Vallejo People's Garden 

Check out the mother lode of vegetables that we harvested recently--lots and lots of carrots, herbs, cabbages, artichokes. Tom with the HUGE cabbage he started from seed. He doesn't want to harvest this baby because he wants to see how BIG it will get. The record cabbage tipped out at 125.9 lbs from the state of Alaska. Sister Elvie with a bouquet of artichokes harvested from our garden. We have over a dozen artichokes growing from a single plant. And to think last summer, someone chopped down this one artichoke plant thinking it was a WEED!

Beautiful irises in bloom. Did you know that Iris is a genus of 260 -300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a r a i n b o w , referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species. In April, we'll be helping kids from the Mare Island Health and Fitness Academy make coleslaw using cabbage and carrots from our garden. Here's the coleslaw recipe we'll be using: 6 cups shredded cabbage 1 cup shredded carrot 2/3 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons vinegar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar , or to taste 1/2 teaspoon celery salt 1/4 teaspoon salt , or to taste Toss cabbage in a large bowl with the carrots. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture over the cabbage and carrots and toss to coat thoroughly. Refrigerate until serving time. Serves 6. Can you identify the plants in the pictures above? Pictures, courtesy of Tom Liggett.