edible favorites ~ part 1

On my road toward edible gardening success, I've had a lot of trial and plenty of error.  This year I've finally got a nice bunch of fruits and veggies that are actually producing!

As I mentioned in my previous post, good dirt is your garden's best friend.  If you go with a cheap one (like I did my first year), your plants just won't do well.

The next most important thing is choosing your plants wisely.  Take yourself down to a local nursery for a visit.  If you're a beginner, you want hardy plants that do well in your climate!  My first year, I made the mistake of ordering all my seeds from a specialty heirloom catalogue.  They all sounded wonderful in theory, but many of them weren't right for my coastal area and just proved to be too hard to keep healthy. 

Here are this year's favorites so far!

{1} Sweet Peppers ~ Easy to grow, pest and disease resistant ~ starter plants are the way to go!
{2} Tomatoes ~ This year we've got three!  A super sweet heirloom black cherry {1}, a cherokee green (one of the best tasting, fast growing greens) {13}, and a yellow heirloom (not pictured) ~ starter plants are the way to go here too!
{3} Sugar snap peas ~ sweet, delicious and productive.  In my experience they like a little shade, so they're nestled behind my corn ~ easy to start from seed.
{4} Lettuce ~ If you like salad it's a must.  And you still have plenty of time to plant from seed and enjoy this year!  I've had great luck with lettuce from seed, but the starter plants are a super quick route to a dinner salad.
{5} Sweet White Corn ~ so easy to grow + pole beans or snap peas can climb right up it!
{6} Dill ~ for pickling my cucumbers
{7} Cucumbers ~ Salt and pepper for pickling (pictured) and a sweet slice hybrid for eating
{8} Rue ~ to keep the bugs away (we've got marigolds too!)
{9} Red Leaf Kale ~ easy to start from seed
{10} Japanese eggplant ~ so much easier than other varieties that I've tried
{11} Swiss Chard
{12} Multicolor beets
{13} Cherokee green tomatoes (see {2})

If you're starting late this year you've still got time!  Especially if you're in Southern California like I am.  Go get yourself some starter plants and build yourself a simple raised bed.  Cucumber, squash and melons can go in now!  And beets, carrots, lettuce and all types of greens will go in around August 1st.

And don't forget the PUMPKINS!  Throw those seeds in the ground now for great fun in October.  We just planted our pumpkin patch last weekend.

Later this week I'll post all of my potted edibles!