Hi Verena :) Last year I tried sugar snap peas for the first time and was hooked. I love eating peas shell and all, and those snap peas really are a snap to grow. They're earlier than the shelling peas so it extends the pea season some. I tried two varieties and both were really good but off hand I can only remember one name - Sugar Ann. The year before I tried snow peas but didn't care for them as much - not sweet like the sugar snap. I'm with NAF about the pole beans, too. I grow both bush beans and pole beans, both Blue Lake varieties, with the hopes of extending that season, too - pole beans are a little later than the bush beans. They do need very good support - I use 10' lengths of rebar sunk deep into the soil on an angle and then bound at the top in a teepee formation. 3 plants at each leg are a bit too many - this year I will thin to 2 plants per leg. The pole beans don't go woody as quick as bush beans, I find. They're longer, too. I second Kioni's recommendation for SunSugar tomatoes. Wm Dam sells a cabbage - Tiara Hybrid - that they refer to as Lettage - a tender, mild and early cabbage that is just excellent. I absolutely love it for coleslaw and last year, trying to use it up, I made cabbage rolls which turned out really, really good. It really is a very good cabbage variety and if you try anything new this year, you gotta try this cabbage.The heads do have some staying power in a cold location after cut from the garden (spare fridge, cold room). Skyphos Lettuce is a really excellent variety well worth a try. My seeds for this year are still backordered and I'm hoping that they will be available Northern Supersweet Corn - yummmm!!!

Here are the best places around Richmond, VA. STRAWBERRIES 1. Chesterfield Berry Farm, Chesterfield, VA Very large berries grown on raised beds. Easy and quick to pick. No bugs in sight which I find pretty ominous, but the berries taste great. This place has a ton of activities for kids. It's $5 to get it, but you get a coupon for $5 off 11 lbs of berries, so serious pickers end up getting back the admission fee. 2. The Berry Patch, Darbytown Road, Henrico, VA Small berries tucked down in the straw because the rows are planted on flat ground. Much more work to pick, but probably less sprayed because I saw plenty of bugs. This is a small patch outside someone's house. RASPBERRIES, SOUR CHERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, BLUEBERRIES Westmoreland Berry Farm, Oak Grove, VA I adore this place and go every June for red and black raspberries, pie cherries, and blackberries. They have tons of plants so it's easy to fill the buckets. BLUEBERRIES Swift Creek Berry Farm, Genito Road, Chesterfield, VA Delicious blueberries sold from someone's house. Plenty of plants to pick lots. I've found a few other great places at pickyourown.org, but I can't remember which ones they were. Melissa

Peas seem to be the most different between garden and supermarket. I remember when I was growing up there was always a distinction made between plain old "peas" and "garden peas" as if the latter was a whole different ballgame. As an adult, I know that it's because the natural sugars break down into starches quickly once the pod is separated from the vine. Yup, peas get my vote.

My favorite place is long gone. A backyard greenhouse operation, sort of. Doing enough business to hire help. Frankly, most places offer a boring assortment of annuals and vegetables and seem to be focusing on expensive Proven Winners. My current favorite is another backyard gardener who even has single plants at a reasonable price (70 cents for tomato seedlings). She sends out a plant list so you have to pre-order. She lives on a back road and her neighbors don't like the extra traffic. Pick up is on two specified weekends. Then she sells leftovers at the farmers markets. She's also a garden writer for the local newspaper her in NH. If you were near Hanover NH I would highly recommend Edgewater Farm in Plainfield. Found it while on a trip to King Arthur Flour in Norwich VT. I attended a workshop last year by a tomato grower in Dunbarton NH. He grows about 150 varieties for area restaurants but sells maybe two dozen varieties to the public. Website: Rusty's Tomatoes. Puts a sign up by the road when he has plants to sell. I'm lucky to be able to get the basics here in town but I've gone hunting for Lemon Gem marigolds after discovering them at the long gone place. Tiny edible flowers, lemon scented lacey foliage. Delightful. Sometimes I've been able to get them at Spring Ledge Farm in New London NH but I also found them at Edgewater. I don't know why they aren't a popular annual.