Zucchini and pumpkins work for me in my postage stamp sized garden. I just grow the pumpkins for fun as the neighborhood walkers enjoy seeing them. The pumpkins are left to decompose after being used for décor, and the seeds sprout the following spring. I hoe most of them in, leaving one or two for that summer.

As for zucchini, I like the golden one as the "fruit" is easy to spot before it gets too large. I tried the striped Italian one last summer, and all the fruit was mis-shapen.

I don't grow much else and have not had much luck with tomatoes. Maybe this year as I planted a tomato in a sunnier spot than other years.

Experimenting is the fun of gardening. It's the way we learn. Often the lesson is, "well, that didn't work!" But sometimes there are good surprises as well. You seem to be enjoying gardening, and I wish you a fruitful harvest this summer.

Hi there!

Thank you!

I'm trying to grow Pumpkins and Zucchini this year and I'm excited to see how they turn out!

It has been fun learning along the way but of course I get impatient and feel bummed out when I wait months and months only for certain plants to fail miserably. The ones that thrive seem to make up for it though. My dream for this summer is to have enough Pumpkins for homemade pie. That would be awesome and I also think the neighborhood would enjoy the Pumpkin look as your neighbors do!

:)

I have to have:

tomatoes (grape/cherry, beefy & paste plus an experimental variety)

herbs (marjoram, thyme, rosemary, several types of oregano, sage, basil, bay)

peppers (bells are hit and miss, but jalapeno, serrano & Anaheim do well. Growing a green sweet Italian experimental)

zucchini (Various types if I have room--not this year)

carrots (first time at this house)

lettuce during the winter

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My failures at this location were tomatoes I tried in the ground. The soil here just does not allow for success. So now I grow all of the garden, herbs excepted, in pots--some of which are 3'h x 3'w.)

I think the only thing that has been a miserable failure for me every time I've tried is Brussels sprouts, I just can't keep the aphids off long enough for them to mature well. Melons can also be hit or miss, I've been told it's because my soil tends more toward clay and melons like sand, I just end up with baseball/softball sized melons every time.

Out of curiosity, what type of failures are you noticing on your brassicas? I have absolutely no problem growing them where I am (other than those dang Brussels sprouts), so wondering what we're doing differently.

Same issues with Brussels Sprouts. Both times I grew them the aphids were relentless and halted healthy growth. I was so sad because I was most excited to grow them out of any veggie.

I tried broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. They seemed to grow soooooo slow and were munched on relentlessly by something!

I grow mostly herbs, but I have found that cherry tomatoes do very well for me and will make tomatoes throughout January, if I plant them late in the season. Chilies do well for me in pots, but I mainly grow hot ones, such as Habanero, Cayenne, and Serrano.

Other things that you could possibly consider vegetables that I grow include chives and sorrel. I've become sort of addicted to the sorrel, but it is an early season plant, and I do not know how it will do in the summer. I've harvested quite a bit of it in the last few weeks, and I add it to salads. Lettuce and parsley do better for me in the winter. Pretty much any herb that I've tried to grow does well, although some do better in the winter, such as cilantro.

TomatoZesty - on the broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower - it's most likely a timing thing. You want to get them started and in the ground during the later part of summer so that they can put on some growth before it cools down and they slow. But then you don't want to plant them too early or they'll bolt. It can be pretty tricky figuring out the right timing for your area. I usually start mine during September for plant out in October (your timing may vary depending on when the heat turns into cooler days). I also do some succession planting (start some in Sept., some in Oct., etc) for broccoli because we love it so much and some invariably bolts too early.

As far as the munchers, it's most likely cabbage loopers/cabbage moths. I plant my brassicas under floating row covers so that those dastardly buggers can't get to them. You can also spray with something containing BT if you are more diligent about keeping up with it than I am.

I still give up on aphid infected Brussels Sprouts ;)

Thanks Lars and Humsi!

I will definitely consider your experiences and advice!

