Garden Goals: How'd I Do in 2011?

Here's a re-cap of my gardening goals for 2011. Let's see how many things I actually accomplished... 


1) Eat more vegetables. I would especially like to try to eat more of the vegetables that I grow. I should try to incorporate veggies from my garden into every single meal this summer. I have a bad habit of growing random vegetables that interest me, but then I never actually get around to eating them! For example, I've grown swiss chard the last two years, but never eaten a single leaf. Swiss chard is beautiful enough to grow for its ornamental value, but I'm probably really missing out on some good stuff!
I definitely accomplished Goal #1. I tried many new vegetables this year as well as increased my overall intake of vegetables. In 2011, I ate a lot more kohlrabi, kale, swiss chard, cucumbers, edamame than ever before. The dark leafy greens often found a home on top of a homemade pizza. 

2) Keep better records. I usually keep track of the dates that I sow my seeds, but I never remember to record things like plant-out date (if transplanting), date of first harvest, or harvest yield. Generally, I remember things like flavor, disease susceptibility or resistance, and growth habit. Over the years, this knowledge can get a little jumbled and should probably be written down.
Goal #2 didn't go so well...I started the year off fine, but once seed-starting season was over, I pretty much stopped keeping records. Keeping up with recording names and dates for a highly diversified 1,000+ square-foot garden is a bit much for me.

3) Plant fall crops. Every year I intend to sow a fall crop of carrots, lettuce, broccoli, cilantro, etc., but I always lose track of time or forget. It's a shame because I could plant all kinds of fall veggies in vacant spots that have opened up over the course of the summer. I also should try to build mini hoop-houses for season extension.
I kind of accomplished goal #3. I did some sowing mid- to late-summer, but these sowings didn't amount to much. There were quite a few things that I planted in spring, however, that probably should have been planted for the fall (like daikon radish, broccoli, cauliflower, etc).

4) Grow strawberries. This will be a first for me.
I planted the strawberries and then kind of forgot about them for the rest of the summer. Hopefully they'll come back strong this year.

5) Clean up my wild black raspberry patch and my red raspberry patch. These were engulfed by weeds last year and my harvest was almost nothing.
I did clean up the black raspberry patch, but not so much the red raspberry patch. Again, my harvest was almost nothing in 2011. Small-fruits must not be my thing!

And finally...

6) Be a better composter. My goals are to chop up my compostables better (I've been meaning to purchase a machete just for this task), turn the pile fairly often (I never do this), and compost more cardboard, tissue, and paper (yes, these can be composted).
Nope...goal #6 didn't happen. I'm still composting all my kitchen and garden wastes, but they just pile up and sit there doing their own slow-motion break down.