"What Not to Do Next Year" Gardening

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting cousin-in-law Carrie at the family reunion two weekends ago. It was good to finally meet after being Facebook friends for about a year. We talked about gardening and both agreed that part (or most) of our gardening experiences are learning experiences so that we don't make the same mistakes next year. I have been very fortunate that most of my garden has grown well for two summers, but I've learned a few things from my failures:

1. Cage tomatoes when they're small. They're hard to corral when they get to be teenagers (nearing fruitful maturity).
2. Not all green peas have edible pods. Well, they're edible like cardboard is edible. I now have seeds for snap pea varieties that I'll plant in late summer for fall harvest.
3. Cilantro bolts quickly, so plant smallish batches regularly. I did realize that cilantro and coriander come from the same plant, so I let the plants flower. I've looked up directions for when and how to harvest the seeds. I'll see if the coriander is worth the effort of getting the seeds out of the pods--another learning experience.
4. Lettuce turns bitter in the heat. I'm going to try starting and keeping some lettuce in the house. As long as growing lettuce indoors doesn't stunt it, keeping plants in the window should keep the lettuce yummy.
5. Green caterpillars eat corn!  I don't know how to fix that one yet, but it's infuriating.
6. Tomato plants and squash plants are like puppies; they always get bigger than you think they will.
7. Laying newspaper between rows to prevent weeds is more difficult than you imagine. I have yet to master it.
8. Planting herbs in soil bags works really well. Carrie told me about research that agrees with my own experience. I'm considering using soil bags to combat my bindweed problem. If I cover the current garden so that bindweed can get through it, maybe it will die. And while it's dying, I'll put bags of soil on top and grow herbs. Take that, bindweed!
9. Throwing bindweed on the lawn is a bad idea. Matt mowed over it, and the clippings blew onto my garden. And each clipping can start its own plant. 

I'm sure there are other things I've learned and many, many more things that I will learn as my garden continues to grow.