I've had great success with just about any type of tomato plant here in San Diego. Cucumbers, squash, strawberries (ok its a fruit) in the summer. In the winter I've had good luck with various lettuce, but like others mentioned Brussels sprouts and broccoli have bad aphid problems. I had one head of broccoli mature, but i turned my back for a week and the very hot winter we had caused it to bolt in no time. Some of my lettuce has bolted too.

I've had great luck with cilantro, it does tend to bolt quickly in the heat, but I let it go to seed (hello coriander!) and now its almost a weed as it constantly is re-sprouting.

I have two good sized raised garden beds (~8'x4' beds) plus a couple of pots that I sometimes use for tomatoes or other veggies.

Anyone have luck with beans, pumpkins, melons, or watermelon?

I have good luck with green beans. Starting my 2016 crop right now. I direct sow in raised beds. Coastal Southern California. In the past, I have grown Kentucky Wonder, Blue Lake (both pole) and French fillet, royalty purple pod (bush). This year I am trying Romano and Rattlesnake in addition to some of the old standbys. I also am trying Barnside Sweet Runner Beans because they are supposed to both taste good, be attractive and attract hummingbirds.

I have a side yard that I use for fruits and veggies. I planted a peach, apricot, plum and mandarin tree, some grape vines. They seem to growing OK . Lots of fruit showing on the peach. None on the apricot.

The yard only gets 3-5 hours of direct sun. Midday. Protecting from the wind. All my veggies wilt in the sun- radish, chard, carrots, artichoke. I don't understand because they are al supposed to be "full sun" but even our partial sun cooks them.

One reason that full sun vegetable plants can wilt in the few hours of hot sun is that they are not getting as much sun as they really want. This lower sun time results in weaker, more stretched growth. So when the mid-day sun hits, the plant cannot handle the conditions as well as one that has adapted to growing in full sun. I have vegetables growing in a side yard, too, because I just don't have room for everything in the all-day sun sections of the yard.

The beans I sowed seem to be doing really well so far. I have a feeling that beans in general will do great here, just like peas did for me.

Thanks for sharing everyone!

I'm sure you'll be swimming in beans by the end of the summer ;)

I hope so! It's my first time growing them so it's very exciting. If they do well I'll be happy too because I can add them to my list of veggies that grow so well that I'll plant them every year!

I'm in Monterey County, CA, and when it comes to tomatoes, well, every year I've had different outcomes. Some years, nothing ripens but cherry tomatoes--so frustrating! Our cool summers are challenging.

Eggplant does well (ball or asian), squash of all types thrive, and I've waited patiently for melons to ripen--french breakfast or cantalope, not watermelon. I grow peppers just cuz I like the plants, rarely really use them! Love chard and basil.

Last year I didn't grow too much due to the drought. I've decided to cut back elsewhere because the garden brings such enjoyment. Good luck!

Zucchini does great down here in O.C. but it doesn't get cold enough to get good brussel sprouts where I live. Marathon broccoli performed very well as a cool season veggie, as did peas. Green beans are super easy. I have more success with hot peppers than bell peppers.

This area used to be a major producer of asparagus, lima beans and strawberries, and some tomatoes were grown here commercially as well. Now it seems houses are sprouting up all over.

Swiss chard produces more food than anything I've ever grown.

My Tabasco pepper tree is now perennial and covered with beautiful peppers.

Cos romaine lettuce grows all seasons self seeds in fall and is back in the garden for winter. The more i eat the more it grows.

Sunflowers, dwarf amaranth, cucumber and runner beans do well

Beets, broccoli, cabbage, califlower, collards, mustards, lettuce, turnips, carrots, purple beans, , and peas all grow well if planted in fall.

gyr_falcon, what veggies have you had lick with in the partial sun side yard? Your zone must be even hotter than mine.

