My New Column

My big news this week is that I will be doing the garden question and answer column for the San Francisco Chronicle. It will be on Wednesdays, in the Home section, under the title "Golden Gate Gardener." I have started to write the first column, which is scheduled to appear on May 31st.

Of course, the biggest challenge is going to be writing answers that aren't too long for the space allowed. So if I have more to say about certain topics than I can fit, perhaps sometimes I will put some of it here. In any case, I'm off and running, and I think it is going to be fun.

Does anyone remembers the snap peas my class put in the ground way last February? They are starting to be ready to harvest now. It seemed to take forever, but they are climbing up the branchy prunings (pea sticks), bearing white blossoms, and ripening fat, sweet, juicy peas. Mmmm.

In other demonstration garden news, the fava beans are blooming, the scarlet runner bean roots have begun to grow after their winter dormancy, and the lettuce is full and beautiful. The Swiss chard is going to seed, but still tastes good. Since the chard is a biennial, and so will die after blooming, I am taking it out. We have so much that I took bags of lettuce, chard, and herbs to a senior lunch center last week, and the server who looked in the bags said ""Oh, this is the GOOD stuff." That's so true.