Warm Season Vegetables Varieties I've Had Good Luck With

Basil

Lettuce Leaf, Genovese,

Beans - drying

Black Turtle, Cannellini

Beans – Lima

Christmas

Beans- snap

Roc d’Or, Romano, Royal Burgundy

Sweet Corn

Golden Bantam, Country Gentleman

Popcorn

Strawberry

Cucumbers

Lemon, Mideast Prolific, Armenian

Eggplant

Diamond, Rosa Bianca

Melons

Okra

Clemson's Spineless, Red Burgandy

Peppers (Sweet)

Banana, Corno di Toro,

Peppers (Hot)

Ancho, Jalapeňo,

Pumpkins

Sugar Pie,

Squash (Summer)

Black Beauty, Lebanese White, Yellow Crookneck,

Squash (Winter)

Acorn, Chiriman, Queensland Blue,

Tomatoes

Brandywine, Golden Jubilee, Italian Gold, Orange Sungold, Northern Delight, Stupice, Sweet 100’s, Garden Peach, Persimmon and about a thousand others!

Tomatillo

Plant from seed or buy transplants at a nursery of fun warm-season annual flowers like marigolds, cleome (watch the stickers!), cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias. These warm season flowers make cheerful bouquets. You can also grow everlasting flowers like statice and gomphrena. The widest selection of flowers and vegetables is available to those who start their own from seed and order by mail from the catalogs above and many, many others. 

david  

Introduction to Beekeeping

Bees LOVE broccoli flowers!

Today's lecture will be a tad bifurcated...  

We will be at The Learning Garden until 3:00 - with a little time for you to look at your gardens, there will be about a one hour lecture on beekeeping.  At 3:00 PM we will pack ourselves into vehicles and drive about a mile on a very brief field trip to see some occupied hives.  

If you are so late you miss us at the Garden, please call me for the address and directions to our field trip.


Why are bees important to us?
Honey
Pollination – 3 out of every 5 bites
Honey bees are not native to the Americas
Mason Orchard bee


Africanized Bees – African genes are spread throughout the population of all wild bees in the warmer portions of the US – however, these genes are not all bad... they can be more aggressive, but they are also harder workers and more productive – all bees can be aggressive


Colony Collapse Disorder - since 2006 or thereabouts Why?
Varroa mite
pesticides
GMOs
Industrial beekeeping
Shipping bees for pollinators
Or we just don't know...


Bee Losses from CCD
Future of the honey bee
Urban beekeeping


Introduction to practical beekeeping:

Equipment you need:
        Bee suit - covers your entire body except your hands
        Gloves - vented with sealable gauntlets 
        Veil - some have helmet inside; others you need a helmet with
I suggest purchasing these at LA Honey where you can try them on and get items that fit you. If I had purchased these items online, I would not have gotten the correct size.
Smoker
Hive tool
Rags (some wet) (honey is sticky!)
Flashlight
Epi pen
Hive box(es) and frames
Couple of good books and a mentor







Resources;


http://www.backwardsbeekeepers.com/


http://honeylove.org/


Los Angeles Honey Co
Address: 1559 Fishburn Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90063
Phone:(323) 264-2383


david 

Moroccan Spiced Chickpeas & Chard

As promised, at last!  

Chard should be in abundance right now and that often leads to 'chard overload,' how many times can you steam chard and hit it with lemon juice and still wolf it down with glee? I'm limited but this recipe never seems to fail to satisfy.

The ingredient list only looks daunting. Most of that list is simply a plethora of spices and you will find you already have a lot of them and need to use them up sooner rather than later. I have made this missing a spice here and there and missing raisins (don't make it without raisins if you can help it they really add a sweetness). It doesn't take long to make and the flavors run the gamut from sweet to savory and it is a delightful mélange. Serve with rice or quinoa for a satisfying vegetarian dinner.

