Hi all, new to the forum. :) Hubby and I are gardening in Wheat Ridge. 2013's good, bad, and just plain weird... Yellow Cherry went steroidal on us, breaking down the biggest tomato cage we had. It had so many fruits on just one plant that I made tomato juice out of self-defense (it was delicious, btw). Golden Jubilee was a big disappointment. It ripened one fruit, which I never tasted because my visiting six-year-old niece was so enthralled with it that I gave it to her. The plant unfortunately never produced any more, but I'm hoping it was a good investment in the next generation of gardeners. Siletz had what I ended up calling "Teenage Mutant Ninja Tomatoes". It producedvery well, but the fruits were the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Almost all of them had what looked like stubby fingers growing from inside the fruit out through the blossom end. We later heard that there was a seed lot that had this strange mutation - evidently our packet was from that lot. (I had thought it was maybe our proximity to Rocky Flats!) They tasted fine, but were very weird-looking! Burgundy okra was a definite winner. I grew it out front in a rose bed we'd built that we didn't have the budget to plant entirely in roses. The okra flowers were pretty and occasioned lots of questions from neighbors who didn't know what it was, and we got enough okra pods to freeze a few bags. We haven't used it all up yet. Sugar Snap peas (the pole type) - another big winner. Nice fat, sweet pods and lots of them. We froze a bunch of these and are still enjoying them. Giant Marconi peppers - our first successful year with these. They really were giant! Good producer, too. Brassicas in general did rather poorly for us this year. Spring broccoli didn't produce till October, only one head of cabbage survived, and the cauliflower died the moment it was set out. Hard to tell with the potatoes. They got caught in that September deluge as we were starting to dry down the vines, and almost every spud split because of the sudden excessive moisture. They taste good, but look awful. That was our 2013...

Yes, All those guys are getting so arrogant, esp Dan! They've won by luck a few times, but they act like no one can touch them! Even when he fell below the yellow line, Dan had his plan all thought out about how his team would save him-HA I'm surprised he only lost a pound though? Really proud of the women! Both big numbers! I'm surprised that neither thought to team up at the "arena" challenge. I guess I'm so competitive, I'm always thinking about that. Yes those "commercials" are annoying!!

For those of you who watched, did you see that comercial for a weight loss challenge that actually benefited the hungry? It had Matt (the biggest loser of a past season) and the girl he married (another contestant, can't remember her name)and their two kids. They both looked like they had gained all their weight back. They looked very big. Just wondering why they would choose those two to put on their comercial? Did anyone else notice that?

I was glad she won. ALL of the contestants did very well, in my opinion. My only complaint about the finale is that they wait until the very last second to announce the winner, and then there's not even a couple of minutes for them to let that winner speak, etc. Vannie, you say you slept thru the ending? I always set the recorder to tape it while I watch, because I've been known to do that. I looked at the clock at 9:58 pm eastern....(YES, only two minutes left)...and dozed off till 10:01 !!!! I was sooo glad to have it taped. Shirley