You could start, like TOMORROW, some hardy overwintering carrots, or beets, or lettuce, or radishes, or arugula, or some other green.

OR you could go to the Seattle Tilth Harvest Fest in something like September and pick out some great over-wintering broccoli starts or cabbage varietals to plunk into your soil then, after weeding and amending it with compost.

OR you could wait til October and start your KILLER garlic crop in very well-cover cropped soil (from now-Oct).

Here is what I would do, though: I would hit the ground enhancing, Andrew, so that I could KILL in the veggie bounty next year. You can start some buckwheat cover crop now, a summer beauty that feeds your soil like manna; chop it in when in flower, then sow a hardy vetch/rye cover crop by Sept/Oct for over-winter nourishment. (OR grow favas in the fall: they will grow slowly over time and by spring they will feed YOU (pick their pods)and the SOIL (leave the rest in situ and then chop into the soil)with their crazy, huge, pink nitrogen nodules!) By spring, not only will your soil know that you love it, it will know how to grow INSANE vegetables. Because it was fed so well! You may then grow almost anything, because you did the nourishment footwork.

Arbutus or Pacific Madrone. Not sure if there's another name for the fruit, but it's totally edible. I tried a couple once and wasn't that impressed with the flavor, but it's a personal thing.

According to the Pacific Madrone article the fruit is astringent, so that might have contributed to nausea but I would think one wouldn't have that much of an effect. Did you eat a bunch of them, or on an empty stomach?

Get a good mushroom guide. They normally list how the mushrooms physically look as reload things like spore color that can help identify ( not as good for hunting elsewhere but for stuff growing in your yard you can take the cap of one and leave it on white paper overnight. The pattern and color that it leaves spores helps identify which can be crucial on mushrooms that have look alikes. That kinda stuff will be covered in classes if you hook up with the group Russ mentioned. But be careful. Nothing ruins a meal more than a stomach pumping. It may be easier to go hunting for the very singular and specific mushrooms that can't be mistaken for others than the random ones that grow in the yard that could have come from anything airborne or from you mulch

The more your pile up, the more potatoes you get. As long as you don't cover up all the leaves (which is what are supplying most of the energy to grow the plants), you're good.

Btw, look for 'free dirt' in the neighborhood or on Craigslist. There's no need to buy topsoil for this purpose.

Also, don't eat the above-ground fruit. They kinda look like tomatoes, but they're poisonous.

For Seattle, most types of lettuce and other leafy greens. We don't get a lot of sun, and greens don't need a lot of sun, so it's win/win.

You're familiar with the term "gone to seed"? That's what has happened with your basil. You can try to use the seeds produced to grow from seed next spring, but I don't think you be able to recover your plant for eating this year.

It happened to me one year with my oregano. Makes a rustic, pretty little plant, but you can't use it for spaghetti anymore.

Isn't that amazing, what a difference a little compost makes? It's like a biology experiment...but on your poor veggies. Alas. There is no harm in amending now, doing a little compost-mix-in on the surface of your soil. That could help. As well, foliar sprays get food directly to your ailing plants, when you spray it on their leaves (on an overcast day, or in early a.m., so the sun does not burn) the food goes straight to the plant, no soil nutrient exchange involved. So I would recommend either a maxicrop something from the store mixed with water, or some good old fashioned compost tea from yuor kitchen scraps (boil in water and extract) in a spray bottle. That oughta hold em over til the fall.

So THIS question you ask is the perennial question to our annual tomato obsession here is the PNW...big tomatoes are elusive to us here.

There are always the varietals that have chilly names, like "Glacier"; any tomato with a Russian name indicates hardiness. "Early Girl" has always been the hands-down winner at our farm for earliness (not that it DOESN'T taste like cardboard)and there is a new and improved Early Girl named 'New Girl' that is better-tasting than EG. Oregon Spring is a good-sized open-pollinated tomato, and a determinate.

BUT, here is our new theory at Oxbow Farm: grow the early heirloom varietals rather than horrid-tasting groomed-for-earliness hybrid tomatoes. We have found some heirlooms that are GREAT tasting and pretty much as early as any other hybrid. SUCH AS: Jaune Flamee (an smallish-orange acidic tomato), and Black Prince, a gorgeous chocolate-brown rich-flavored tomato that is a bit larger than JF.

YES, neither of these are large. Tis the CURSE of our climate, eeking out small tomatoes unless you have plastic protection. For large slicer heirlooms, I would try Prudens Purple, an earlier Brandywine. My FAVE hands-down.

(SHAMELESS PLUG: we at the Oxbow Farm stand have all these vars. for sale at the Ballard Farmers Market (Sundays) or the Madrona Market on Fridays 3-7 at 23rd and Union.