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• ½ sweet onion, minced

• 1 teaspoon paprika (sweet or smoked according to preference)

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ½ teaspoon turmeric

• ¼ teaspoon thyme

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ¼ cup golden raisins

• 1 tablespoon organic tomato paste

• 1 bunch chard (about 8 ounces) washed, center ribs removed, and chopped

• 1 cup cooked chickpeas plus 1 ¼ cups of their cooking liquid, or 1 can organic chickpeas with liquid plus ½ cup water

• 1 teaspoon hot sauce or ¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)

Add the olive oil, onion, and garlic to a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or 3-4 quart pot, and turn the heat to medium. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes, then add the paprika, cumin, turmeric, thyme, salt, and cinnamon. Stir together and cook for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients, cover, and turn the heat down to medium-low.

Be sure to stir every 3-5 minutes to ensure that the bottom does not burn and that your ingredients are evenly combined. You can add a tablespoon of rice flour if you like your stew thicker. Remove from the heat after 20 minutes. Serve with rice or quinoa.

Composting

Benefits of compost

Recycling – keeping plant materials out of the landfills – keeps landfills from filling up too fast, and keeps the sun's energy out of the landfill

Builds soil structure and fertility

Composting Piles and Methodologies

No pile – dig it into the soil (trench composting)

Plastic bins -

Wire bins

Wooden bins

No bins

Vermicomposting

Collect every waste you can for composting from your own house first

newsprint, tea bags, coffee grounds, veggie and fruit trimmings, food that died in the fridge

no dog or cat waste, bones and unused meat are poor choices,

Check with neighbors for their free waste i.e. coffee grounds, leaves,

find local waste that's free – wood chips, sawdust, Starbucks coffee grounds, scrounge your neighborhood for waste streams that could prove useful – another's trash could be your treasure

Activators

Commercial products that contain microbes to inoculate your compost pile. Most research shows limited use as the number of microbes multiply to full capacity in short order, but they would do that (more slowly) without the inoculation. No matter the claims made by the sales force for such products, most independent research indicate any positive long term effect from such products.

After too little water, the most common failure in compost piles is a lack of nitrogen – too little materials with not enough nitrogen to facilitate heating up or quick decomposition; all the detritivores need nitrogen to build their protoplasm and do to their work. Additional inputs of nitrogen will correct a slow pile, assuming that lack of water is not the problem.

Components

Alfalfa – one of my favorites, sold as livestock feed in feed stores. One bale sells for under $20. It has some nitrogen and absorbs, and holds onto moisture making it an excellent addition to a compost pile. Alfalfa serves as a good compost stimulant and activator. Alfalfa sold as animal feed in dehydrated pellets or a meal works just as well too.

Apple pomace – any pomace – leftovers from crushing fruits for their juice. Will attract yellow jackets and other wasps so cover them with leaves or soil or straw or hay.

Banana residue – makes a compost pile go whoopee – seems well supplied with nitrogen and guarantee lots of bacterial activity

Beet waste – if you should move near a sugar beet processing plant – many books will recommend beet waste – be careful, though, now that GMO sugar beets have begun to be used.

Bonemeal – high in phosphorus if you find yourself within striking distance of a slaughterhouse. Ditto for blood meal.

Citrus wastes – from your table is sometimes denigrated as a compost pile component, but it is good in nutrients and breaks down quickly. If you are near a factory producing orange and other citrus products – sometimes available from some feed stores – the more peel the more nitrogen the final product will contain.

Cocoa Bean Shells – for those that live near a chocolate factory – they are rich in nitrogen and benefit the soil no matter how they are used. They do not break down quickly so I have used them as pathway mulch. I have heard they are poisonous to dogs although I used them whilst living with two dogs and neither dog showed the slightest interest in them. They smell great, although you might find yourself gorging on chocolate as a result.

Coffee wastes – earthworms love them and they break down nicely. Slightly acidic they make a good mulch around any acid loving plant (skipping the compost pile altogether). Mix them with other OM as they hold moisture well. If allowed to sour, they will attract fruit flies.

