What’s Your Biggest Garden Success (or Flop) This Year — and What Did You Learn?

Every growing season is full of surprises—some that make us proud, and others that make us shake our heads and take notes for next year! Maybe your tomatoes went wild, your compost finally turned to gold, or your pollinator garden became a buzzing paradise. Or maybe... your zucchini took over everything, or that “foolproof” plant didn’t survive the first frost.

Gardening is one big experiment, and even the flops are full of lessons.

So, what was your biggest win—or your most humbling garden moment—this year? And what did you take away from it? Share your story—we’re all growing and learning together!

so far doing well with all the stuff that normally does well. the bees are all over the early summer flowers enough that i have to be careful where i walk.

harvested some nice peas and pea pods and we are enjoying eating them. Beaver Dam pepper plants look to have a good first crop.

downsides, no matter how good your tools might be it doesn't accomplish anything if you don't have enough time to use them. i'm weeding along when i can but i'm behind the curve on weeds this year and probably a week and a half or more before i can get started on the worst garden. more other tasks keep piling on. just the way it is.

and, well, it's all not done yet. ...

Things are going okay here.

On the herbal tea front, the neighborhood Tortoise Shell Cat has been beating up one of the catnip plants I transplanted. I think that it has just about had it but I will put some rocks around it and see if the roots survive and send up new growth. The other transplanted catnip is doing okay and the one that I didn't move from where it showed up on a garden path might be okay but the cat has been chewing on that one, also.

Stevia from seed was a real problem in 2024. The seedlings lay right against the surface of the potting soil. A fungus moved in on them. I sprinkled them with cinnamon but that didn't seem to help at all –– they were too flat against that soil surface. I dumped the container.

This year, I bought 3 Stevia plants at the garden center. Moved to larger pots and left on the greenhouse bench, 2 are doing okay. The 3rd Stevia went in the garden and fell behind in growth during the Spring weeks. They are tropical plants but with the warm and hot weather, it is catching up fairly well. I took 3 cuttings off the largest plant and they are in water in the kitchen window. So far, they look fine but it is too early for roots to have developed. I am hoping to have 6 Stevia plants to set in the South Window this Winter. Mostly, I am hoping just for survival until next Spring. As things are right now, I have enough Stevia to sweeten 1 cup of tea each day. There will soon be some extra to cut, hang and dry. I will have updates.

Steve

I will say this is so far the first year, I don't feel stress from gardening - as I didn't have tons of seedlings to take care of.

In short, I dramatically simplified what I grow this year, no longer more than we can consume, and no longer many new varieties. I even got some young plants from the gardening centers or discounters. As long as they receive good care, they turn into robust plants - and then, they produce delicious ingredients for daily use.

Same for cut-flower and herb garden, my attention shifted from trying so many new varieties to maintaining what I really enjoy (well, plus a little bit new things).

Fruit trees are doing well this year, and we finally see a lot of fruits are developing.

I do appreciate more perennial plants nowadays, and keep learning how to make the proper use of different corners.