold, 2 Sun Sugar, 1 Juliet, 1 Mountain Pride, 1 Black Cherry) and several peppers (2 Ace, some lunchbox peppers, and a mildly hot pepper, not sure of the variety).
The tomatoes over-produced, in a summer that was hot and dry, just what they like. I lost track of how many cherry and grape tomatoes we picked. The San Marzanos were also prolific and early; the Mountain Pride were not actually Mountain Pride, but some variety of paste tomatoes, less prolific and late, but really beautiful fruits. The Juliets were also late, but that could be because they were shaded by the more prolific plants. Really good flavor. The Black Cherries took a long time to ripen, but are prolific and really pretty. Not sure they're worth the space though, because the flavor is mediocre compared to either the grape or the Sun Gold (or Sun Sugar).
The peppers weren't prolific, and several died off (or, really, I gave up on them when the plants showed signs of severe malnutrition). The two ACE plants did okay, and I really liked the Lunchbox orange pepper, but only got one fruit. I don't blame the plants for their poor productivity—they were overshadowed by the tomatoes and the weather was too hot for them at key blossom-setting times.
For nightshades in 2026, I'm thinking 3 grapes, 3 San Marzanos, 1 Juliet, 2 or 3 Sun Gold; and then 4 Ace, and 3-4 Lunchbox. I'm hoping to overwinter the 2 Ace and 1 Lunchbox I already have. Plus I need to get some Northern Lights swiss chard—it's just so much more fun to have all the colors instead of the standard green variety. One bed will be all tomatoes, and the other bed will be everything else.
Nasturtiums were disappointing, and I'm not sure why. They grew a bunch of leaves but no flowers, and they were right next to a chard plant that did fine. The bulk of the swiss chard is still waiting to shine; they were overshadowed by the tomatoes too. The zucchini was, as always, scary productive. I made three batches (two leaves each) of zucchini bread, and I have shreds for 3 or 4 more batches in the freezer. Yellow squash was reasonable, perhaps a little light because of the drought. There were three plants, I think, and that seems about right. Maybe I'll do some sugar snaps next year, hoping to harvest them before the peppers need more space. Perhaps a few early radishes and small carrots too.
I managed to kill off the new rhubarb plants. Sigh. Unexpectedly dry/hot summer. Might try them in a whiskey barrel next time.
Basil thrived in the extra-hot weather. Garlic was mediocre due to insufficient rain.
Alpine strawberries thrived, somewhat surprisingly given the heat/drought. I'm planning to expand their bed next year, since they were popular and there were never enough. I'm planning to buy a set of heavy-duty shelving to essentially set up a long, low coffee-table-like support for the grow bags on the deck. I've found what I want, just not in a huge hurry to spend the money. It can wait until spring.
