A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all little by little it grows nothing but vegetables, nothing, nothing but vegetables.

— Gertrude Stein

We admit we’re a little fussy about vegetables, and tend to only grow what we like ourselves. We always grow peas, haricots verts and other string beans, spinach, beet greens and chard, cabbage, broccoli, a few novelty potatoes, onions, carrots, and lots of lettuce, arugula, and tender herbs. And we really like tomatoes and cucumbers, the stars of our summer garden. Dry beans are one of our favorite things to grow, and we devote a patch of earth to heirloom pinto, black, and other beans every year.

Since we extend our season in a hoophouse, you can find the makings of a salad from March through December. And because we employ square foot gardening, we can grow a big variety of crops, and not be committed to a whole row.

Everything else is chosen for the most remarkable flavor, which means we choose varieties that are too fragile for retail market, or perhaps they retain their deliciousness in storage, or because they freeze or can exceptionally well.