Most important thing I found with my garden in Hollister was that you need to water the heck out of it, and I spent 30 minutes a night watering a a 15x20 ft plot. Tossed some Miracle Grow in once a month via a container that hooked on to the hose. Our cucumbers took off like CRAZY and we were literally picking 12-15 a day at one point from a single pack of seeds. Tomato plants were similar; we ended up eating salsa every night and freezing a ton of paste. Looked at butter leaf lettuce, but our neighbors told us horror stories about bugs, etc. and we threw in the towel. You should also consider carrots. Really easy to plant and relatively little maintenance. You'll want to make sure you till deep for carrots though, or you'll get fat, stubby little carrots :-D

Currently, I'm not having an easy go at things with the basil. Supposed to plant well with tomato plants, but the tomatos are doing fine and the basil is getting killed. Rosemary, lavender and jalapeno plants are taking off, and my two sage plants aren't really doing all that much.

Drew has a good point about watering. If you can use a drip watering system. The most important part is consistent watering especially with the tomatoes. They can crack if the water is not consistent.

Currently I'm growing:
Peaches
Figs
Tomatoes (hybrid and heirloom)
Bell and Jalepeno Peppers
Herbs - Basil, sage, rosemary (it's a weed here that the deer won't eat), thyme, italian parsley

Most of these except the trees are in large pots on my deck. Unfortunately we had a hailstorm and mini-tornado two weeks ago that took out all of the peaches, peppers and many tomatoes. We had two window screens that had over 30 holes each from the hail. Didn't lose any windows but lots of people did.

Feel free to ask any questions - gardening is one of my thangs.       and Good luck!

This year we planted:

Basil & Lemon Basil
Chives
Dill
Lettuce Salad
Parsley
Rosemary
Tomatoes (all kinds)
Cucumbers (all kinds)
Eggplant
Peppers (all kinds)

Several years ago, I planted a dwarf lemon, lime and an orange tree in the yard. The meyer lemon, I bought about 20 years ago and it started life in a container in SF. When we moved to Oakland and I put it into the ground, it has never gotten larger than 4' (makes it easy for picking). The lime is finally producing some fruit after a couple of years and the orange produces fruit, but it seems to be easily frost damaged, so some of it is inedible. The lemon has been a consistent producer.

So far, the transplant vegetables looks like they've taken, except for the dill. I decided not to grow from seed this year, since we are starting late.

Does anyone do winter vegetables? And if so, when do you plant?

TIA!

Basil
rosemary (overwintered and is growing like crazy)
oregano (overwintered and growing like crazy)
curly parsley (overwintered and growing like crazy)
flat leaf parsley (overwintered and WAS growing like crazy until I transplanted it and killed it)
thyme (overwintered and growing like crazy)
tomatoes (grape, some slicer and several roma varieties)
cucumbers (slicing, not pickling)
japanese eggplant (not looking so good)
honeydew melon (who knows?)
savoy cabbage (looks good)
brussel sprouts (looks good so far)
celery (struggling)
potatoes (no signs of life yet....)
peppers (mostly mild varieties with one hot variety as Mrs. TJ can't stand the heat)
broccoli (a mystery)
some kind of squash
Figs (it's a beast of a bush/tree/plant)
Strawberries (we got two berries!!)
blueberries (starting over this year, will let the tiny crop go to the birds)

We'll see how it all pans out.

TJ, no success with eggplant here either. And, that's interesting, I am probably doing something wrong. NJ is 1 of the largest eggplant producers in the country. So, NJ is fine for growing it. But, not me obviously. :-)

Eggplant is a tough one. I buy it at the Farmer's Market. **shrugs**

We are at over 14 days of 95+ degrees (record heat with no relief in sight). I have a rain barrel that I use to water with but it is almost gone. ARG.

Must be nice Tex, as we're seeing rain. Rain, rain, rain. What the hell? Feels like I'm in Seattle...

Please send the rain Drew. Today is the first day in quite a while with some real clouds. Before that it felt like Southern California during the Santa Ana winds. It has been around 20% humidity which is shockingly low for this area.

My 1st year with eggplant also. So, we will see... I am not expecting much, but hoping.

In order to make my spouse happy (isn't that what marriage is about: actions that create happiness and deflect criticism?), I purchased a Marion Blackberry vine, a Highbrush Blueberry bush and some strawberry plants.

Also, purchased some Lemon Grass.

Lost a Dill plant for sure. May have lost the Cilantro also.

Cilantro bolts so quickly in heat that it is not worth it to grow.

The best thing about cilantro is to let it go to seed. The result, coriander, is fantastic freshly toasted and ground, added to hummus, or in a yogurt marinade for chicken, or in a marinade or crust for lamb. One plant will give you enough coriander for several years...

The meyer lemon tree is the best. Lemons are now $1.00 each at Safeway in Diamond Heights, SF. Amazing that the Fed sees minimal inflation...

Yes, agree on the Meyer lemons. The hail took out my lemons, limes and oranges. I have maybe 2 of each on the trees now. The trees look nice though.

For those of you with Gardens this year, let me ask you how is it going (especially folks on the East Coast). This is my 4th year, & the worse gardening year. Slow to growth on almost everything I planted. Posted above:

Basil & Lemon Basil: usually grows like grass. Slow this year.
Chives: usually grows like grass. Slow this year.
Dill: usually grows like grass. Not growing @ all.
Lettuce Salad: usually grows like grass. Slow this year.
Parsley: no problem
Rosemary: no problem
Tomatoes (all kinds): Usually so much we give it to people we know. Slow this year.
Cucumbers (all kinds): Usually so much we give it to people we know. Slow this year.
Eggplant: nothing yet
Peppers (all kinds): Slow this year.

Any one else??? May be the cold that lasted into May. May be, the lack of sun for the most part & cool nights still. I don't know the reason(s), but not happy with the garden @ all this season. A lot of work the last 2-3 months & very little to show for it this season. :-(

I planted the tomatoes and basil in a poor location. Basil actually turned black, tomatoes have yet to do anything.
Rosemary plants (4) are taking off, as are my lavender (2) and jalapenos (2).
Golden and purple sage are just kinda sitting there. I've picked some leaves off of both, but not much is happening.