Cottonseed meal – commercially available as fertilizer – used to be a great source of nitrogen but most of it is now GMO, as well being sprayed with insecticides of all kinds and I would skip it these days unless you can find a source of organic cottonseed meal.. It is one of the most dependable long term organic sources for nitrogen, a rare thing in organic gardening.

Garbage – will be one of your most consistent and reliable components in your compost pile. Do not use meat craps, fat or bones in your pile for they take too long to fully break down and are very attractive to scavenging animals. When put into your compost pile, always mix with absorbent material like dead leaves, straw or hay and cover them completely with dirt or other substantive materials to prevent smells and discourage flies.

Grape wastes – from wineries, producing waste products in the way of skin residue, seeds and stalks by the ton in pressing season. Not a lot of nutrition but the bulk of organic plant matter may be useful to achieve a rapid hot compost

Grass clippings – most of us have these or can easily obtain them from neighbors who have them. Exceedingly rich in nitrogen, and will heat up on their own if put into a pile, but, because of their shape and high moisture content can pack down, rotting and turn slimy and smelly on you. Add grass clippings in small layers and mix with leaves, garbage and or other materials. Dried grass clippings will have lost most of their nitrogen, treat like hay or straw. If the source lawn is being treated with herbicides, use with care – although the composting process, if done properly will remove most of those residues.

Hair – if you can get an amount of it is probably the most concentrated source of nitrogen you can get for free. Six to seven pounds of hair can contain as much nitrogen as 100 to 200 pounds of manure. Hair will decompose rapidly and may pack down and shed water – mix with other materials to prevent that. Available for free from barbershops or hair salons.

Hay – you can buy a bale from a feed store – may contain weed seeds unless it was cut early – how would you know? If you can find spoiled hay from a farmer it will be free or at low cost.

Leaves – very compostable and available for free to most of us. Leaves, because of the extensive roots of trees that forage deep into the subsoil for nutrients, are a superior component in your compost. Pound for pound, leaves provide twice the mineral content of manure. They are low in nitrogen and may pack down taking a long time to break down, but mixed with a good source of nitrogen and kept aerated, they are a fabulous resource.

Manure – used with discretion can be an important part of a compost pile. If you have chickens or rabbits (or any farm animal) I suggest you use it in your compost pile; but I do not encourage importing fresh animal manures if you do not know the animal. Many of our farm animals today get unregulated dosages of medications and that will be expressed through their feces and urine, furthermore, most animals today are not pastured and their manure will have high concentrations of urine in the manure – urine is high in salts. If you do have a source of manure, use it in the compost pile, get a hot pile and let it break down thoroughly before incorporating these items into your soil. If it smells like animal poop, it is still too fresh.

Paper – you can use paper of many kinds even those with colored ink and slick pages. The secret, and the problem, for using paper waste is they need to be shredded or chopped into fine bits for successful incorporation into the pile. I have used paper from an office shredder, but it was difficult to wet and until wetted was as airborne faster than corn pollen. Wetted newsprint is excellent. Use like straw.

Pine needles – in the south it's called pine straw, but they break down super slowly. They are highly acidic and that means they should not be used intemperately. They have been found somewhat effective at controlling Fusarium wilts.

Rice hulls – a great source of potash and break down readily in your compost pile. They are an excellent soil conditioner, are loved in the compost heap and are a desirable mulch. Many soil conditioners contain large amounts of rice hulls for the 'fluffy.'

Sawdust – available from lumber yards or furniture refinishers. It is valuable as a source of a cabon and helps allow good air penetration into the compost pile. It is slow to break down – the robbing of nitrogen that is often a source of concern for gardeners, most research (my own anecdotal experience included) shows that is not a credible problem.

Seaweed – free and available on the beach, but, some folks worry about the radioactive level since the recent nuclear power plant problems in Japan. It has a similar nutrient level as manure, but should be composted while fresh. While I have worried about salt content, I see no mention of it in most composting literature. Seaweed contains a multitude of micronutrients essential to human and plant health. Mix with other materials and it will decompose quickly. Kelp meal, purchased, can be used as an activator in compost.

