Benicia CleanTEch EXPO

[www.beniciacleantech.com]

Benicia CleanTEch EXPO 
It's FREE!
2060 Camel Road - Benicia Historical Museum
22 CleanNov 2nd, 1-5 PM
Nov 3rd, 10AM-4PM

Benicia CleanTech Expo is a collaboration with the City of Benicia's Office of Economic Development and Community Sustainability Commission in a partnership with the Solano Center for Business Innovation and
Benicia Historical Museum, and the Benicia CleanTech Steering Committee
Benicia's commercial-industrial sector has a lot to gain by sustainable business practices and in considering the value creation of Clean Technologies and Services.  The win-win for Benicia is a low carbon, thriving economic sector.

Tech Exhibitors including
* CODA Automotive (2 cars, one will offer a ride along)
* 3D rapid prototyping demonstrations from F3
* California eBikes
* Wireless Broadband...in the Industrial Park
* Solar providers
* KIVA luggage (they will be selling great product)
and others...
AND
Workshops on the half hour:
* Dominican University of California - CleanTech trends, marketing, etc
* Wattzon:  Home energy audits
* Carbon Lighthouse: Commercial/Industrial energy audits
* Rae Lynn Fiscalini and David Subocz:  Design opportunities for efficiency
* Doug Snyder:  How to convert your bicycle to electric

Did I mention the Amazing prizes?
Nov 2 - iPad
Nov 3 - Electric Bicycle valued at $2000!


2012-10-26 "Benicia, California, Spaceship Earth: Road to the future" by Constance Beutel from "Benicia Herald"
[beniciaherald.me/2012/10/26/crewmember-report-benicia-california-spaceship-earth-road-to-the-future/]:
Constance Beutel is chair of Benicia’s Community Sustainability Commission. She is a university professor and videographer and holds a doctorate from the University of San Francisco.

