You planted lettuce seed with visions of harvesting beautiful heads of sweet and tasty heirloom lettuce, but almost overnight the plants began to bolt for the sky and turn bitter… a familiar tale of a gardener’s grief:

“What would you say are your favorite half dozen vegetables?” Hmmm, that’s easy enough isn’t it? Well actually it’s a rather difficult question because there are so many interesting vegetable varieties that I really enjoy growing in my raised bed garden. And just like on those popular cellular commercials, someone is going to be left out!

Nothing tops pure, clean, rainwater for irrigating the vegetable garden, and I’ve had one of those fancy rain barrels used for collecting runoff water from rooftops on my wish list for a while now. I always thought they would be great for conserving water and to collect a handy supply of fresh distilled water to use in my bog garden, but Kevin just sent an email which raised an issue with collecting runoff in rain barrels that I hadn’t considered:

A few weeks ago I wrote an okra article in response to questions that I received from two gardeners growing okra plants in the garden or in containers. Here’s a follow-up report that I received from Linda after recommending that she separate her container grown okra seedlings.

I received the following question from Andreas who is seeking information related to sustainable agriculture and organic farming internship opportunities in the Pennsylvania or Virginia areas. It’s been more than twenty years since my three year organic farming internship and the scene has changed but there are fundamental issues that should always be considered.

Two recent questions, both related to growing okra, addressed gardeners’ concerns over okra plants that seem to be maturing a bit too slowly. Is it just a coincidence or is there something sinister going on out in the garden plots? Here are the specifics of a couple of okra inquiries from the gardens of Lynn and Cynthia:

Charlene left the following comment on a previous Veggie Gardening Tips Blog entry entitled Growing Shallots in which she inquired into curing shallots harvested from the backyard garden: “We live in the deep south part of Louisiana. Our shallots are ready for harvest now. You spoke of drying and curing… could you please elaborate?

Kim, who gardens in sunny Southern California just shared the following strange and puzzling experience that sounds like something right out of the X-Files: “I love your gardening newsletter. I find it very helpful and full of useful information. I have a question about pepper plants.”