Dorothy, It seems like the heat is just driving all the plants to produce very early this year. I harvested tons of broccoli last week, and now we have only side shoots. I don't know how long they'll keep producing in the heat, but I have a lot of broccoli in the fridge and freezer so I am a happy camper even if the broccoli plants keel over and die on the next really hot day (which won't be this week). The Sugar Snaps really suffered on those 96-degree days last week, and I am not sure how well they'll hold up. They look awful now. We've harvested a decent amount of peas, but nothing like two years ago when we harvested 30-something pounds. This is not the best year for cool-season crops. It got too hot here, and almost no rain fell in April. I didn't water either, because I was so sure it would rain "tomorrow" but that rainy tomorrow didn't arrive until May. I did water once last week, but it likely wasn't enough to help, and less than an inch of rain fell a couple of days later but the ground is so dry you cannot even tell it rained. I've pretty much moved on to warm-season crops. Today I picked 5 gallons of bush green beans. It seems ridiculous to have that many this early in the year, and to have that many at once. I picked and picked and picked. If you look at the DTMs of the snap bean varieties I planted, they shouldn't even be producing yet. I assume all those hot days in the upper 80s through the mid-90s caused their growth and production to accelerate. Tomorrow I'll be picking yellow straightneck squash and zucchini, and tomatoes. We're at the point now where we're picking tomatoes daily. It is bizarre to have this much this early. The calendar says early May, but my harvests are more like what I usually harvest in June. It makes it feel like it is later in the spring than it actually is. At least if extreme heat and drought arrive in a few weeks, I'll know the garden produced well early before the heat shut it down. Maybe we'll get lucky and have a normal summer and everything will produce all summer long. How likely is that to occur? I don't know. What I do know is that the harvest so far overall is the best its been in a few years, so I am pretty happy about that. Dawn

Pam. I am not technically oriented so at first all of John Jeavons many pages of lists, charts and diagrams made my head swim and my eyes glaze over. I really let that stuff intimidate me for the longest time. In the meantime, I tried Square Foot Gardening and, while it works reasonably well, some of the spacing---especially for plants like tomatoes and squash that become huge monsters in hot climates--just just didn't give me the results I wanted. So, I went back to "How To Grow More Vegetables...." and tried to incorporate more of that spacing. What I do now is a hybrid of the two, and I do it because it works. Some years I use the spacing from John Jeavons' book almost exclusively, and other years I use some square foot spacing, especially when I am in a hurry because square grid spacing is easier at a time like that. I try to make my grow lists beginning in August while everything is fresh on my mind. I know that by December, I might not remember if it was Yellow Submarine we liked or Medovaya Kaplya or both or neither, so it is best to make next year's planting decisions while everything is more fresh in my mind. This year I have the greenhouse, so I won't necessarily have to drag container plants into the garage as I have in the past. Maybe I can just keep them in the greenhouse with a small heater. Time will tell. We routinely have tomatoes until Thanksgiving or Christmas depending on the weather, and I'm talking about from in-ground plants. Picked at the breaker stage, they ripen slowly and we can eat them from a long time. I extend the season even more with the container plants. Some years I plant the long-keeper types like Longkeeper, Reverend Morrow's Longkeeper, Red October, etc. and they will last a couple of months after being picked if you pick them just before the breaker stage or at the breaker stage. I put them on shelves in our tornado shelter. Golden Jubilee is not, technically, a long-keeper, but it works well when used as one. Busy1, You're there! I know you've been too busy to be online much. I suppose it still is too hot and too dry there to plan on a fall garden? The Keetch-Byram Drought Index numbers for your part of the state are getting scary high. Carol, Likely in these temperatures the row cover is reducing enough light to prevent wilting, but in the spring, if I leave the heavyweight frost blanket on plants on a hot day after a cold night, they do not look happy when I finally uncover them. I use floating row covers a lot in the cool season, but it is hard to make them behave in the wind. I also have cat issues. If I put a row cover over hoops, the cat think it is cat furniture, climb onto it and rip it or tear it. If I put it on plants without hoops so it is free-floating, they think it is a cat blanket and lay on top of it and the plants. To keep the cats out of the garden, I'd have to remove the cedar entry arbor because even when I close the gate, they climb over the arbor to go inside. I don't know how to solve the kitty cat issues with row cover, because they are stubborn. If I yell at them to get off the fabric, they do. However, the minute I turn my attention elsewhere, they're back on it again. Since I'm not out in the garden every minute of the day, the cats do as they please when I'm not there. Thus, for cat reasons, floating row cover works great for me on cold nights when the kitties are in the house but not so great during the day. I have similar issues with shade cloth, but the worst issue with it is that snakes like to lie on top of the shade cloth and sun themselves. I suppose they consider it a bonus that they can scare me to death when I see them there on the shade cloth, often inches from my face. The best solution would be to take out the arbor and replace it with fencing with a standard gate that would keep the cats out, but I love the arbor and the 'Pink Lemonade' honeysuckle that grows on it, so I'd rather not take it out. Anyway, the garden needs the cats or it likely would become overrun with field mice and voles. I just wish I could convince the cats that floating row cover is not meant for their comfort. Dawn

I would take the carving station and use one of the vegetable pasta dishes as one of your hot items...Vegetable lasagna is always good on a buffet, and since the eggplant rollatini is grouped with the pastas, it's probably served on a bed of angel hair or something which would also be good. This way, there's something substantial for vegetarians or those who simply don't care for the meat selections. For chicken on a buffet,it's always good to make sure it has enough sauce, so the Chicken Forestiere would probably be my choice...Chicken Marsala is good, but there are those who don't care for wine or who won't drink it. Anyway, the Forestiere has the spinach as well. Salmon is popular, and ordered so frequently that most places will know how to prepare it properly. I'm with Kathleen regarding the veggies. You've got salad and veggie crudite as it is...and many of the choices have some sort of veggie. I would get the Potatoes Au Gratin though, because people like it on it's own and so it can pair with the meat at the carving station...which you can't go wrong with Roast Beef & horseradish sauce.

I like that broccoli salad, too, but I've never made it. We're starting to pick broccoli...may have to try it. I bet there's lots variations. I agree about frozen broccoli, Terri, but I do blanch and freeze a few packages for soups and casseroles. Last year I rolled it in a towel and let it dry well, froze it on trays, then vacuumed it in the foodsaver. It wasn't bad. If the kids like broccoli cheese soup and you have freezer space, it's easy to do a soup base. I simmer the broc and some onions, barely covered, in chicken broth, then blend and freeze. I've steamed and dried it, too, even though the books say the quality isn't good. It comes back really well...we use it mostly in vegie chowders. When I need a fast side, I'll steam it in a skillet, drain and toss some shredded cheese on top. These are really good. From the Victory Garden Cookbook and called broccoli balls at our house. Be sure and chop the vegies really fine...the balls hold together better. * Exported from MasterCook * Broccoli or Cauliflower Morsels Recipe By : Katie, from Victory Garden Cookbook Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 2 large eggs 2 cups blanched broccoli or cauliflower -- chopped fine 1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (can use Swiss or Parmesan) salt and pepper 1 teaspoon garlic -- minced (I use more) 1/3 cup vegetable oil Beat eggs and combine with everything but oil. Form into 1"-1 1/2" balls. Cook in hot oil until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : Good as a side dish, or make smaller for cocktail tidbits, or serve cold.