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IN GETTING READY FOR THE FIRST-EVER Benicia CleanTech Expo next week, I put together a short video to help spread the word and to showcase the solid commercial and industrial heritage of our city.
One of the many proud sponsors of the CleanTech Expo is the Benicia Historical Museum. Elizabeth d’Huart, museum executive director, immediately saw the connection from Benicia’s past to the emerging future and has been an energetic and supportive partner in making the Expo possible.
Of course, the museum’s immediate proximity and connection to the Industrial Park make it a perfect venue. It is located at 2060 Camel Road and its neighbors are AMPORTS and CODA — if fact the two are literally across the street. From where the museum sits on the hill, you can overlook the tremendous economic engine of Benicia below.
The museum contains a first-class permanent exhibit, “Benicia’s Industrial Legacy,” that occupies the entire first floor. This exhibit will be open to the public attending the CleanTech Expo in the museum hall. Physically seeing the progression in the use of tools and materials from our past to the revolution in clean technology, products and services drives home just how important that industrial legacy is to an emerging and sustainable future.
Here’s the lineup of Expo exhibitors, in their own words:
• Allied Waste Services provides high-quality, comprehensive solid waste and recycling collection services for residential and commercial customers. We conduct our operations in a safe, ethical and environmentally conscious manner and dedicate our resources to improving the quality of life within the communities we serve.
• Ally Electric and Solar has been delivering comprehensive electrical and solar services in a timely manner, with genuine commitment to quality on every project, since our inception. From design to finish, our experienced electricians provide the expertise to ensure your electrical project in the Bay Area is completed on time, on budget and up to code.
• Benicia Magazine is a unique and sophisticated publication that showcases the many delightful things about this waterfront community and surrounding areas.
• Bio Clean LLC, in concert with the developer Vorsana Inc., represents a new generation of agricultural waste and manure treatment technology and devices for agricultural producers.
• California eBike is able to provide you with the best quality electric bike conversion kit in North America using the most advanced lithium ion batteries, motors and controllers. We can provide them in a variety of powers, in a variety of sizes to suit nearly all adult bikes, and in a variety of styles.
• Carbon Lighthouse makes it profitable for commercial and industrial properties to become carbon neutral through a blend of energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon permit retirement. We focus our efforts on low capital improvements that result in high carbon savings and reduced energy costs.
• City of Benicia Office of Economic Development is responsible for implementing the adopted Economic Development Strategy (2007), facilitating businesses relocating to or expanding within Benicia, monitoring the status of the city’s economy, recommending strategies, initiatives, and projects to improve economic vitality citywide, and representing the city’s developable real estate interests.
• Community Sustainability Commission was inaugurated in 2010. Its purpose is to educate, advocate and provide oversight for integrated solutions that seek a sustainable equilibrium for economic, ecological and social health and well-being, both now and in the future. The commission has oversight for the city of Benicia’s Climate Action Plan and makes grant recommendations to City Council for energy and water efficiencies made possible by the Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement.
• CODA Automotive designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles and lithium-ion battery systems purpose-built for transportation and utility applications. Our vision is to be the key technology provider to reduce global dependence on oil and the harmful social, economic and environmental consequences that follow. Our focus is green technology.
• Diablo Solar Services has been a San Francisco Bay Area leader in solar energy systems for 27 years. We offer industry-leading Fafco solar pool heating systems to heat even the largest pools. We also provide solar PV electric panels for electricity production.
• Dominican University of California Green MBA approaches sustainability as a complex issue — not only studying and using existing tools, frameworks and practices, but also creating new ways of thinking about how to resolve and mitigate complex issues such as climate change.
• Energy Upgrade California/Solano County helps you make home improvements that can save energy and make your home more comfortable.
• Rae Lynn Fiscalini, Architect, AIA, LEED AP, is an architecture, landscape and sustainability design studio in the San Francisco Bay Area, since 1990. David Subocz, principal of William de Ess Studios of Santa Cruz, since 1991, is a Certified Green Building Professional with expertise in energy efficiency, structural design and fabrication, and historic preservation.
• Fortune Marketing Company will help your business grow by installing a marketing system that works!
• F3-Inc. combines 3-D laser scanning, high-precision digital levels along with GPS surveying to place your project correctly on the appropriate datum or boundary survey accompanied with aerial imagery for visual presentation.
• Industrial Asset Recycling specialize in targeted commercial and industrial asset liquidation solutions for companies who want to maximize their use of cash from non-performing capital investments.
• iSystems Technology Inc. offers a wide range of personalized services to accommodate your businesses technology needs. We can custom tailor any of our services into a single package that is easy to maintain.
• Jefferson Street Mansion is a Civil War-era mansion that has been fully restored. Located in the Historic Benicia Arsenal where Generals Sherman and Grant once resided, it is available for overnight accommodations, a fine dining experience or to host a special event or wedding reception.
• KIVA products give you the freedom to embark on new adventures with durable, fun, and functional bags that look great and roll with any style. Our eco friendly gear is designed and manufactured to hold up to even the most demanding explorer; so we can protect your belongings, and protect the earth.
• Pacific Crown Builders applies the modern principles of building science to analyze and upgrade the energy performance, health and safety with the comfort of your house.
• Sustainable Energy Associates is a mechanical engineering and business development firm providing services to the energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability industries. SEA does program design, business development, LEED application review and consulting, and project implementation for schools and colleges, public agencies and municipalities, utilities, and resource management companies.
• WattzOn makes it simple and easy for consumers to understand how they use energy and their opportunities to save.
It’s free, there are big prizes and the Expo is important
The Benicia CleanTech Expo is free and there will be drawings for prizes: an iPad (Nov. 2) and an electric bicycle valued at $2,000 (Nov. 3). There will be workshops on the half hour that address clean tech opportunities, greening the business and home, solar photovoltaics, converting your bicycle to electric and more.
Clean technologies offer a transitional path to a profitable and low-carbon future. The Expo is an important recognition of the road Benicia is on.

