I tried to be really organized about planting our garden this year, of
course, that plan was destined to be derailed at some point, as gardens always
resist order and tend towards chaos. 
I did manage to get all the varieties written down that I planted, though you might have to be a master cartographer to figure it out with all the edits and notes. I recently redrew a new map of the garden with added notes about how
well the various varieties did so we know what to repeat next year and what to
change (you can click the maps to view them larger). The chocolate sweet peppers at the top are a definite repeat; they're sweeter than the sweetest red bell peppers, but taste nothing like chocolate, a good or bad thing depending on your perspective.
I love perusing gardening
magazines and books in the dead of winter and planning out my garden for spring.
One thing I think we’ll do differently next year is to get tomato starts or seeds from a catalog. Whomever we got our seeds from at the swap last season probably had their plants too close together because they seemed to be all cross-pollinated and the results were pretty surprising (see the yellow Romas below?). They were still delicious though, and I do
think it’s fun to see what Mother Nature comes up with. Of course, it’s also nice to have what you planted
be what you actually harvest. Our yard isn't big enough to keep our tomato plants far enough apart that we can save the seeds and know what to expect when we plant them the following season, but it might be fun to try anyway! When I was
growing up we always had a few volunteer squashes and pumpkins. Sometimes a Spaghetti Squash would cross with
a Blue Hubbard, or a butternut with a pumpkin.
We always ate them up with particular relish; the novelty
of a one-of-a-kind fruit was so appealing.
