The vegetables in my garden made it through very well, except for my tomatoes.  I know, I know…..some of you experienced vegetable growers may be asking why I had tomatoes growing in my garden during the winter.  Well, I decided to do an experiment – all vegetable growing calendars recommend planting tomatoes in early spring and none of them say anything about planting them in the fall.

But, our local big box stores had tomato transplants for sale and I bought two and planted them in early October, just to see how they would do.

Tomato transplants, Tomato plants in the back right corner.

Well, they grew like crazy as you can see in the photo above and I even had to cut them back a bit to keep them from taking over the garden.  Then when freezing temperatures were forecast, I covered them well, hoping that would be enough to protect them from the cold.

As you can see….my tomatoes did not fare too well.

Am I sorry I bought them and planted them in the fall?  No I’m not.  One thing that I think is fun about gardening, is experimenting.  I love the excitement of seeing how a particular plant will do in my garden….especially if there is a question of whether it will fare well or not.

I believe people with green thumbs should not be afraid of experimenting in their garden.  Sometimes that is the only way to learn what will flourish and what won’t in your garden.  Since each garden is different and can play host to a variety of micro-climates, it is fun to experiment with different plants.

What lesson did I learn from my experiment?

Don’t plant tomatoes in the fall in my zone 9a garden.

WInter and Summer Vegetables….Oh My!