Soil – not an essential component in a working compost pile, it can prove helpful. Soil can be used as an inoculator to imbue your pile with microbial activity setting your new pile on its way. Most gardeners, though, add a small amounts of finished compost to a new pile as an activator.

Straw – adds few nutrients but does add organic material and helps aerate a compost pile. It adds carbon to the pile and is a sort of plant food. If using a lot of straw, add commensurate amounts of nitrogen. Straw that has begun to break down is a wonderful addition to any compost pile.

Tea grounds – has a high content of nitrogen (about 4.15%) and breaks down easily.

Weeds – non-perennial weeds can be be placed in the compost pile as long as they are not seeding. Some weeds, like mallow, have an incredible tap root and bring materials from the subsoil up which is in the plant leaves and stems making their contribution to the compost pile much more desirable. However, some weeds, like Bermuda grass, which also has a tremendous root system (Bermuda roots are known to go as far as 27 feet deep!) will only grow in your compost pile – don't risk it.

Wood ashes – a valuable source off potash. Use cautiously for they have a strong alkalizing effect and might also increase soil salinity.

Wood chips – useful in the garden and compost pile. They do break down slowly, but even as they break down they increase the moisture holding capacity and aerate the soil. If your soil has enough nitrogen to begin with, decomposing wood chips should not adversely affect your soil's nitrogen availability.

Feeding your worms:

Worms LOVE	Worms HATE
Breads & Grains Cereal Coffee grounds & filter Fruits Tea bags Vegetables	Dairy Products Fats Meat Feces Oil

Troubleshooting

Problem	Probable Cause	Solution
Worms are dying or trying to escape	Too wet Too dry Bedding is used up	Add more bedding Moisten bedding Harvest your bin
Bin stinks!	Not enough air Too much food Too wet	Drill more ventilation holes Do not feed for 1-2 weeks Add more bedding
Fruit Flies	Exposed food	Bury food in bedding

Using The Soil Triangle

Using The Soil Triangle 

Follow these steps to determine the name of your soil texture:

1. Place the edge of a ruler at the point along the base of the triangle that represents the percent of sand in your sample. Position the ruler on or parallel to the lines which slant toward the base of the triangle.
2. Place the edge of a second ruler at the point along the right side of the triangle that represents the percent of silt in your sample. Position the ruler on or parallel to the lines which slant toward the base of the triangle.
3. Place the point of a pencil or water soluble marker at the point where the two rulers meet. Place the top edge of one of the rulers on the mark, and hold the ruler parallel to the horizontal lines. The number on the left should be the percent of clay in the sample.
4. The descriptive name of the soil sample is written in the shaded area where the mark is located. If the mark should fall directly on a line between two descriptions, record both names.

Feel the texture of a moist soil sample. Sand will feel "gritty", while silt will feel like powder or flour. Clay will feel "sticky" and hard to squeeze, and will probably stick to your hand. Looking at the textural triangle, try to estimate how much sand, silt, or clay is in the sample. Find the name of the texture that this soil corresponds to.

Practice Exercises:

Use the following numbers to determine the soil texture name using the textural triangle. When a number is missing, fill in the blanks (note: the sum of % sand, silt and clay should always add up to 100%):

% SAND	%SILT	%CLAY	TEXTURE NAME
75	10	15	sandy loam
10	83	7
42		37
	52	21
	35	50
30	55
37		21
5	70
55		40
	45	10

From: http://www.hwr.arizona.edu/globe/globe2/soilpb42.html

Soil Lecture Notes

We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot. Leonardo da Vinci

Some of you will have questions about your own situation – and that’s how it should be. Many of these questions will be excellent for demonstrating a concept or principle to the class, however, some of you live in simply impossible conditions that conform to no known laws of man and what you need is not an answer in a class room setting but a consultation with someone first hand with your situation as the sole focus – or perhaps a miracle, I don’t know – in those cases, I will defer your question and ask you approach me out of the classroom setting in order to answer you completely. Let’s be fair to your fellow students, this is their time too.