Here are some cultural techiques to use when growing your outdoor tomato, so's you can reap as much as possible by growing them smartly:

1. Grow them in front of any reflective surface--a south-facing wall or a brick/stone/concrete wall will give you much more residual heat than without any reflective material.
2. Learn how to prune them well. Tomatoes love to grow luxurious sidevines and leaves when left to their own devices, and these detract from any fruit production. Important to have sun and air circulation in there too, another reason to prune.
3. Trellis them well onto a strong bamboo trellis, and not in one of those cages that trap in their foliage.

May the force be with your tomato on this chilly spring! Hopefully it will yield to heat soon.

Dear Sacreligious,
Soil is the soul of the garden, tis true. You gotta work with what you've got. BUT soil is truly amenable as well, as many garden gurus, from Alan Chadwick to Steve Solomon, have proven. Lots of organic matter, and good organic matter, matters. You can see the change through better yields. HENCE, I would seek out a better amendment than horse manure, which is full of weed seeds, not as nutritious as other manures, and has been known to pass on the herbicide Clopirilid (sp?), which is blamed for the die-off of nightshades and legume vegetable families. A source of goat, cow, or chicken manure, well composted, would be a better choice.

That said, sounds like you have had good luck with many a veggie in your little plot! Good on ya. Do you have space to grow up? I mean your veggies, not you. You can train you winter squash, cukes, and some non-bush summer squash vars. along a trellis and perhaps they could find more sun upwards than outwards. PLUS this practice saves you precious garden soil space!

As per your brassicas and lettuces, they fall under the category of "I need lots of water". Bolting of lettuce usually denotes either too hot weather or not enough water. Brassicas need coolness and rich soil. Try em again, this time with lots of moisture!

Sounds like you are a good candidate for a little Seattle Tilth love and learning...they have THE BEST veggie starts offered in the area, along with THE SMARTEST info on how to grow your food organically, with all the best tips for food growers. Check them out. Thier killer plant sale is the first weekend in May. I would stay away from the mega-store plants, as they are not bred for sustenance. Tilth's are.

Bon Chance!!

You didn’t mention which variety you a growing? Here’s some general information about figs from Raintree Nursery, specializing in disease resistant fruit trees, berries, nuts, and ornamentals.

Fig trees should be planted in a warm location and can tolerate shade but prefer sun. Figs usually takes 2-4 years to produce fruit. Figs do not need much fertilizer. When shoot growth falls below 6” per year, 1 pound of nitrogen can be given to mature trees during the winter. If you over-fertilize you will sacrifice fruit production and end up with lush vegetative growth minus the fruit. Figs don’t require a lot of water once established. Do, however, irrigate during dry periods in spring and summer.

I have been growing a fig tree in a container for the past 3 or 4 years. Even with the extreme winter temperatures we experienced, my tree survived. Ideally, I would have pulled it into the garage, but given it’s location on a back patio, it wasn’t possible. My tree has never been fertilized and produces great fruit. Enjoy.

You plant the whole thing (the tentacles use the spud for energy until they grow leaves). You can even cut each potato into pieces, although you should make sure each piece has at least 3 eyes.

Potatoes, like most vegetables, will take all the sun you can give them. But don't let a little shade prevent you from planting them; potatoes are pretty easy to grow. Like most roots, you want to plant them in loose soil (if nothing else, it makes digging them out at the end a lot easier). If you want to get fancier, once they start producing foliage, you can add more loose dirt over them (leaving some of the foliage uncovered); sometimes they will then produce more spuds.

One final thing: your potatoes may flower and produce tomato-like fruit. Don't eat it. It's poison. You can save the seed from the fruit to try to get true potato seed (as opposed to re-using the sprouting spuds, which causes disease problems after a few generations).

Territorial Seed (www.territorialseed.com) is a good source for general info about planting vegetables around here. They say:

"CULTURE: Potatoes grown in loose, well-drained soil produce the best yield. Up to 3 weeks before your last frost date, plant seed potatoes 4-6 inches deep, 12 inches apart, in rows 12-24 inches apart. Larger potatoes can be cut to use as seed. Be sure to leave at least 3 eyes per piece. If soils are heavy, plant 2-3 inches deep and cover with 2-3 inches of mulch. Irrigate heavily when needed, and allow the soil to dry out somewhat before watering again. Mulching will help prevent sunscald. Apply a fertilizer that is low in nitrogen and high in phosphorus. Bone meal is a good choice. Use 5-7 pounds per 100 square feet.

HARVEST: Many varieties die-down on their own to let you know they are ready to harvest. If the plants are still growing and your potatoes have reached that perfect size, you can stop growth by breaking or cutting off the plant foliage. Potatoes should be left in the ground for about 2 weeks after vines have died or have been cut down. This allows the skins to set and increases storage ability. Standard potatoes yield about 10 times the amount originally planted. Fingerling potatoes yield from 15 to 20 times the amount originally planted.

STORAGE: Store potatoes in a relatively dry location and at the lowest temperature possible without freezing."

