Peppers: 5 varieties, all tasted at the green and (hopefully) mature stage. All sauteed lightly in oil ('fried') - we'll probably do tests under other preparation methods, and we'll definitely test the ripe peppers when they change color. (Several of them are probably not at their best green.) Cayenne Long Thin and our Sweet Banana Peppers were still too immature to try, and we left out the Jalapenos at the last minute because there wasn't room to keep another variety separate in the pan, and we know what jalapenos taste like. These results aren't as straightforward, as we liked some peppers for different reasons/purposes, so there were some ties. Variety SO's Rating SO's Comments My Rating My Comments Pasilla Bajio -100 He actually spit this one out! "Tastes like a rotten cabbage" 3 No sweetness, deep bitter pepper flavor Black Hungarian 1 good amount of heat for eating (rather than seasoning) great flavor 2 mild heat, nice and fruity! Aruba Cubanelle 1 Always our favorite, but walls were a bit thin 1 I can't say eough about cubanelle peppers - they're just so good. Jimmy Nardello 2 probably better red 2 doesn't beat the Cubanelle, at least not green, but nice complex flavor Ozark Giant 1 nice thick meaty bell, a bit sharp 4 tastes like a bell pepper - blech. ~emmers

I have been tasting my winter apples almost daily all fall. I noticed that up until the tree loses it's leaves the apples continue to sweeten. Immediately after the tree loses it's leaves a great deal of the sweetness is lost. I pick most of them for storage before that time. With many trees the nutrients are drawn back to the roots for winter storage. Maybe some of the sugars are also. I do not know. Maybe there is a study that can tell us. I tend to agree with most of what H-man has to say about ripeness. Certainly some perfectly ripe (by test) apples may be up in sugars but down in other qualities. Sensibly an individuals taste must rule here. Here is an anomaly for you. My unique winter apples froze solid this morning at 19 degrees. They have already frozen very hard many times. Tomorrow they will be solid, crisp and quite good. I have picked them in the middle of Dec and still very nice. This is the only tree I seen this happen to. All the rest are long gone to mush! This is a very old tree and has always been and still is extremely productive. Bberry

Wayne: I've always used chopped straw for a mulch around the strawbs. to keep them off the soil, disease you know. In this normally arid climate I also drip irrigate, between the drip and straw the rots and spots are held at bay pretty well without spraying anything. Pn: the research we conducted, if that's what you are refering to, involved employing different growing systems like plasticulture and the most efficient fertilization regimes along with the use of drip irrigation. Up to about 30 or more years ago all veggie crops grown in FL were planted via seed and on bare soil with solid set irrigation, if any. All state fert. recs. were based on growing that way and then alog came plasticulture and transplants. Needless to say, a whole lot of research had to be done to adapt to the new way of growing. I'm told by a very reliable source that in south FL they are now going to the more expensive slow release N fertilizers to address water quality issues. We didn't analyze the produce itself for nutritional content, that would have been up to the post harvest guys with whom I was unaffiliated.

The prevailing thought is that herbs are tastier/stronger in flavor when they are a bit stressed and dry. So yes, I would expect a tastier herb as the summer progresses. Don't give up on your mint! It has been a wild spring here. Record rain, late cold temps delaying spring growth by weeks, record high temps monday (90F) but tonight low 40's F predicted. It has been hard to get the warm season plants and gardens going. FataMorgana