In teaching soils through the years, I have found that we will move in and out of three different scientific discipline: physics, chemistry and biology. We can only talk about one subject at a time, because that is how we learn, but I want to stress to you from the very beginning that these are interconnected in a very intricate dance. Whatever you do to one will affect the other two as sure as cutting up beets will give you red fingers. Remember that and you will go a long way towards mastering the soils you garden with.

Air and water share spaces in the soil. After a rain, an event that has happened here once in a while, as much as 100% of the soil pore space may be filled with water; this same pore space may be 100% filled with air in the event of an extended drought – in which case, all the plants in that soil would be dead. So this percentage allotted to water and air is always in flux.

Approximately half of the volume of soil is pore space and can be taken up with water or air depending on the current weather conditions.

Except for a precious small number of you, most of you will garden in soils that have 5% organic matter. Maybe less. These figures represent an ‘average’ soil. There are variations from place to place, but this representation is close enough for an average number through out.

Soil Formation

Soil forms over thousands of years and is an ongoing process. Soils in California are relatively young soils and haven’t, for the most part, developed any great depth.

The following factors inform the process:

1. Climate – including temperature and rainfall
2. Organisms – from the itty bitty (microscopic) to the biggies (macroscopic)
3. Topography – (the book calls relief) – land surface
4. Parent material – the original rock
5. Time – the factor that weathers us all.

Climate

Soil forms from the parent material. Climate participates in this process in many guises:

Wind

Rainfall

Freezing

A mild climate forms soil more slowly than a non-forgiving climate

Organisms

Organisms from lichen growing on a rock to a tree that sends its root hairs down into crevices of the rock and fissure it.

Topography

Soil forms more easily on a level surface. Look at the sheer face of a cliff and you’ll see the extreme proof of what I’m saying.

Parent Material

Granite becomes soil less rapidly than sandstone.

Time

Because time ages everything.

Soil Composition

Sand/Silt/Clay – the physical sizes

Sand – from 2mm to 5 hundredths of a mm

Silt – from 5 hundredths of a mm to 2 thousandths of a mm

Clay – smaller than 2 thousandths of a mm

Characteristics of Soil Components

Property/Behavior	Sand	Silt	Clay
Water holding	Low	Medium +	High
Aeration	Good	Medium	Poor
Drainage rate	High	Medium	Slow/Very slow
Soil organic matter	Low	Medium +	High
Decomposition of organic matter	Rapid	Medium	Slow
Speed of warming	Rapid	Medium	Slow
Compactability	Low	Medium	High
Storage of nutrients	Low	Medium	High
Resistance to pH change	Low	Medium	High

Notes on Clay Soil

Clay particles, though tiny, have a much larger surface area – see the chart on page 32. How does this happen?

1. More small particles can fit into the same area.
2. The shape of clay particles.

This could be illustrated by coffee beans, ground and whole – if I could think of a container to show this. I.e. a test tube.

Soil Texture

Is determined through the proportion of these differing components found in a given soil.

Ref. Chart on 33

An ideal soil is a mix of all these different components. While it is possible to have a soil that is composed of one or the other component, the likelihood is that it will be a combination of all three. The proportion of one to the next determines how you call your soil.

Do the texture triangle procedure

Organic Matter

The end process of compost is: humus

Humus is a complex organic substance resulting from the breakdown of plant material in a process called humification. This process can occur naturally in soil, or in the production of compost. Humus is extremely important to the fertility of soils in both a physical and chemical sense (see below). Physically it helps the soil retain moisture and encourages the formation of good soil structure. Chemically, it has many active molecules that can bind to plant nutrients, making them more available. It is difficult to define humus in precise terms because it is a highly complex substance, the full nature of which is still not fully understood. Physically humus can be differentiated from organic matter in that the latter is rough looking material, with coarse plant remains still visible, while once fully humified it become more uniform in appearance (a dark, spongy, jelly-like substance) and unstructured in structure; which is to say, it has no determinate shape, structure or character, it is not square, round or triangular.

