Edited by Dayle Cheever.
What summer edibles are you planting this year? Is there anything different or special you do with you summer garden?
Charlotte Getz: I planted strawberries, five varieties of tomatoes, cantaloupe, yellow peppers, carrots, and eggplant. Because I live so close to the coast, it’s a challenge to plant cantaloupe, peppers, and eggplant. We will see if there is enough sun this summer to ripen those plants.
Lisa Lindmark: The standard—tomatoes (several varieties), squash, peppers, chiles, chard, herbs, etc. Plus capers.
Sabine Prather: I’m growing tomatoes and hopefully dill. That’s all. It’s a new garden and will take time.
Lucy Warren: My one-pot vegetable garden includes a zucchini, two tomato plants, and basil. Alas, I have already consumed my sumptuous crop of artichokes.
Cindy Sparks: This year, I have planted special Fordhook lima beans because my boyfriend requested them. I haven’t done limas before and I always worry that my fog belt patch may not get enough sun and heat to ripen anything. But I’ve prepared a big plot in my best sun, planted an entire bag of limas, and we will just have to wait and see. Richard has promised that no matter how big the harvest, he will eat every one.
Susa Oddo: Tomatoes! Virtually anything else at the farmers markets is wonderful but there is nothing like a fresh picked tomato.
Susan Ward: This year, I am hand-pollinating passionflowers because I missed out on some fruit last year. How delicious it is.
Barbara Dunn: Tomatoes, apples, oranges, lemons, peaches, basil, and lettuce. What did I do different? My raised bed receives too much shade so I planted lettuce.
Susi Torre-Bueno: I planted tomatoes in March/April and we’re already eating them. Some of the most vigorous tomatoes are ones that self-seeded from last year’s plants. My raised veggie beds are in a bit of a transitional state, so I’m taking advantage of their current drip irrigation lines to start cuttings of salvias and other plants. The drip is also good for growing some tiny agave plants from my plant that sent up a 15’ tall spike of flowers (which turned into about 1,167 baby plants). It seems to be loving a bit of tomato leaf shade, too.
Tynan Wyatt: This year, I finally have a house instead of an apartment! It was a bit ironic that the company that flipped my house spent a couple thousand bucks on the sod and irrigation system because my grass is brown, brown, brown. So I weed-whacked twelve one-foot plots right in the middle of the front lawn and sowed some seeds. These included three types of watermelons, four types of melons, and two types of squash. I spot water these by hand. I also have some new veggies in pots that I’m trying this year: zucchini and Brussels sprouts. These are in addition to carrots and basil added to the 15-gallon pots that my trees are already growing in. And my final new experiment for the summer is four ever-bearing strawberries in a 15-gallon square container. I’ve found the strawberries like the consistent moisture a big soil base can give them.
Dayle Cheever: I have a coastal garden and generally do better with cool weather crops, so I have a light summer garden. Even at the beach, I find that summer gardens take a lot of water. This year, I decided to try one watermelon in a very sunny patch (if the sun ever comes out) and three cucumber plants in my raised bed. I also have a small volunteer tomato from last year that looks rather sad, but I have to admire any plant that is trying so hard to survive.
Vivian Black: I've already planted strawberries, tomatoes, pansies, poppies, water hyacinths, water irises, water lettuce, and Azolla.