John-you sent me a message but no email to respond to, so here's my best effort to reach you! Keep in mind that I have only had one "real" garden. We sold our house, moved cross country, working 80hrs and just had a baby... little short on time! Anyway, here's what passed the test for me and why: Kale-this stuff is freakishly expensive and poor quality in stores. It produced well from early spring through late september when we pulled everything to prepare for the house sale. I had it under a maple tree that leafed out as it got warm so it was perfect. Beets or turnips are in the plan for next year-greens plus a great root veg that stores easy for winter roasting Roma tomatoes-lots of meat for saucing and canning. I abused my poor garden late in the season as these were coming ripe and had very good production, few splits and good flavor. I want to try a San Marzano next for better flavor. Most tomatoes were turned into marinara or canned whole. Cherry tomatoes-i planted six different ones. By far the best one was Mojo. Plentiful, meaty and super sweet. The Sweet 100 and Sweet 1000 were a huge dissapointment.I would also only do one; enough for snacking inthe garden since hubby doesnt eat toms. Small tomatoes are a pain in the tush to peel for canning Winter squash-four butternut plants provided about 30 large squash. I still have two of them in the basement a year later. Its important to be sure they get enough water though; mine are too starchy and not very sweet. But again, i abused my garden in august/sept Zucchini-i used some fresh, but most were allowed to grow to boat size, grated and dehydrated. I got 20 or more HUGE zukes in a gallin zip bag and i put a handful in any/every thing... soup, chili, sweet and savory breads, oatmeal cookies, meatloaf, etc. You cant see or taste it and it boosts the nutrition! Leaf lettuces-i did mostly a mesclun mix. If i coukd figure out which ones were my favorites i would go get packets of just those. If you only pluck the outside leaves it will keep growing. I picked from the same 20 or so plants all summer. By the end they look like they have gone to seed but are just bare stalk at the bottom and new tender leaves at the top. Once again, it would be freakishly expensive to get this kind of quality in stores Cucumbers-i did pickling cukes. Heavy producers! But we discovered that we dont eat many pickles, so this is something I would only do once every few years or just buy my pickling cukes, can them all in one day and be done! We do t really eat regular cukes and they're cheap in the summer anyway so i probably wouldnt plant them Hot peppers-on the fence. They're easy to find at farm stands for inexpensive. I dont have a good, versatile way to preserve them. But, hubby adores fresh peppers and pickled jalapenos What doesnt pass: Snap peas-they all come ripe at once, arent great for cooking (snow peas might have passed), dont freeze well, cant can them, and hubby doesnt like them at all. I ate nothing but raw peas for a week then didnt have any all summer. Onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots-unless you have an affinity for a variety that is hard to find, or an excess of space they're just too cheap and readily available. Asparagus-see above Green onions-mine never have the greens that store ones have and the white onion is always really pungent which is undesireable for how i use them Radishes-i just plain stink at growing them. Maybe it would be worth it if i coukd actually get something edible. As it is, its just wasted effort Melon-i did canteloupe. They produced well but i got 12 fruit all ripe within three days. I wound up drying them to save what i could but most of those are still in the pantry. I just dont know how to use them besides snacking out of hand. Basil-maybe it was the season we had, but it did nothing then bolted. I think i got five edible leaves from 10 plants. I also did t realize it was more of a cool season grower and i wanted to eat it with my tomatoes! Heirloom tomatoes-had six different types. All ripened unevenly so the bottoms rotted out while the tops were still green. They were also highly attractive to every kind of bug. I didnt get to eat a single one.

What variety are you growing, and how are you feeding them? A three year-old bed should have some skinny ones and some larger ones, too, as the season progresses. I'd harvest sparingly this year and feed them well! There is another possibility in addition to variety size and fertilization results. Asparagus crowns migrate to the surface of the soil over time because the new crown grows on top of last year's crown every year. Asparagus beds should be maintained so 3 to 5 inches of soil covers the crowns. Crowns that are cultured too shallow yield spindly spears. http://www.weeksberry.com/ASPAR.HTML So even if you originally planted them at the correct depth, maybe the crowns of the plants are now too shallow to produce thick stalks. I envy your being able to grow them. I've grown them when I lived near the coast and they were like weeds in the sandy salt-flavored soil, but I just haven't wanted to prepare this heavy Georgia clay soil for asparagus. Maybe they'll surprise you with larger stalks a little later!

I actually really like the green front door. I like the green shed even more. Check out Annie's Annuals website for more inspiration-- she is the Queen of Cottage, and incorporates a LOT of color in her schemes and scenes. Likely with purple and red. hahahahahaa (I love it) California tropi-cottage sums her up pretty well, as does Fantasia. Something that crosses my mind though-- could you affix a trellis/arbor/support of some sort in between your front windows? Since it appears that your lower 2 windows are at the same spot as the upper 2 windows, you have a large blue canvas, over which something lush and chartreuse/acid green or (and? LOL) red would pop *smashingly*. It's maybe more industrial in style than you are comfortable with, but a lot of people out here (most houses are craftsman style bungalows here) use long lengths of wire cable, planted into the ground (not sure how?) and anchored to the eaves of the house with large eye screws. So you have 8-10 foot (~ish) tall lengths of cable that morning glories, clematis, honeysuckle, whatever-- can climb up. Ooh! Sweet peas! The possibilities are endless. I don't mind the sight of the silver cables, but once the plants really get going, you don't see them anyway. Something to think about. I think I would like a little short fency looking border around your bed near the front walk, too. I love your house!!!!!

Congrats on moving forward on your project!!! In my industry every pool sold, by any builder, is just as helpful to the toward the industry rebounding as is every new car/truck sold by the manufacturer/dealer who employs you and your hubby. I, like trhought, always find your replies cute and helpful. I got a little chuckle on this one """Well, he's still in business,""" I'm as equally excited for him as for you and your family, it's still a rocky road but things seem to be on a little bit of an upswing. You remind me a lot of myself with your passion for swimming pool ownership. Trust me on this, everything I post and every backyard I've enjoyed, or constructed for other families is due to this love. I'm not just a pool guy, I'm a pool kind of guy and it would be the same if I was just another pool owner. The climate of SE Texas and raising 4 kids go hand in hand with pool ownership. WAY TO GO GIRL!!! See ya, Kelly