Plant Tags Can Tell You What Worked

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - These tomatoes grew well but tasted terrible, that plant didn't do anything, but this ONE pumped out pounds of plums for two months. That's the one I want to buy again.

Each spring, you get excited at the nursery - all the colors and cultivars with tags that tell you what you want to hear - easy to grow, vigorous, pest free! Some work out, some poop out - it might be your soil, the weather, or who-knows? But you know that next spring you'll want to remember which was which - and you won't. SO, as you clean out your garden - stuff the plant tags into separate pockets -winners and losers. Later, mark them YES or NO, tuck them into separate envelopes, or just take photos on your phone for when you shop next year.

If you only keep the winners, you can forget the names of less productive plants and easily get seduced next spring by the same thing that suckered you in before. If you decide you want to buy them and try again, that's up to you. But too many plant names sound the same - 'sweet 100's,' 'sweet millions,' 'tiny tim,' 'teeny tom,' 'micro,' 'mini,' 'pygmy,'- which was it?

Save yourself some money, time and aggravation - keep the tags.