Note: last frost date in Seattle is April 15, so 3 weeks prior is March 25. Keep your potatoes in a cool, dry place until then.

yes! it's super easy, too! hopefully you're in a place where you'll be for a while - concords don't grow fruit until they're two or three years old.

there's a little bottle of stuff called rootone at the garden shop. you can buy it for woody plants or herbaceous - the only difference is that the woody plant mix has a higher concentration of the hormone that stimulates root growth. that's the one you want.

go find a foot-long piece of grapevine that has lots of the little knobby bits where the leaves grow from. those are called nodes. three or four on a foot-long piece is ideal, since the roots will grow from where leaf tissue would normally develop. once you cut it, take a look at the cross section - greenish wood is a good thing. older yellowish wood is not. cut a few - the success of this process is only 60%, and i don't want you to be left with no successful cuttings at all! recut the bottom of your cutting at a 45 degree angle.

dip the bottom end of your clipping in a bit of water except for the top 4 inches or so and then coat it with rootone. now, carefully cover 3/4 of the clipping with wet newspaper, wet cloth, wet moss, or paper towels. cover the whole thing up with a black plastic bag (black is important! you don't want any light in there!). your wrapped-up clipping is going to need to be somewhere consistently warm for a few weeks - under the radiator, atop the fridge, or next to the hot water heater to keep it as hot as possible. it'd prefer to be at 85 degrees, but you'll still see results if it's cooler than that - it'll just take a bit longer. check on the clippings regularly, and change the paper/moss/towels often. you don't want it to get moldy, but it's got to stay moist.

first you'll see little white bits of tissue at the end of your cutting and at each node. it kind of looks like a new scab. that's success! cells are proliferating and that's good. soon you'll start to see baby roots developing. once you see that, plant those suckers! they need to be in the soil by april, so hurry it up.

how exciting for you! good luck!

It might have been a temperature thing. Rosemary is normally a hardy perennial that weathers our winters fine, but the harsh winter in 2008 killed all of ours...absolutely crispy brown. The ones that died were all a trailing Mediterranean variety that might have been more fragile than other types.

Hang onto it until springtime, just in case. You can break a few of the stems and see if there's still life. Bendy and green, still alive. Brown and crunchy, time to toss it in the compost.

Your parsley might resprout, by the way.

Leaf mulch makes a good soil ammendment, but it should be rotted first. You can probably just turn the soil over in the beds with the leaves and be in fine form.

A nice thing to do, though it may be a bit late for it (but you never know), is to seed the beds with a winter cover crop. Fava is popular but I prefer crimson clover. Fava is a better nitrogen fixer and those leaves may rob you of a bit of N but the clover also fixes N and does much better when turned over into the soil in the spring. Plus, it's real pretty.

Having said that, you should consider some additional fertilizer. Compost by itself is usually not sufficient to provide adequate nutrition here in the soggy lands. N especially leaches out through rain. Here is my super secret all purpose high powered vegetable fertilzer mix:
6 parts greensand
3 parts bone meal
2 parts alfalfa meal
2 parts blood meal
by "part" I just mean "scoop". No need for weighing.

This mix is a bit rich in N so you can reduce the blood meal or the alfalfa meal a bit. The blood meal is very high in nitrogen and that N is entirely (I think) water soluble. That means it is pretty much ready for use by plants right from the get go. It also means it can get used pretty fast. the alfalfa N is mostly insuluble so will last a bit longer in the soil.

Greensand is a miracle fertlizer for the organic gardener and has more micronutrients than you can shake a stick at. However, you do not want to use too much too often. After putting in your garden two or three years in a row you may wish to hold off for about 3-5 years before you add more.

As far as compost goes, the best stuff available in Seattle is Zoo Doo and is sold by Woodland Park Zoo. Unfortuneately, it is tough to get.

Oh man, stuff those babies and you will be in seventh heaven, my friend. Here's what you do:

1. Make shit to stuff 'em with. That can be a grain (rice, either brown or white, or kasha, or barley, or, um, whatever else you can think of), which you cook up separately. When the grain is done, toss it in a bowl with plenty of grated Parmesan (the real shit, not that godawful stuff in the green can), some chopped parsley, some chopped walnuts, and maybe some shrooms. If you include the shrooms (either buttons, criminis or portabellos; your choice), you really should saute them in butter with maybe some rosemary before you toss 'em in the bowl with everything else. Oh, shit, put some onions in that, too. You can put 'em in the bowl raw and nicely chopped, or you can caramelize them first in butter as well, also maybe with some fresh rosemary. Basically you're trying for a bit of moisture in your stuffing mixture, and if that moisture comes from a fat, so much the better. Mix everything together, for this sacred mixture is your stuffing.

2. Cut the ends off the peppers, scrape out the seeds, and stuff 'em. Lay them down sideways in a baking dish. Some of the stuffing will fall out, but c'est la vie.

3. Stick 'em in the oven at, say 350º for maybe 45 minutes. Your goal is to get the skins mostly translucent - that should indicate that they've caramelized a bit themselves, and their natural sweetness is ready to dance a jig on your tastebuds. If they turn a little brown on top, so much the better.

Enjoy! And you will. Trust me, you will.