Anti-Sovereignty: monopolized "Big-Box" Stores

Wal-Marts is the reason that Maine passed a law that if a company employed over 20,000 employee's they had to offer healthcare. They were costing the state millions in food stamps and Medicaid for Wal-Mart employees. Wal-Mart alone cost California almost 100 million dollars in state aid for Wal-Mart employees. Those low prices come at a very high price for tax payers.
And Walmart stock is up 37% from this time last year: https://www.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:WMT Owners profit while taxpayers buy food for their employees. Brilliant business model!
Don't forget SAMs Club is a Walmart store.
While traveling the United States, I found that in every city where there was a super-Walmart the original 'main streets' were either gone or barely hanging on. The little shops cannot compete. In one struggling city I learned they fought off supper-Walmart but Walmart simply went to the next city over. Now the small shops are still gone and no taxes from Walmart. Their city was filing bankruptcy. So so sad. i know 2 ladies who work there and both are on welfare also...SAD
The Walton family is a disgrace.....they are all multi billionaires running their plantation......never giving their workers a livable wage......it really is modern day slavery...

"Vallejo Gardens Project Hopes to Revitalize Downtown"

[http://www.baycrossings.com/dispnews.php?id=2820]:
Vallejo Gardens, located at 620 Marin Street, is part of Matt Shotwell’s mission to revitalize downtown Vallejo.

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Matthew Shotwell is on a mission to rebuild and rejuvenate his beloved city of Vallejo. The latest iteration of his vision is Vallejo Gardens, a common creative space at 620 Marin Street that will bring new products, fresh foods, arts and crafts to downtown Vallejo.
Shotwell’s mission to revitalize downtown Vallejo began when he established the most successful medical cannabis compassionate care facility in Solano County—bringing increased foot traffic to the ghost town of downtown Vallejo. Shotwell was then instrumental in the passage—by an overwhelming margin of 76 percent—of city legislation to tax medical cannabis distribution, the revenue of which was to be devoted to maintaining vital city services including the fire and police departments, schools, recreational centers and libraries. The same day the tax was to be implemented by the city manager, however, the city police department launched massive city-wide raids resulting in the closure of many dispensaries.
This left Shotwell in search of a new project. Recognizing a need to reduce community blight such as the vacant lots often used as illegal dump sites, Shotwell first began by starting a community garden in a long vacant lot next to his residence on Napa Street. He then reached out to his friend and business partner Kip Baldwin—with whom he had co-created a television show—to develop a new venture.
Vallejo Gardens will be a common creative space that will serve as an incubator for the citizens of Vallejo and the surrounding areas to introduce their visionary products, whether food, arts or crafts to the marketplace and test the viability of those products. Similar to the current pop-up trends in restaurants and retail, Vallejo Gardens will provide a unique forum for community members to develop, experiment with, and test market viability including profitability of new products.
Vallejo Gardens’ immensely successful Labor Day grand opening saw approximately 400 of Vallejo’s residents—including local luminaries such as councilwoman Marti Brown and Vallejo Times columnist Rich Freedman—pass through its doors eager to find quality local and organic foods. Shotwell and Baldwin have decided to double down on this worthwhile and needed gamble by working with the Vallejo’s Co-op’s group steering committee to turn Vallejo Gardens from a once-a-week grocery treat to an everyday downtown quality food shopping destination.
Baldwin and Shotwell’s immediate plans are to continue with the local and sustainable food offerings every Monday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and add a Thursday market from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., which they hope to have up and running by October 4. The Thursday market will help fill the food void that will follow the October finish of Benicia’s seasonal farmers market. Featured vendors at the Monday market are CobbleStone Bakery, Feather River Organic Fruits, Yogi Vegan Indian Cuisine, Hummus Heaven, Popcorn Karma, and FeNella’s Berries, among others.
Additional plans include a Saturday crafts market that will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., coinciding with the Saturday farmers market on Georgia Street. The crafts market will launch on October 6 to help celebrate the art walk taking place downtown from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Featured vendors for the crafts market include Pearls by Roxanna.
Shotwell and Baldwin are also working closely with Vallejo Co-op to open a Whole Foods-inspired convenience store in the front of their building on Marin Street, which they hope to have open before Thanksgiving.
Baldwin and Shotwell also want the community to know their commitment to this being a common place for all citizens of Vallejo to come and develop their ideas and dreams. So whether you are a budding farmer, chef or artist, Vallejo Gardens is here not just to provide the community fish, but to give them a hole where they can catch their own fish.
Vallejo Gardens is calling out to all farmers, food purveyors, temp food facility operators, crafts and art persons of all types, volunteers and investors, who want to be part of this amazing opportunity. For further information, contact either Matt Shotwell or Kip Baldwin at: vallejogardens@gmail.com. Be sure to join their Facebook Like and Group pages and follow them on Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/VallejoGardens?ref=ts and https://www.facebook.com/groups/vallejogardens/?ref=ts and https://twitter.com/VallejoGardens.

