One of the things about being an amateur gardener is that different plants produce different amounts in different years. This summer proved to be a banner year for cherries in our yard. We didn’t do anything to have a great year, the weather and the trees combined to produce a large crop. That isn’t a guarantee that we will have an equal number of cherries to harvest every year. I suspect that we will have plenty of cherries because the trees are healthy, but only time will tell if this was an average or above average year. In other crops, we are having a really good year with our dahlias. They are really outpacing our expectations. We started with quite a bit of fresh soil and the tubers came from Isaac’s previous year crop, and we were able to keep the slugs and snails away from the plants when they were young. We have the advantage of Isaac’s experience with dahlias as well. And we know that this region is good for producing flowers from bulbs and tubers.

Other than the cherries and flowers, we don’t have much planted this year. We ate a few peas from our plants, but didn’t have enough plants in the ground to produce a big harvest. We have four tomato plants on the south side of the house and all have tomatoes on them, but none are quite ripe yet. It looks, however, like we’ll have a good run.

Over at the farm, where they are serious about gardening, I have noticed that the blueberry harvest was larger than last year. Strawberries, however, are a bit behind last year’s crop. The berries are good and there are quite a few ripe berries on the plants now, but there wasn’t much of an early crop. Raspberries seemed to be similar to last year’s production. And blackberries are blackberries around here. People pick them while walking down the paths and along the streets. There seem to always be enough blackberries for the birds, for all of the people, and as many jams and cobblers as you can pick and make. Himalayan blackberries are considered to be an invasive weed around here, but in places where they are not controlled, they are immensely productive and the berries taste pretty good. On the farm they keep the blackberry area trimmed and cut out the vines when they appear elsewhere.

One crop that I notice being different from last year is pumpkins. Last year they had a lot of pumpkins at the farm. We brought several over to our house for the only Halloween decorations we put out last year. There were enough for each child to carve and decorate their own jack-o-lantern and plenty more for pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, and other autumn treats. This year, I haven’t noticed any pumpkins, though there may be some out there that I have not yet discovered.

One thing for sure, they aren’t growing any giant pumpkins like you see at the fairs and read about in the newspaper. People grow pumpkins that weight hundreds of pounds and have to be picked up with tractors. I’m not sure why they enjoy such large pumpkins, but they are definitely ways to gain attention. There are always a few good pumpkin stories in the newspaper in September and October. This year, I was delighted to read about Duane Hanson of Bellevue, Nebraska. We had a friend with the same name when we lived in North Dakota, so I looked closely to discern that this was a different Duane Hanson. Anyway this Duane Hanson had visited Ohio and saw a person attempt to set the Guinness World Record for floating down a river in a pumpkin. The previous record was 25.5 miles. Hanson chose a huge, 846 pound pumpkin for his attempt. He carved it out so there was room for him to ride. He even carved a drink holder. Accompanied with friends who had “safety” boats, he started floating in the Missouri River at 7:30 am. on his 60th birthday last Thursday. Witnessed by members of the Bellevue Mayor’s Office, the journey took just under 12 hours and covered 38 miles of the river to Nebraska City. I was pleased to see in the picture posted on the BBC website that Duane was wearing life vest and used a kayak paddle to steer his craft.

I didn’t set any records on my 60th birthday of which I am aware. And, as much as I love floating down rivers, I’ve never made the trip in a pumpkin, or any other garden plant. I’m comfortable with canoes, kayaks, and other small boats. I’m thinking that a pumpkin might be a bit less stable than a well-designed kayak.

I’ll probably share the story of Duane’s record with my family. If they were to produce a sufficiently large pumpkin, I know a place on the Skagit River where a record-breaking attempt could be made. This section of the Skagit is a bit faster than the Missouri, so it would be possible to travel 50 to 60 miles in a 12-hour day. Nah, I’m never going to really do it.

What I have been doing is thinking quite a bit about what I want to plant in our yard next year. I’ve designed a couple of new beds in my mind and I want to make a trip this autumn down to the Skagit Valley to purchase daffodil, tulip, and crocus bulbs. And I’ll have the harvest of this year’s dahlia tubers to trade and share with Isaac, so there will definitely be more dahlias than this year. More peas, more lettuce, and a few more tomato plants are all in order. The wisteria has grown quite a bit this year, promising even more spring blossoms next year. And I’ve got some ideas about how to take a bit better care of the hydrangea for next year.

I guess gardeners and farmers are always dreaming about the next year’s crop. Our yard is very small - the smallest we’ve had since the days we lived in Chicago - so our harvest won’t be dramatic.

Hats off to Duane Hanson. I wonder what he’ll do to celebrate his 65th birthday. I guess I should be thinking about next year and how I’ll mark my 70th. Mine comes too early in the season to go boating in any of the produce of the garden.