My garden isn’t planted yet, but soon.
There are a lot of things I’ve tried to grow over the years, such as watermelons, but I haven’t found a variety I like that grows well for me. This year, instead of testing one variety of each thing in order to keep the seed pure, I’m testing all the varieties that I think might work, all at once. Whichever ones do best, those will be the ones I grow next year. I’m doing that with lots of foods, including several grains. I even scored some seeds for a wheat variety that gets 7 feet tall!!! (Although I expect one of the shorter varieties will turn out to be a better match.)
Gardening has a learning curve, and it takes a lot of trial-and-error to find the right varieties for your conditions and growing style. Even if a variety works well for your neighbor, it might not work well for you if you have a different gardening style. In one of my plant-breeding books, the author mentioned a squash variety she was testing on that did great with overhead watering, but terrible with drip irrigation. Closer examination showed the surface of the leaves were textured in a way that trapped enough dust to interfere with photosynthesis, and overhead watering rinsed the dust off. The variety next to it that had a different texture on the leaves, did better with drip irrigation. That’s just one example of how a different growing style can effect how well a plant grows for you.
You do not want your first garden to be the one your life is depending on!
That's me this year. Six varieties of tomatoes with four being cherry. Starting from seed, Tappy's Heritage tomato which is a red slicer but meaty enough for canning, is doing awesome and Rosella cherry also doing well. I'll probably be growing lots of multipurpose Tappy's next year. Will have to see how they finish out.
Also trying some things I've never eaten before, mostly greens type stuff. Never had chard before so I'm growing some of that. Trying four different types of peppers, mostly hot and all varieties I've never had because the stores don't sell them.
Got three types of watermelon and all will get the same treatment so we'll see how they grow and taste for us. Either one will be a winner or we'll try some different ones next year.
Everything is open pollinated so next year or the year after, if I want to grow a single variety and save seed, I can.