If you garden in the foggy coastal band from Santa Cruz through Aptos and Capitola, the feijoa, or pineapple guava, may be the most rewarding fruit you are not yet growing. This is one of the rare subtropical-looking fruits that genuinely prefers your cool, salty coastal air to i

If you garden in Santa Cruz, Capitola, Aptos along the water, or out toward Davenport, the fog belt is about the best place in the county to grow sugar snap peas. The cool, mild, drawn-out season is exactly what they want.

If you garden in the county's warm thermal belt above the fog, the feijoa, or pineapple guava, is an easy, dependable fruit that fits right in. It does not need the Banana Belt's warmth the way citrus or avocado does, but it crops happily here and earns its place as an evergreen

In the county's warm sunny pocket above the fog, strawberries ripen faster and sweeter than down on the coast. The trade-off is heat: water carefully, mulch well, and tend the bed in the afternoon and these berries are a joy.

A local guide to community gardens in Santa Cruz County, from Beach Flats to Watsonville. How to find a plot, apply, handle waitlists, and what to do while you wait.