Learning from the Garden

As here in the northern hemisphere the growing season takes a deep breath before its last all out burst towards the finish line, I wonder, would anyone like to share what they've learned from their gardens this year? 

I've learned that zucchini is not always an abundant producer that causes your neighbors to run when they see you coming.  This is the first and only squash that I got off my frigid plant all summer.  I picked it today.  My guess is that it needed more sun.  It will be in a different spot next year.

I've learned that tomatoes grow really fast and they are heavy!  Can you see the trellis stakes leaning in toward each other?  Had I done a better job of pruning the plants, from very early on, I think this system would have worked.  I had two rows of four tomato plants, with a stake at the end of each row.  As the plants grew, I wrapped a plastic covered wire back and forth between the stakes and tied the plants to it with strips of panty hose.  They got away from me early on as far as pruning goes, and I finally just threw my hands up in the air and let them grow.  But now, the plants are so heavy they are pulling the trellis down.  Also, it is hard to get to the inner row to pick ripe tomatoes.  Next year, I'm building two more raised beds, each 1' X 8', and I will do eight tomatoes in one row.  The other row will get peppers and eggplant, because they didn't get enough sun in this bed, and so didn't produce well.

I learned what kind of tomatoes I like best!  In this bowl, my favorites are the Juane Flamme and Dagma's Perfection.  The Juane Flamme came on early and they have the most wonderful fresh sun-kissed tomato flavor.  The Dagma's Perfection didn't start to get ripe until a couple weeks ago, but it was worth the wait.  I like it for eating on sandwiches or in salads.  The yellow pears just weren't worth the trouble really.  You have to get them while they still have a green tint to them, or the texture starts to get mushy.  They were hard to get to, and more labor intensive for not the best flavor.  The Kellogg's Breakfast are ginormous!! They too, just started to ripen, and are very good fresh or cooked.  I made a tomato soup last night with one Kellogg's Breakfast and one Dagma's Perfection, some sauteed garlic and shallot and a little tarragon.  Very good:)  The Cour di Bue are great for sauces, or any cooked dish.  The Box Car Willies are good, but not memorable.

And, oh my!  This pitiful creature is a pumpkin.  Today being September 1 and this is how big he is, I am not holding out any hope for a pumpkin patch come October.  The Great Pumpkin will not be visiting me:(  Here I learned that these guys have to go in a lot earlier than this one did.  It was a nursery transplant even, but it should have been planted about 3 weeks earlier.  It may have been snowing then.

Tell us about your gardens.  Did you have a favorite performer?  The best tasting tomato?  Did you learn any new techniques that you will use again?  Did you find a fail-safe organic method of combating snails and cutworm?  Please share!

Edit: One more question, has anyone ever done any canning on a glass/ceramic cooktop?  and how successful was that?  I've read different things on the internet.