And So It Begins! The Vegetable Garden

After church on Sunday, my husband and I were walking around the yard with Jemma, looking at all of the pretty flowers in bloom.

"Hey Hon, you better come look in the vegetable garden," he said.

"Why? Is the snake back?" I asked.

"No, but you do have a lot of produce that needs picking!"

Wow! It seemed like everything grew overnight! Cukes, zucchini, tomatoes. Harvest season has begun!

I wish I had more room in the sunshine for a big, beautiful vegetable garden, with well-tended rows and a sweet fence encircling everything and keeping the deer and bunnies out. Instead, I have a long narrow patch between our houses that gets just enough daylight to help everything grow tall.

And so, I use a combination of lattice, A frames, trellis, and tomato cages to help everything grow up instead of out.

Of course, I try to keep it looking pretty. I mingle in a few flowers and some garden art to make everything interesting.

This really makes me laugh. I tried to grow a few flowers by seed along the side of the house, but they really didn't do much. Instead, last year's cosmos reseeded themselves, and they are growing out of the sidewalk. Ha!

So now I am looking for recipes to use all of this fresh produce. The August/September issue of Mary Jane's Farm has lots of zucchini recipes that I will try in the days ahead. Zucchini pickles, zucchini boats, zucchini frittata. My family will probably be sick of zucchini by the end of August.

This is now the only magazine I subscribe to and enjoy on a monthly basis. It's like an old-fashioned farmer's almanac for women! I can't wait to try experimenting with her Wild Breads next month, too.

Thanks for visiting the cafe today! Oh, and before you leave, would you take a zucchini with you? My family says thank you! ;)

Blessings, cafe friends!