My side yard has mainly tomatoes (plus some younger plants I usually move after they get some roots going). Orientation and other conditions make a difference, I think. That side is to the west, and is a 12' wide concrete base, between the house and a 7' high gray block wall. That produces a lot of heat and reflected light, so it is a bright area even before the full sun arrives in the early afternoon. The high wall blocks the sun later in the day, but it still gets reflected light off of the house. Sunset 24 has more of a coastal influence than my neighboring zone 23.

Here is a current photo of a side yard tomato container. Yes, I know there are too many plants in the container... :) As you can see, the plants do stretch some, especially since the photo is showing the north side of the pot, but production is still pretty good. The Juliet in the back (out of sight), is producing like crazy--in typical Juliet fashion.

Falcon, that looks great. I love to stuff my pots with plants. How many plants is that.

I don't remember how many 4" plants I put in there exactly, probably four. I pack them more because of the cost of planting mix than anything else. Often plan for one or two to get yanked because they show signs of disease or a lean towards blossom end rot, but so far the only diseased plant has been a volunteer sweet 100 that came up in another container. They are wilting right now from the 90+ degree heat, though. So was I while deadheading flowers a few minutes ago.

Tomatoes,Peppers,sugar snap pea's..I'm having a good year for lettuce and spinach,surprising..

Hi guys!

I wanted to add that I just harvested my first onion and it was very tasty. I also harvested a bunch of yummy carrots and cherry radishes. Three more successful crops!

My "Rich Purple Pod" Pole Beans finally matured! I will definitely grow a lot more early next spring. I only have one plant and I'm bummed about that!

Congratulations! If you have more bean seed it's not too late to plant some more - not trying to be a bad influence, but - ok I'm a bad influence ;) Sometimes I'll even let a pod dry here or there and replant those beans to fill in any bean holes I may have later in the season.

I love tomatoes. But the last four years I have been inundated with red spider mites that I could not get under control. The plants ended up dying. So I decided to try a straw bale garden, and you can see the tomatoes are doing great and so far (keeping my fingers crossed) no disease or insects.

Hey guys! I wanted to add that I finally grew Spinach (Oriental Giant) and Cilantro (Organic from Renee's Garden Seeds) successfully! Seems like the trick here along the coast for those two is sowing in May and in raised beds or whiskey barrels!

Also, it appears like the Parsley and the Basil (Fino Verde) transplants I bought will do well too.

Anyone want to share what's growing well for them and what location they're at? I'm in coastal central CA.

We finally have a little raised garden, but I have no clue if any of my veggies will be successful. These are blackeyed peas, crowder peas, okra, eggplant, raddishes, pumpkins and watermelon. One cherry tomato is doing fine. I have a lot of rosemary, thyme and sage that keeps on giving. Oh, Mexican oregano too. One of my favorites is Egyptian or Walking Onions. They have a perpetual crop almost all year. Parsley should do OK, and I've planted it before, but never had luck with Cilantro either.

Im a little late to the party, but Armenian Cucumbers, Mexibell, and Marconi Sweets are sending out crop like their lives depended on it! Sacramento CA balcony gardener here

I am getting good yields from green beans - Royalty Purple Pod and Romano are producing well. Rattlesnake and Blue Lake beans are just starting. Emerald Delight zucchini is also starting to produce. I just finished harvesting Mexican papayas, first time with papaya and enjoyed the results. We got 19 papaya fruit from 3 trees. Basil plants are large, lots of pesto coming soon. Okra plants are getting started, they should love the heat. My cucumber plants are also new starts, last year I did better by waiting until June to start them because they also like heat.

My big disappointment is tomatoes - they started out looking wonderful. They are now diseased and attacked by mice. I am taking care of the mouse problem but the disease is probably too far gone - septoria leaf spot, early blight.

I am in coastal Southern California.

Yeah, tomatoes can be tricky in coastal SoCal. It took me a few years to figure out all the ways my tomatoes could die before I finally mostly figured out the disease issues. Now working on getting a good handle on the insect problems (and insect related disease problems.). I guess it keeps me on my toes.