Plant remains (including those that have passed through an animal and are excreted as manure) contain organic compounds: sugars, starches, proteins, carbohydrates and organic acids. The process of organic matter decay in the soil begins with the decomposition of sugars and starches from carbohydrates which break down easily as detritivores initially invade the dead plant, whilst the remaining cellulose breaks down more slowly. Proteins decompose into amino acids at a rate depending on Carbon: Nitrogen ratios. The humus that is the end product of this process is a mixture of compounds and complex life chemicals of plant, animal or microbial origin which has many functions and benefits in the soil as outlined below;

The process that converts raw organic matter to the relatively stable substance that is humus feeds the soil population of micro-organisms and other creatures which helps in maintaining high and healthy levels of soil life.

Effective and stable humus are further sources of nutrients to microbes, the former providing a readily available supply whilst the latter acts as a more long term storage reservoir.

Humification of dead plant material causes complex organic compounds to break down into simpler forms which are then made available to growing plants for uptake through their root systems.

Humus can hold the equivalent of 80-90% of its weight in moisture, thus increases the soil's capacity to withstand drought conditions.

The biochemical structure of humus enables it to moderate- or buffer- excessive acid or alkaline soil conditions.

During the humification process microbes secrete sticky gums- these contribute to the structure of the soil by holding particles together, allowing greater aeration of the soil. Toxic substances such as heavy metals, as well as excess nutrients, can be bound to the complex organic molecules of humus and prevented from entering the wider ecosystem.

The dark color of humus (usually black or dark brown) helps to warm up cold soils in the spring.

Humus which is also capable of further decomposition is referred to as effective or active humus. It is principally derived from sugars, starches and proteins and consists of simple organic acids. It is an excellent source of plant nutrients, but of little value regarding long term soil structure and tilth. Stable humus consisting of humic acids on the other hand, are so highly insoluble (or tightly bound to clay particles that they cannot be penetrated by microbes) that they are greatly resistant to further decomposition. They add few readily available nutrients to the soil, but play an essential part in providing it's physical structure. Some very stable humus complexes have survived for thousands of years.

Humus should not be thought of as 'dead'- rather it is the 'raw matter' of life- the transition stage between one life form and another. It is a part of a constant process of change and organic cycling, thus must be constantly replenished- for when we are removing prunings and crops for the kitchen we are depriving nature's cycle of potential humus. This is why we need to substitute compost and other sources of organic matter to maintain the fertility of our productive land.

Organic matter placed on the soil is called: mulch.

Organic matter dug into the soil is called amendment.

Some of either can be called humus, but not all.

Organic matter in the soil mitigates any negatives of that soil:

Too much clay is opened up by adding OM.

Too much sand is cohered by adding OM.

Micro and macro organisms live on OM.

There are several different schools of thought on how to get OM in to and used by the soil: from double digging, to using a tiller to sheet composting.

Soil Water

Nutrients enter a plant via soil solution.

Water coheres to itself (describe the miniscus).

Roots take up water one molecule at a time. Water molecules cohere throughout the plant – form the water column. That water molecule pulled into the plant root will pull along one behind it and one behind it.

Discuss water pulled across a moist soil and watering away from the plant’s base. Water not making across differing soil types.

Each shovel of soil holds more living things than all the human beings ever born.

Nutrients

Nutrients Available (via atmosphere or water)

Carbon

Hydrogen

Oxygen

Primary Nutrients

Nitrogen

Potassium

Phosphorus

Secondary Nutrients

Calcium

Magnesium

Sulfur

Micronutrients

Boron

Chlorine

Copper

Iron

Manganese

Molybdenum

Nickel

Zinc

Symptoms of deficiency of N vs. Fe

PH chart on p. 54 and the differences of pH on nutrient uptake…

Fertilizers

NPK – a ‘complete’ fertilizer and what do the numbers mean..

