I'm sure your neighbors were happy to see veggies, even bolting crops, over the weedy yard, Spaghetina. Here's a couple of suggestions I have from my time growing organically up in SF and Marin. 1) Most of those flowers of the bolted veggies are edible and tasty. While the leaf flavor has turned bitter through the winter and the taste change that comes with bolting, the blossoms often gain a very interesting taste that is great topping salads or lightly fried in certain dishes. 2) If like germinating your own crops from seed, remember which of your crops are heirloom (their seeds will usually produce true) and which are F1 or other hybrids -- it's seed is typically still viable, but may have very different characteristics than the parent. The GW seed exchange forum is a great way to get those exotic seeds you mentioned w/o having to pay catalog prices or drive all over the Bay area, but you need your own seeds to reciprocate. Some of the best plants & veggies in my yard are from trades I've made with other GW members. 3) To my way of thinking, your soil mix seems too heavily focused on decomposed organic matter and doesn't take advantage of the alkaline SF clay topsoil and it's associated soil flora. The compost/purchased soil is great for nitrogen and drainage and you can artificially pump up the P/K/Fe to grow good veggies & plants in it, but organic amendments like blood & bone meal, fish emulsion, seaweed and others need bacteria & fungi to free the nutrients for your crop's roots. That's generally not true for soluble inorganic amendments, which is why they are popular. There's definitely a risk of adding weed seeds by using your yard's topsoil in the garden beds, but that soil food web is necessary for growing good organic crops, IMO. For plants that need lots of N and like great drainage, I go 2/3 purchased soil/fully composted organic matter and 1/3 native topsoil. For tomatoes, peppers and others that suffer in N-rich soils, I use 2/3 native, 1/3 organic matter.

I keep watching shingles fly off my roof into the back yard with each passing storm. It's time for a new roof, but funds are a little tight right at the moment, with just having to replace the AC this spring. I'm going up tomrorow morning, with some new shingles, roofing cement, puddy knife, hammer, and roofing nails to see if I can repair the damage. Fortunately it is not leaking at all, in the attic or the house. It has two roofs on it right now. I can only assume that is why. So I feel your pain. You can think of me sweating bullets everytime the winds pick up too....hehehehe... Easy

The person I got these from is a landscaper and a coleus collector. So alot of the plants were already potted up. Many of the plants were his "extras". He said he also starts alot of his plants from seeds and cuttings, and he was more than happy to share them. In the 1st picture are the plants he gave me cuttings of, and I potted those up last night. Amber, I would love to get together! Right now my weekends are a bit crazy because we are doing open houses every Saturday and Sunday. Weekdays are better for me, but if you can only do it on the weekends we can meet in the evening since it stays light so late now. Suzanne, I have shampoo ginger. But I would be happy to start rooting a cutting for you. Marion, I have never been good at seed collecting, but for you I will do my best! Ariel

Hi again Ingrid, I've been posting sporadically. When my roses are blooming, I post more often. But I usually check in to see what is going on every few days. Been watching all the weather woes on the entire West Coast of N. America, drought in your neck of the woods, fires, unseasonal heat and prolonged drought up in Western Canada. Rain and big storms in the south and mid west. Here we are having a slightly cooler summer with ample rain, albeit after two very long cold winters in a row. I've got one of the best garden seasons of my life happening here in the great white north. I've kept track of all the drought issues you are having with your garden and you have my sympathy and prayers for an end to the heat and drought on your side of the continent. I'll take a few cold winters over hot summer drought conditions anytime. Seems very strange and somewhat disconcerting that I'm having one of the best rose seasons ever while you guys in rose heaven are struggling. All the best and hang in there. Cheers, Rick