The success of gardens can be measured in many ways - typically a combination of data (numbers) and text (words, impressions, descriptions). I will go into the wordy part of the season in future blog posts, but I thought it would be interesting to look at a few numbers.

Indeterminate tomatoes planted in the driveway - large pot:  30
Seed saved from:  26

4 total plant failures due to disease - no fruit harvested or seed saved

Indeterminate tomatoes planted in the driveway - small pot:  40
Seeds saved from:  30

10 total plant failures due to disease - no fruit harvested, seeds saved

Indeterminate tomatoes planted in the dirt, big side garden:  30
Seeds saved from:  12

18 total plant failures due to disease and no fruit set (insufficient sun, it seems)

Total indeterminate tomatoes planted:  100
Total indeterminate tomatoes that yielded fruit, seed saved:  68
Total indeterminate plant failures:  32

Dwarf tomatoes planted in driveway grow bags:  100
Seeds saved from: 84

16 failures due to disease

Dwarf tomatoes planted in the dirt, side garden:  17
Seeds saved from:  6
Failures due to disease or no fruit set (insufficient sun): 11

Total dwarf tomatoes planted:  117
Total dwarfs that yielded fruit seed saved:  90
Total dwarf plant failures:  27

Total tomatoes planted:  217
Total tomatoes yielded fruit, seed saved:  158
Total tomatoes that failed: 59

Eggplant planted in driveway grow bags:  16
Eggplant with seed saved: 12
Eggplant still living, pending fruit ripening for seed saving: 4
Total eggplant failures:  0

Peppers planted in driveway grow bags or pots:  102
Peppers with seed saved:  99
Peppers still living pending fruit ripening for seed saving:  3
Total pepper failures:  0

Grand total - 

Total planted planted (tomato, pepper, eggplant) all locations - 335
Total plants with successful seed save - 269
Total plants pending seed save - 7
Total plant seed saving/harvest failures - 59

Wow, that's a lot of seed saving and data collecting!

Future blog posts will focus on what worked well, what excelled, what failed, why - for each crop.

Though it seemed like a challenging year (it was!), it was also a reasonably successful one, it seems.  In a future blog post, I will get into some details - including why there were likely so many failures in the tomato category.

If you are like me, you can't wait to find interested pairs of ears as audiences for the delights and sob stories (and in between) of your gardening experiences. This coming Saturday, September 14, at 10 AM at West Point on the Eno in Durham I am leading a workshop to do just this. We will have an opportunity to share how things went in 2013 - what did well, what didn't - and why, so that we can plan accordingly for 2014. I will share my favorite tomatoes of the year, as well as those that disappointed. We will discuss seed saving (beyond tomatoes), preserving, best recipes, and anything else that the energy of the group leads to.

The information for the workshop can be found here. My daughter Caitlin will be joining me so that she can brag about how her tomatoes are still thriving, while mine are long gone! If weather and time permits, we can walk through the garden and see how things are growing. I really enjoy these Eno workshops; they are informal, create lots of energy, and provide a great forum for sharing ideas.

We hope to see you there - and thanks to Jessica Leff as always for the opportunities to present at that most wonderful location!

It is always nice to return home after a trip....but what a trip it was. From the inspiring surroundings, perfect weather and plethora of enthusiastic gardeners to the excitement of sharing my passion with like-minded folks, it was a wonderful experience. An added bonus was the productive, interesting day spent with regional Seed Savers Exchange members at an off-site exploratory meeting yesterday morning at Louisa House yesterday morning.

First, Monticello....it was so gratifying to have been able to share my tomato experiences in 2 workshops chock full of attentive, interested attendees; my sessions were Friday late afternoon, and first thing Saturday morning. It is a very interesting experience to climb the emotional mountain twice, in such close proximity; I always have a bit of an emotional "crash" after giving a seminar, but I found it really easy to get recharged quickly for the morning following the evening session. It didn't hurt to have the opportunity to speak in such a wonderful setting as the Woodland Pavilion (see pics below). 

After my talk, the rest of the day was spent shuttling between the event seed swap (so ably hosted by Rodger Winn and his wife, Karen) and the tomato tasting tent. It was really fun helping Ira Wallace sort out which tomatoes were which from the boxes of mixed heirlooms donated by various farms and growers for the event. At one point, I channeled our Tomatopalooza events and donned gloves and sliced and sliced and sliced. Judging from the long lines at the tasting tent that persisted throughout the day, the interest in heirloom tomatoes has yet to peak, and is sky high at this point in time.

I've got to gather my thoughts following Sunday's first Southeast regional gathering of Seed Savers and SSE members. The ideas were flying around the room at the speed of light. The event took place at Louisa House, about 40 minutes from Monticello, and was attended by up to 100 people, which far exceeded our expectations. Ira Wallace, Grant Olson (from the SSE) and I led the group through the day...more on that in my next blog.

But as promised, some pics from Monticello - there are never enough, but I actually had little time to use my camera!

Top row - various views of Jefferson's Garden adjacent to Monticello
second row - another garden view, Love Lies Bleeding, and Monticello 
third row - vineyard below the garden, my lecture prep spot in the Woodland Pavilion, and view from the back well before the event (I just kind of sat and relaxed for an hour before people arrived to gather my thoughts)
Last row - Peter Hatch giving the Jefferson Garden lecture, and Woodland Pavilion exterior, my Sat AM talk location

It was a beautiful day in Charlottesville - truly a perfect late summer day with a tinge of autumn in the air. I am attending the Heritage Harvest Festival, and day 1 is now complete. My day there ended with a talk on tomatoes to a large and enthusiastic audience; it seemed to go very well, and I look forward to my encore tomorrow morning at 9. The energy that passes between an involved audience and me when I get to share my passion and knowledge is quite amazing....it makes me want to get home and start planning next year's garden! 

Fridays at the festival are a more relaxed, slower day than Saturdays, and I found lots of time to wander the magnificent grounds and gardens. Unfortunately, there are no pictures to post tonight, because I forgot to bring the proper camera/laptop coupling cord. Stay tuned for those...maybe early next week.

Early this afternoon I attended a walking tour of Jefferson's garden (adjacent to Monticello) led by Peter Hatch. Peter talked about Jefferson's garden diary and how he was as transparent with his failures as his successes (kind of reminds me of my garden blog!)....it was actually comforting to realize that Jefferson treated his garden as series of projects, with lots of data collection and experimentation. I've always felt that way about my gardens - they are my own personal laboratories.

Tomorrow will consist of my tomato talk, followed by time spent shuttling between the Seed Swap and Tomato Tasting tents. On Sunday I will participate in a regional gathering of Seed Savers Exchange members, where we will discuss all matters particular to the goals and needs of seed savers in the South East region.  Then it will be a return to home, and I am already looking forward to that, since I always miss my wife and pets when I am away.

Pictures to come soon!