Nitrogen; Phosphorous; Potassium

The difference between fertilizers and amendment.

Discuss lead uptake in soils…

Bibliography

Hillel, D. J. 1992, Out of the Earth: Civilization and the Life of the Soil, Reprint Edition, Berkeley, CA; University of California Press

Logsdon, Gene, 1975; The Gardener’s Guide to Better Soil, Emmaus, PN; Rodale Press

Gershuny, Grace, 1986; The Soul of Soil; A Guide to Ecological Soil Management, 2^nd Edition, St. Johnsbury, VT; Gaia Services

Kohnke, Helmut, 1995; Soil Science Simplified, 4^th Edition, Prospect Heights, IL Waveland Press

Cool and Warm Season Varietal Suggestions

Suggestions for The Cool Season:

Artichokes (a perennial)

Beets

Burpee’s Golden, Chioggia, Detroit Dark Red, Detroit White,

Broccoli

Nutribud, Waltham. Calabrese, DeCicco 

Brussel Sprouts

Long Island (sometimes "Improved" is added) 

Cabbage (including Oriental cabbage-like greens)

Point One, Early Jersey Wakefield, Copenhagen Market,

Carrots

Dragon, St. Valery, Paris Market, Scarlet Nantes,

Cauliflower – there are purple ones too!

Early Snowball

Chard

Argentata, Five Color Silverbeet,

Fava Beans

Windsor; Aprovecho (sometimes appended with “Select”)

Florence Fennel (bulbing)

Romy, Zefa Fino.

Garlic (this is a long season crop, plant in Fall harvest next Summer)

Kale

Dinosaur (also called 'Lacinata'), Redbor,

Kohlrabi

Leeks

Carina, King Richard

Lettuce

more varieties than you can shake a stick at – or grow a mix!

Onions (also a long season growing; find “short-day” varieties like Italian Torpedo)

Other leafy salad things

Parsley

Peas

Tall Telephone Pole, Dwarf Gray Sugar,

Potatoes

All-Blue, Caribe, Yukon Gold,

Radishes

French Breakfast, Fluo, Easter Egg, Purple Plum, Watermelon

Shallots

Spinach

Bloomsdales’ Long Standing, America

Turnips

DeMilan, Purple Top White Globe

Include all perennial herbs and perennial flowers. In addition, try some fun annuals like calendulas, larkspur, poppies (bread, California or Iceland types), sweet peas, and venidium. Make room for cilantro! Lots of cilantro!!

Suggestions for The Warm Season:

Basil

Lettuce Leaf, Genovese,

Beans - drying

Black Turtle, Calypso, Cherokee Trail of Tears, Hidatsa, Hutterite, Cannelini,

Beans – lima

Christmas,

Beans- snap

Roc d’Or, Romano, Royal Burgundy, Kentucky Wonder, Blue Lake

Sweet Corn

Golden Bantam, Country Gentleman,

Popcorn

Strawberry

Cucumbers

Mideast Prolific, Japanese, Armenian,

Eggplant

Asian Bride, Rosa Bianca, Dusky

Melons

Charantais, Jenny Lind,

Okra

Peppers (Sweet)

Ancho, Corno di Toro, Healthy, Marconi,

Peppers (Hot)

Aji Crystal, Fish (mildly hot), Early Jalapeno,

Pumpkins

Cornfield, Lumina,

Squash (Summer)

Black Beauty, Yellow Crookneck

Squash (Winter)

Acorn, Marina de Chioggia, Potimarron, Queensland Blue, Kaboucha,

Tomatoes

Brandywine, San Marzano, Stupice, Sweet 100’s, Rutgers and thousands others!

Tomatillo

Green Husk, Purple di Milpa,

Plant from seed or buy transplants at a nursery of fun warm-season annual flowers like marigolds, cleome (watch the stickers!), cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias. These warm season flowers make cheerful bouquets. You can also grow everlasting flowers like statice and gomphrena. The widest selection of flowers and vegetables is available to those who start their own from seed, especially if one orders from the internet.