More pole beans! I love having a variety. But growing more beans will mean less room for tomatoes -- I'm also at a community garden plot, and my plot gets afternoon shade, so I try to rotate the crops that get the sunniest spots. Gotta try runner beans -- I've heard the roots will overwinter here and then start producing earlier the following year. I'm also eager to try some of the heirloom varieties that were recommended here. I wish I had enough space to grow dry beans!
Both summer and winter squash, if I can find a spot for them. I squeezed them into the shadier side this summer and they didn't produce much.
Cucumbers, of course. I've tried a bunch and the ones that did best were the long oriental varieties, also in the choice sunniest spot. Basil, probably, and maybe dill and cilantro. Maybe some more peppers in containers -- it usually doesn't get hot enough for most peppers. Haven't tried pimentos.
I still have celery that's planted itself. I'd love to try a red celery if I ever get around to ordering some.
Maybe lettuce. That'd be a good use of the shadier side, but I'd rather eat kale than lettuce. I keep thinking I'd grow to like lettuce if it came from my garden, but i rarely get around to growing it. One year another gardener gave me some seedlings she'd thinned out. I ate some, but most of it bolted.
Because it's a year-round gardening climate here, I have some turnips and kohlrabi and carrots still in the ground, ready to harvest soon, as well as edible-pod peas that have started producing.
Perennials I already have: yacon, raspberries, blackberries (thornless), strawberries, artichoke, perennial kale, rhubarb (though it may come out, as I rarely use it), red currants (ditto). Herbs: sage, lemon balm, mints (in containers), lemon verbena, lemongrass, thymes, oregano, marjoram, bronze fennel, lavender. Plus lots of flowers, mostly for the pollinators.
Garlic (assuming I get around to planting it this month). Onions, all planted a couple weeks ago. Dinosaur kale, planted last month. Borage and parsley plant themselves. Mache comes back on its own, starting around now, and miner's lettuce appears later in the winter. And how can I forget nettles? I love the smoothness of nettle tea, and it was fun to make nettle muffins (a lovely shade of green inside). I picked my first batch a few weeks ago, and usually they go strong until it's time to plant tomatoes.
Some potatoes come back on their own, but I haven't figured out the timing yet -- planted too early the foliage freezes back (as late as mid-April), and it doesn't look like I'll get a crop from the summer volunteers.
Christine, you may want to try a bay tree in a pot that you can bring inside in the winter. It survives winter here, but it probably wouldn't fit into a community garden plot and would probably need protection from the cold.
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