My favorite aspect of summer is my garden. I start each morning out there, with a cup of coffee, the slanted morning sun, the promise of a new day, and the joy of discovering new growth and sometimes surprises. It was only a few weeks ago that I wondered if I'd ever get around to starting my garden. Our spring weather was not conducive to growing much of anything and the snow and grey clouds kept me inside. But then, the sun finally broke free and inspired me to start my garden. It's in full force now. In fact, these photos are from awhile back.
My garden isn't large by any means, but for what it lacks in size, it makes up for in producing the kinds of things we enjoy eating. I'm speaking of tomatoes. I have eleven plants that I'm encouraging along daily. Alongside my tomatoes, I'm growing tomatillos, cabbage, zucchinis and pattypan squash, greens of all sorts, a couple pepper plants, peas, basil, onions, and herbs. I'm pretty pleased with my garden this year. We also constructed a bean pole teepee with visions of spicy pickled green beans in our future.
My garden has already offered up a few of its gifts for a recent family barbecue. I used a recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks, Heidi Swanson's, Supernatural Cooking Everyday. I made the 'Yellow Split Peas & Greens,' with inspiration from Knittingiris' improvisions here. It was oh so good!
