We have some winners....and a few new things in the veggie garden

 Sequoia strawberries...
The local growers are currently planting new crops so I figured I could give this a try too...

There are some amazing farms right along the highway 

heading north between Oxnard and Santa Barbara

I would suspect that a huge amount of the strawberries 

for sale in grocery stores

 come from this area

But I think the birds are going to be a problem...I need a scarecrow!

 Wonderful mesclun and lettuces 

love

 love 

love 

the seeds from Renee's Garden

 These seeds can be sown directly into the garden bed and in about 3 weeks you will have more lettuce than you know what to do with....
even if you have just a small garden area.

One seed packet covers about a 2'x2' area

A few of my favorites are:

Monet's Garden Mesclun

Garden Babies Butterhead

Heirloom Cutting mix
and
Paris Market mix

 Radish can be done a variety of ways...but I have found the seed tape from Burpee's to work really well and you get really big BIG  radish...like golf balls

 and it's easy to use...try the carrot tape too

 this summer I finally got a handle on the tomato plants

 I did some Roma...these are the easiest tomatoes to grow and seem to have the least problems with pests and that type of thing...

I have not used any pesticides on my vegetables yet
and want to keep it that way if at all possible...but there are so many new organic products on the nursery shelf that it's really not a big deal if you need some help

 Early Girl...a big favorite of many gardeners
Try these...I don't think you will be disappointed

 Sweet 1000 cherries...amazing and so sweet...hence the name...duh
and yellow pear, which are coming in really slow

 The apple crop was good and so were the peaches...

but the critters had a heyday with the fruit...
wish they would head off to somebody else's garden...right?!

 I tried some Jalepeno peppers this summer and they came in great...love them!

 Flowering chives are wonderful...the blossoms can be tossed into a salad for some spice

Yum 

 It's funny how I used to be so careful,
 about labeling what I was planting...now I use wood stakes and turn the seed packet on end and call it a day.

I figure, that if I can't tell what the heck I'm growing by looking at it
 or tasting it

I should give up the vegetable garden all together...

OK so enough gardening for today...

 on to the good stuff:

The Herbarium winners!!!!
woo hoo

Winner number 1

Doreen!

Winner number 2

Paula!

Thank you to everybody who entered...

I will share the pressings that they will be getting on a future post 

and I hope the winners will share their creative ideas for using them too...oh and please email me at here so I can mail out your goodies!

 I think as summer is winding to a close, we should all give ourselves permission to take a break and enjoy the sunshine...

take time with family and kids and pets

eat a big ripe tomato 

and 

take a run through the sprinkler!

Congrats to the winners
&

Bon Appetite

kelley