Hello,
I'm hoping for some input. I'm pretty much done gardening this year. . I've got a few tomatoes and peppers left. My eggplants did awesome. I'm looking forward to next year already and my improvements. Here's my biggest issue to overcome. I cant tell when my veggies are ready to be pulled. I left the corn too long to the point the kernals got a little crinkly and soft. The eggplants were lenient but should of been pulled. Some lettuce bolted then I realized it was time. Some yellow tomatoes got real soft last month. . I pulled some onion sets real early. Then lost the rest to weeds mostly.
I've managed to get the weeds in check . The piles of hay and ground cover actually worked really well. Ruth Stout wasn't full of crap. My work load on weeds. was down about 75% .
Bug issues were not an issue . I only had bugs on fallen tomatoes. Flea beetles early on the eggplants. And Japanese beetles were held in check by sacrificing the grapes for the corn.
I have more trouble with ants in the house then bugs in the garden.