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!!!

mla20fus, my favorite flowers are perennials, so I don't have to plant them every year. I also love Holihocks, (sorry, every plant needs loved by someone :),especially by an old outhouse or shed. I plant very few annuals, but I truely love breadseed poppy, especially the bright red ones. They bloom with the Shasta Daisy and really make a show. The daisies were all volunteer, but now that I know how they look with my poppies, they can stay. I also plant gypsoia (sp?) and moss rose every year, they too are worth the effort. Are your fall Asters the deep purple ones?

Thanks Glenda for reminding me. I don't know what is considered a bumper crop. I can't eat many tomatoes even if I have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I made some frozen salsa, but don't can. I gave lots to people who really appreciate them. I don't know that I can quit. Some 90 year olds kind of expect them from me. Last spring my friend gave me manure that he scoops in a pile where he feeds and where the cattle loaf waiting for feed. This pile sat out in the weather and was well rotted. It has grass in it and where I put it has bermuda. I intended to screen it and mix it in with dirt. I didn't get that done and planted tomatoes in it. They did well. I complained to everyone that all the rain was falling in S E Kansas near me. They would get 4 inches and I would get a sprinkle. It rained south of me and missed me. It was dry here and I had no disease. Then it rained 9 plus inches. The tomatoes split and rotted. I never did have serious leaf disease but some yellow leaves at the bottom. Stinkbugs are my biggest problem and the sprays I use are wimpy nontoxic and don't kill stink bugs. Sophie's Choice was a complete failure and Carolyn says in her book that getting dry will stunt it. I think the other tomatoes were healthier on the dry side.

Totally Tomatoes doesnÂt have Marianna's Peace. If youÂre interested in that one, which is a very fine tomato, try these sources. They have a lot of other great varieties too. Marianna's Heirlooms http://www.mariseeds.com/2005catalog/pinks.html Sand Hill Preservation Center http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/Seeds.htm note -- this is a small 1 or 2 person operation, so it might take a while to get your order. If you need something right now, order it from somewhere else. It is however a very good reliable source, and they do have a lot of good varieties that are hard to find anywhere else. Tomato Growers Supply http://www.tomatogrowers.com/beefsteaks2.htm Victory Seeds http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/vegetable/tomato/tomato_pink.html Your question about good early varieties comes up regularly on the "Growing Tomatoes" forum. You can find lots of good suggestions by trying keywords such as 'early' in the search feature of that forum. There is an active thread there right now called "Favorite Early tomato?" Here is a link that might be useful: Favorite Early tomato?