2008-07-31 "'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution; Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system"

by Anne Trafton from "Massachusetts Institute of Technology"
[http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html]:
In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.
Until now, solar power has been a daytime-only energy source, because storing extra solar energy for later use is prohibitively expensive and grossly inefficient. With today's announcement, MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.
Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. "This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science. "Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon."
Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.
The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity — whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source — runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.
Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.
The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.

'Giant leap' for clean energy -
Sunlight has the greatest potential of any power source to solve the world's energy problems, said Nocera. In one hour, enough sunlight strikes the Earth to provide the entire planet's energy needs for one year.
James Barber, a leader in the study of photosynthesis who was not involved in this research, called the discovery by Nocera and Kanan a "giant leap" toward generating clean, carbon-free energy on a massive scale.
"This is a major discovery with enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind," said Barber, the Ernst Chain Professor of Biochemistry at Imperial College London. "The importance of their discovery cannot be overstated since it opens up the door for developing new technologies for energy production thus reducing our dependence for fossil fuels and addressing the global climate change problem."

'Just the beginning' -
Currently available electrolyzers, which split water with electricity and are often used industrially, are not suited for artificial photosynthesis because they are very expensive and require a highly basic (non-benign) environment that has little to do with the conditions under which photosynthesis operates.
More engineering work needs to be done to integrate the new scientific discovery into existing photovoltaic systems, but Nocera said he is confident that such systems will become a reality.
"This is just the beginning," said Nocera, principal investigator for the Solar Revolution Project funded by the Chesonis Family Foundation and co-Director of the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center. "The scientific community is really going to run with this."
Nocera hopes that within 10 years, homeowners will be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.
The project is part of the MIT Energy Initiative, a program designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today's energy systems. MITEI Director Ernest Moniz, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, noted that "this discovery in the Nocera lab demonstrates that moving up the transformation of our energy supply system to one based on renewables will depend heavily on frontier basic science."
The success of the Nocera lab shows the impact of a mixture of funding sources — governments, philanthropy, and industry. This project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to launch the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large scale deployment of solar energy within 10 years.

Local Clean Energy Alliance (Oakland)

Join the Clean Energy & Jobs Oakland Campaign -

The Clean Energy & Jobs Oakland campaign is working to bring Community Choice energy to Oakland by asking organizations and individuals to call on City Council to support this program.
 For more information on the Clean Energy & Jobs Oakland campaign, check our campaign web site [http://www.localcleanenergy.org/policy-platform/campaign2012].
We will need lots of help on the campaign and urge you to get involved. If you have questions or are interested in joining the effort, please let us know: lcea-info@baylocalize.org
LIKE CLEAN POWER JOBS OAKLAND ON FACEBOOK! [http://www.facebook.com/cleanpowerjobs]

Plug into LCEA
That’s right, the Local Clean Energy Alliance is looking for an infusion of new energy—people energy—to help meet aggressive goals. We welcome your involvement in any number of ways. All it takes is a commitment to equitable, local clean energy solutions that contribute to the health of our community.

Check out some of the opportunities available especially the volunteer openings.

2012-09-19 "It's a Victory! CleanPowerSF Passes 8-3"

