Looking Forward, Looking Back

I expect this to be the last post for 2010. It has been a good year for the garden. 2011 should be even better. Looking forward…Looking back. There were lessons learned that should improve the garden next year. Fortunately some of them were learned from successes. A few were learned from disappointments.

The greenhouse did very poorly last year. I think it was mostly my fault and changes have been made to this year’s procedures. The tomatoes were delicious, but there were not enough of them. Everyone whom I spoke with seemed to have disappointing results in the tomato department. The things I did this past year have worked well in the past, so the only thing to really change is the location within the garden, which changes every year anyway. The problem seems to have been the extreme heat, which is not normal. The summer squash and cucumbers got wiped out by the spotted cucumber beetle. A lot of control methods were discovered on the internet. Most of them project a marginal success at best.

I have been accepted into the NC Agricultural Extension offices “Master Gardener Program”. It is hoped that I will learn enough to avoid some mistakes and improve results. By learning to help other people with their gardens and yards, I should learn to help myself.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/