BIG.

DAY.

Think I’ll ride my hoverboard to the grocery store to celebrate.

If you will indulge, I would like to create for myself a Dear Diary of what to Do Different next, Dear…I mean Year. {Otherwise I will not remember. I blame two small ones for the state of my memory.} This year’s learning curve was pretty steep, and I hope year after year things will even out a little. So, without further ado, I give future me The What To Change For Next Year List:

1. Check my soil
2. Check my soil
3. Check my soil
4. Plant more peas
5. Plant less okra
6. You have a basil preference: you prefer Genovese.   You do not like the way your pesto tastes with other kinds, so don’t think “why don’t I try this one instead…” Self-control.
7. While we’re on the “preferences” note, you are spoiled and prefer seedless watermelon. So while the watermelons were super-cute and fun to watch, you really didn’t eat very much of them. See: spoiled, with double entendre.  So unless you can buy seedless watermelon seeds, which sounds as natural as Cheez-Whiz, then just stick to buying watermelon because it takes up way too much space. Spoildy-spoilderpants.
8. Check the soil.  Yours.
9. Grow one full bed of zinnias and pampas plume celosia (or other tall, wispy celosia). They make you happy. They make your friends, family and neighbors happy. They make the butterflies happy. And nobody wants to see an angry butterfly.

9b. While we’re here…easy on the pink zinnias. I know the bitties have a preference for all things pink…but there is such a thing as overkill.

10. When the squash, pumpkin and zucchini plants are all set and looking gorgeous BE SUSPICIOUS. Look for any powdery mildew *daily* and add calcium as the weather starts to get super-hot. And if it’s any degree of muggy, like after days of heavy rain, spray leaves well with 1/3 part milk to 2/3 part water to fortify them against this nasty stuff.
11. Try one tomato plant per cage this time to see if the plants look heartier than the 2 per cage you tried last year.
12. Just buy tomato starts…it’s probably way cheaper in the long run and you really don’t need that many plants, plus you can get a bunch of varieties.  Everything else seemed worth it for growing from seed.
13. Always ALWAYS always start the sunflowers on the patio, preferably in pots and not a small seed start cube. Do not start them in the ground. The chipmunks hate you. They do. There is no counseling for this.
14. Pre-emptive strike with BT and neem oil heavier than you did last year. Remember what it felt like to pluck that first zucchini and realize there were tiny worms in it? Yeah, that. All the beans/peas/peppers do well under a fine mist of neem oil or BT.
15. Don’t be a cheapskate and invest in some pea trellising. Your stick concoction worked for about 3 weeks until the peas were all like HEY WE’RE BIG NOW.
16. Eck-chay oil-say.
17. The spot you planted the corn in was so perfect. Investigate if you really need to rotate that out each year or if you can squeak by with corn in the same spot for a couple years in a row.
18. Consider making a worm bin for fertilizer like you saw on this blog post from Growing a Greener World.
19. Consider growing potatoes in a trash can on the lower patio. Consider if this will make loving husband consider divorce.
20. Check cedar posts of raised beds for signs of wood-boring bees thinking they’re a Motel 6. Squeege a little WD-40 in the holes if you see any.
21. Did you get the crushed pea gravel down in between the beds yet? You promised David you would.
22. Plant pumpkin varieties {can you find that blue one??} in July like pumpkin patch man suggested.
23. Remember that blackberry pruning starts WAY earlier than you would think.
24. And last but not least….nah…surely you’ve done it by now….