Bay Localize is a project of Earth Island Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization [info@baylocalize.org]
[436 14th Street, Suite 1216, Oakland, CA 94612] [510-834-0420]
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On September 18th San Francisco took a huge step in meeting its climate action goals! The Board of Supervisors voted 8-3 to approve Clean Power SF, San Francisco's version of Community Choice Energy. The Local Clean Energy Alliance and allies have spent years shaping the program and organizing the support to move it forward.
"This vote is a big victory in the 10-year effort to bring Community Choice Energy to San Francisco," stated Al Weinrub, Coordinator of the Local Clean Energy Alliance. "It's a crucial step in transitioning off fossil fuels in a way that provides economic opportunity and clean energy jobs." 
 Clean Power SF will offer residents the option of purchasing 100% renewable energy starting in the Spring of 2013. Tuesday's vote approved a five-year contract for San Francisco to purchase 30 MW of renewable energy for participating customers. The program's long term vision is to install 31 MW of solar right in San Francisco and reduce energy use by a whopping 107 MW through energy efficiency measures. Meeting these goals could create more than 4,000 local jobs per year.
 San Francisco set climate action goals of reducing emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2017 and 80 percent below those levels by 2050. According to Ed Harrington, General Manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Clean Power SF offers "the only chance of reaching those goals." 
 Harrington also noted that Clean Power SF is "an incredibly efficient way to spend money...the City has spent $90 million on solar and other renewable energy projects that power fewer than 7,000 homes, whereas this $19.5 million will power 90,000 households." The program will initially include about 90,000 customers, or roughly a quarter of the city's residential ratepayers.
Special thanks to all of our allies who achieved this victory together, notably Michelle Meyers, John Rizzo, and Jeremiah Dean of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter; Eric Brooks of the San Francisco Green Party; Josh Arce and Eddie Ahn of Brightline Defense Project; and June Brashares of Global Exchange. Al Weinrub of the Local Clean Energy Alliance played a major role coalescing this group over the years. Twenty other community organizations as well as Senator Mark Leno, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, and Senator Leland Yee also supported the program.
 The Local Clean Energy Alliance, hosted by Bay Localize, is the Bay Area's largest clean energy advocacy alliance with more than 90 organizational members. Click here to join the Alliance.

Photo: Al Weinrub Local Clean Energy Alliance Coordinator speaks out on CleanPowerSF

2012-09-19 "CleanPowerSF" by Corrine Van Hook

Cool Season Crops

"Planting the right cool-season crops"2012-08-24 by Pam Peirce [goldengategarden.typepad.com] for "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/goldengategardener/article/Planting-the-right-cool-season-crops-3813871.php]:

As summer speeds along, and squash or beans start to get that beat-up, late-season look, Bay Area gardeners begin to wonder what can replace them. In many of our nation's gardens, this late-summer planting would be called "putting in a second crop." Here, the last half of the year offers chances to put in two or even three plantings of one thing or another (and then to start the spring garden as early as February). Happily, much of the prep and planting can occur before winter cold and rain set in, then we can let rainfall take care of all or most of our watering for a while.

Vegetables that will grow well into fall and winter are those known as cool-season crops. These include all of the cole crops (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, etc.), root crops (such as carrot, beet, parsnip, turnip, radish), leafy crops (mustard, bok choy, chard, arugula, lettuce, spinach) and cool-season legumes (pea and fava bean).

Some of these crops will grow until December or January, and then will flower in about March. In most cases, this flowering marks the end of the crop's usefulness in the kitchen, so we want to eat it up before then. What's important in planting these crops, which are biennials, is to be sure they have time to get big enough to harvest before their flowering periods. If planted too late in the year, kale or carrots will bloom in spring while we are still waiting for them to produce enough leaves, or big enough roots, to be worth picking or pulling. (See "About biennials")

Annual crops complete a life cycle in under a year, though we generally eat them long before that. Some annual crops reach harvest size so fast that you might get in more than one late-summer or fall planting in succession. Examples are mustard, bok choy, lettuce, radish, spinach, cilantro and arugula. Replant every few weeks. After about September, set out seedlings of lettuce; otherwise all of these can be grown into fall by direct-sowing the seeds.

Inland vs. coast
In the Bay Area, late-summer and fall planting times for most of the cool-season crops are not "one size fits all." They depend on the microclimate of your garden. Microclimate maps and planting calendars, such as maps and four calendars in my book "Golden Gate Gardening" (Sasquatch Books; 2010) offer very helpful guidance. Then you can use experience with your particular garden to fine-tune planting times for the best results.

