man overboard

CAN YOU GUESS what the top 11 new stories of 2011 were on A Way to Garden? As was the case last year, not even one featured the increasingly cushy life of Jack the Demon Cat, now operating under the assumed name Jack the Mama’s Boy–and just completing his first full year of nonstop sleepovers and on-demand feeding courtesy of his personal valet. Speaking of eating, a lot of this year’s top posts involved garden-fresh ingredients. Here’s what else:

1. Farm-Fresh Peaches, Frozen to Perfection

Packing a harvest of summer’s juiciest flavor for the long haul: a how-to.

2. Slideshow: 54 Top Shade Plants

The older the garden gets, the more shade (and shade plants) I have. Some beauties.

3. Canning-Jar Giveaway and Produce-Stashing Tips

Wherein I confess my newfound love for Weck jars…and share all the links on how to stash what.

4. Instant Water Gardens: Try Seasonal Troughs

No other feature here gets more attention than the two big pots I drag out and fill with water and floating plants each year.

5. Great Shrub: Bottlebrush Buckeye

One of my oldest, and certainly my largest, shrubs, a joy in several seasons.

6. Recipe: Baking Up Some Heirloom Beans

I baked this staple of my menu on the “Martha” TV show, and you gave them a big thumb’s up. They freeze well, too.

7. Garden Gates in Trash-to-Treasure Style

I finally cleaned the barn in 2011, and recycled some long-lost bits and bobs into garden decor.

8. Cucumber-Growing Q&A, and the Best Pickles Ever

Sick of wilts and beetles, I’d skipped cukes for a few years, but I studied up and had a great crop.

9. 5 Things You Must Read While I Savage My Garden

One of my periodic links posts, timed to distract you from the mess I have to make after spring stuff gets a stiff haircut here.

10. Giveaway: I Hate to Water, But Met a Hose to Love

I’m not much for newfangled garden gear, but this lightweight hose is one notable exception.

11. Garlic Scapes: Out of the Garden, Onto the Menu

Delicious ways to serve up the bonus that hardneck garlic–the only kind I grow–serves up to me midseason.

A note about things I didn’t include: the monthly garden chores (always a big hit), or posts from previous years that are still top-performing thanks to Google search (like my refrigerator-pickle recipe, truly the little engine that could). All the big green headline links below are 2011 vintage, and apparently met with your approval. Thanks for your visits and encouragement this year, as ever.

Extra: By comparison, here’s the 2010 top-story list.