Like with most vegetables, taste is most dependent upon cultivar. Age and rapidity of growth does have some effect. The store bought "baby " carrots are Imperator types carved down. These are the long blunt carrots, but they don't do well in clay soils. As long as the carrots get adequate growth before freezes, they will hold through the winter. They will try to seed in spring however, so unless you are saving seed, use them in the winter.

It really depends on the farmer's market. I love my farmer's market. The vendors have to have grown the stuff themselves, and they have to be certified organic. I consider it to be the next best thing to homegrown. I use my FM as a backup for my garden. There are some things I can't grow myself, like tree fruits or eggs, and sometimes I mess up and have a lousy crop of something just due to my own error (like I set out plants too early and they froze or something). The FM is great to fill in those gaps. Home grown is probably better. It's certainly cheaper. But the FM is usually better than the grocery store, as long as it's a "real" farmer's market where you're buying directly from small farms. I think farmer's markets are very valuable for people who don't have the means to grow all their own produce but still want to eat fresh, locally grown, organic produce.

Have you considered that it might be the characteristics of the type of orange? There are quite a few 'sour orange' varieties out there. That would be my first thought, since you mentioned that the tree always produces sour fruit.

Lazy's points are on target but I especially like the last paragraph. We often have mild winters and can grow a good crop at that time. Successfully growing tomatoes here in summer is almost impossible. Although gardener Leslie Doyle in Las Vegas pushes the Hawaiian Tropic tomato, promising it will grow in the heat. That tomato has mixed reviews as to flavor. I'm trying it this year to see: a) will it really grow in summer and b) how does it taste? I had serious germination issues with the seed I purchased from her, only got 4 seedlings from 8 or 10 seeds so that's disappointing to begin with!! But growing to production only to have bland tomatoes is just as disappointing as losing the tomatoes to heat stroke. I planted 5 or 6 tomato seedlings of different varieties in Sep last year and have been harvesting tomatoes since early January. Once that one week of frost temps passed, they started producing. I had to cover them and provide lights for warmth under the cover for the frost time, about a week I think. The plants have slacked off a bit lately but I just pruned back all the dead branches, poured on some fish emulsion and expect they will get a new spurt of growth and production before the heat heats. I have grown Super Sioux in the past and it did well in the heat and is very tasty, a large slicing tom. Another good one for here is Silvery Fir Tree, a 'salad slicing' size (I don't like currant size toms, WAY too small). I learned about this tomato from Gregory Ware who teaches various gardening and cooking classes through Southwest Gardener, which is how I met him, a "How to Grow Tomatoes in the Desert" class. He's very good. You might want to try one of the classes. SW Gardener is an eclectic gardening supply store in central Phx, 15th Ave and Thomas I think. Here's a link: SW Gardener Workshop Calendar Just keep trying till something works!!