Near the coast, where late summer into fall is cool and often foggy, you need to get cole and root crops in sooner because the cool days and nights will slow their growth. In microclimates with warmer late-summer and fall days and nights, you should plant these crops later. This is for two reasons. First, these crops won't perform well while summer is still hot. Second, after the worst of the heat has passed, the still-warm inland fall weather will let these crops catch up to the more coastal plantings.

For example, in chilly, foggy locations, a second-half-of-the-year kale crop is best planted in July or August to bear plenty of leaves all fall and winter. In the San Jose region, gardeners plant a late kale crop in August and September, while in the Walnut Creek region, with its very hot summers, this kale planting is more likely to take place in September or October. For broccoli (annual or biennial types), the times are: near the coast, July and August, or possibly early September; in or near San Jose, August through October; and in or near Walnut Creek, October or November.

Planting time differences for peas and fava beans (overwintering annuals) can reverse this pattern. In near-coastal microclimates, peas and fava beans for winter growth are best planted in November, while inland gardeners may plant them as early as September. This is because they will grow slowly through winter months, but the winter months are colder inland, so they need a bit more time for a jump-start.

Garlic, which would be perennial if we didn't harvest it, is planted in October or November across the region, to produce mature heads in late June. Be sure to plant it where you can most easily withhold irrigation once its lower leaves begin to yellow in about May.

Ideally, before the crop comes out, you'll be thinking about what to plant next in the space it occupies. This will give you time to order seed of a special variety or grow some seedlings yourself. With a little practice you can be planting and replanting in a seamless succession and eating from your garden every month of the year.

Growing tips
How to make the most of the year's second half:

Add fresh organic soil amendment and fertilizer to sections of your garden you are about to replant. If your vegetable plants have been small, be bolder in your amendment and fertilizing efforts.

Grow fall and winter crops in the sunniest locations possible, though some, including lettuce, arugula and spinach, will continue to produce in bright or open shade.

Grow most cole crops from seedlings, which you can buy or grow five to seven weeks before planting out. In cool summer areas, you can start these seedlings outdoors.

Generally speaking, loose-leaf and romaine lettuce varieties handle cold better than crisphead or butterhead types. Some varieties are listed as "cold resistant."

Use large spinach varieties such as 'Oriental Giant' or 'Viroflay Giant.' For spinach, use plenty of nitrogen fertilizer, such as aged chicken manure or worm compost.

Have a sturdy trellis in place before you sow peas: 4 to 5 feet tall for bush peas, 6 feet or taller for pole peas. Use row cover to protect the seed rows from birds, snails and slugs until the plants are well up.

For a longer-lasting harvest, start early and late varieties of cole crops such as broccoli or cauliflower at the same time.

To avoid leaf blotches from leaf miner insect damage, set out Swiss chard seedlings in early September, and cover with row-cover fabric until the leaf miner enters winter dormancy (in around mid-October near the coast, maybe a bit later inland).

What about frost?
Most cool-season vegetable gardens survive mild and/or brief frosts, and some live through an occasional hard freeze even without special protection. Kale, collards, parsnip, turnip, Swiss chard, spinach and long-season broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage can survive short periods as low as 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Early broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage, carrots, beets, lettuce and radish tolerate as low as 10 degrees. Peas are moderately cold hardy, but are damaged by heavy frosts. On nights when frost is predicted, you can use cardboard boxes, sheets (propped away from plants on buckets or stakes) or row cover to protect plants.

Seed sources
* Bountiful Gardens (bountifulgardens.org, (707) 459-6410)
* Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com, (877) 564-6697)
* Kitazawa Seed Co. (kitazawaseed.com, (510) 595-1188)
* Nichols Garden Nursery (nicolsgardennursery.com, (800) 422-3985)
* Territorial Seed Co. (territorialseed.com, (800) 626-0866)

About biennials
A biennial plant typically lives longer than one but less than two years. These crops do not flower until after they're exposed to a certain amount of winter cold. After flowering, they ripen seed, a process that requires several months, and then the biennial plant dies. Biennial vegetable crops include kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, some kinds of broccoli and cauliflower, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips and Swiss chard.

Note: Early broccoli and cauliflower varieties have been bred to be annuals, so they will produce edible flower buds before winter's cold. Late types (over 120 days to maturity) produce their edible flower buds in spring.