Cavelo nero 'palm tree de toscana'. Really do look like a palm tree... the 'trunks' on mine got to about five feet Very dark green/blue heavily savoyed leaves. Can be cooked for a long time; I stew it with olive oil and garlic.

At my location, I really like the English Apple 'Suntan'. It has some russet and a very sharp flavor. More acid than some would like, but it is also a good keeper and annually productive. Another real good one for keeping, is Melrose, but it does get a little bit of scab, so will need a bit of spraying One more I like is Roxbury Russet, a good keeper that ripens late and flavor is very rich, when full ripe. May not make it along the coast in cooler yards, but does fine at my site.

Can't help you much with the fruit. I live a half-mile down the road from a berry farm so I let them do the growing! (They also sell pumpkins so I don't grow those either as I don't have the room). I also get other fruits from a local organic orchard. I do grow garlic. I have limited space - well, I have a large yard but limited SUN. So my go-to variety of garlic is called Chinese Pink, and I grow it mainly because it can be harvested by late May, early June, which frees up the space for my summer veggies. Last year I waited too long to order and Chinese Pink was sold out. And for the life of me I can neither remember what two varieties I ordered nor find the invoices for them. I think one of them was something like Western Rose. I know I had decided to try a softneck and a hardneck, but sorry, that's the best I can remember. Last season I discovered the beauty of onion sets! I have grown from seed before (copra is one onion I grew) but last year my friend's husband had extra sets left and gave them to me, and that is the only way for me now! But since they were given to me, I don't know what kind they are. Geez, I don't know why I bothered responding to you - I'm not much help here, am I?! Beans - I always grow Fortex; peas, I like Lincoln; cukes, I often grow Marketmore but like to mix things up; peppers, I like Jimmy Nardellos and Rocket. Herbs - I like (or I should say my husband the cook likes) Genovese basil, although I've grown the purple basil as well (and used it in bouquets!). I also grow the large flat-leaf parsley (Giant of Italy). Ditto on what nhbabs said about the cilantro - needs resowing all season. I also grow rosemary from seed but have yet to successfully overwinter indoors (I can't overwinter anything indoors!). Oregano grows very easily here - actually rip some out every year as it reseeds. And I've had success with thyme as well. Letuces - ah, you are talking to someone who loves lettuce, and who helped grow it at a farm. My all-time favorite is New Red Fire, a red leaf lettuce, but it seems to be a delicate lettuce. I try some every year anyway because I love it. Another red leaf option is Red Sails. Green leaf Black Seeded Simpson is an old standard, and Tropicana is a good variety. Red and green oakleaf are beautiful varieties, as is Lollo Rosso. Summercrisp (we grew a lot of Nevada) I believe holds up better during the heat of summer. A good bibb lettuce is Winter Density, and a nice, somewhat unusual heirloom is Deer Tongue. All lettuce prefers cool weather, and you will get smaller heads during the heat of summer. The woman I grew with was a lettuce magician, lol, and was the only person at the farmer's market who had lettuce in the dog days of summer! I don't quite have the touch that she did but I still try growing it all season long, and I do get some lettuce in the hot days. I also always like to try new things along with my old "stand-bys". I also usually grow some of Johnny's greenhouse mixes, which I cut as baby lettuces, and also some of the greens mixes, which I mix in with the baby lettuces. Yum. Now I can't wait for spring and a REAL salad!

Maisie - Defrost's squash pictures are amazing. I'm always wishing I had a bigger sunnier spot. [g] This year, seed starting is about the fun of gardening in the offiseason for me too, but selection and timing are often the reasons I will try to do it. I like to get my plants in the ground earlier than I can find them available and I usually want varieties that I don't always find. I'm out in the garden in March if possible and still out in the garden in November, so I'm usually ready for a break from gardening during the off season. Last year I didn't do as much gardening, so I'm itching to do some this year. Indoor seed starting does take a lot of attention and I found I refined it from year to year. I haven't actually done it in awhile, so I hope I can get it right this year. One big key for me, was adding a fan. That made a lot of difference. And I try not to start them too early. It's tempting to try to end up with huge plants to put in the ground, but even a 6 week old plant is 6 weeks ahead and ready to start growing as soon as it hits the ground. Ending up with too many….lol….doesn't everyone do that?! I found my old 48" shop lights and bulbs and nothing is working, so I'm going to have to replace everything. And what is available is different then it was. I have the old T12 fixtures and I see now they have T8s and T5s. I wonder what everyone else is using?