Cabin Fever: Reflections on my 2012 Garden

I must be crazy.

Here's what our weather forecast looks like the next few days:

And here's my reading material of choice:

I actually got my first gardening catalog of the season on December 22. I swear it gets earlier and earlier every year! (kind of like when I worked in retail and we put out the Christmas stuff in October... then September... then Labor Day weekend...)

Before I drool too much over the plants and seeds I'm looking at for 2013, I probably should step back and see what did and didn't work last year.

I planted peas, carrots, bush beans, sweet corn, and zucchini from seed, and a couple tomato plants (got for free - I probably wouldn't grow them otherwise). I try to only choose one "new" thing each year -- this time it was the sweet corn -- so I mostly have tried and true things that I know I can grow!

I felt that considering I was pregnant during the worst of summer (Ellie was born August 4), I did a decent job of weeding and watering.

Yet in spite of my best efforts, my garden was a flop.

• I harvested a half cup of peas. Total.
• My zucchini plants got eaten by squash bugs, even though I put them in the opposite corner of the garden from where they were the year before when the same thing happened.
• My green beans (which I typically have an abundance of) were either fried or something was up because I noticed tons of tiny ants in the soil...
• I had about a half dozen ears of sweet corn, which never developed properly and eventually became nasty.
• I did harvest a small bowl of small carrots, but didn't take the time to chop and freeze them properly so they went bad too.

I was sooooo disappointed! I guess it was just a rough year overall. The majority of the country experienced a drought and really high temperatures. I'm hoping next year will be better...

Let's learn from the past! How did your 2012 garden turn out overall?

Stay tuned for my plans for my 2013 garden!