And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.

- The Great Gatsby

When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote these words he did not have gardening in mind, but I return to this sentence each and every spring. Officially, summer is not yet here, but indeed great bursts of leaves are everywhere.

Hello! My name is Amy and I live with my Green Husband and two children, Pip and Sprout, in Plant Hardiness Zone 7, or more specifically Virginia. We live on a quarter acre of land on a busy street corner in a relatively congested "suburb" just outside of Washington, D.C. Since moving to our home almost eight years ago, we have had a garden each summer. Green Husband is a talented landscaper and skilled carpenter; I have, until recently, been chief laundry-doer and child-occupier, while he battled, er, harmonized, with Mother Nature. We both hold full-time jobs "outside" of the garden.

This summer will be a bit different for us: Our children are now older and can either join us in our gardening or find a myriad of outdoor activities that keep them happy and occupied. (To those of you who have very young children and a feeling a bit neglectful of your own garden plot, go easy on yourself – if a container of herbs is all you can manage this year, so be it. It gets easier.) This summer will also be quite different for me because due to a slight career change the months of June, July, and August will be mine to enjoy until I return to work in the fall. This will leave me plenty of time to spend with my children and…gulp…to garden. Oh, the pressure.

I hope you will check in with me throughout the summer as I share how my gardening dreams become gardening reality, for better or for worse. Green Husband has provided me with a fabulous garden foundation, but as he continues his full-time job this summer, it will fall to me this year to keep up with the garden so we can hopefully avoid some of our previous pitfalls, from drought to falling-asleep-on-the-couch-who-the-heck-has-the-energy-to-weed-that-blasted-garden. As the days grow longer and lighter, I can’t help but have that familiar conviction that life is beginning over again with the garden.


You can find more of Amy's writing on her blog, The Gift of Green.

Everyone we know succeeds with broccoli in Las Vegas. Except us. With over a dozen plants, we had one small head of broccoli filled with aphids. Not exactly appetizing. But all was not lost: Over the weekend, we pulled the plants and harvested the leaves.

We took any leaves without excess leaf damage. A little damage doesn't bother me (I even think it might mean it's a yummy leaf!) but too much creeps me out. I washed them well, cut off the stems which are not tasty and shredded the rest for blanching.


I steamed them for 3 minutes until they were limp but still bright green, cooled them in ice water to stop the cooking process, squeezed as much water out as possible and bagged up several servings for the freezer. Broccoli leaves are a bitter green, best eaten steamed or in stir-fry. We like to add ours to pasta with tomatoes and spices or with ravioli. They are not for everyone, but when you grew this many without a single head of broccoli to enjoy, you take what you can get.

We plan to start our broccoli again this fall and overwinter it, in hopes of more broccoli and less insects. Do you think the caterpillars will still love me?



You can read more of Tara's blogging on gardening, food, and family life on her blog, The Organic Sister.

June isn't actually summer here in Montana - it is late spring. With that in mind, I try not to get too frustrated when things are lagging well into June. Instead, I try to celebrate successes. Here are some recent accomplishments:


I harvested, washed, and cut up the rhubarb.


I bagged up enough cut rhubarb to last for all of 2009-2010 in freezer storage.


I bought 15 baby chickens- some I will keep in my flock, some are for a friend, and some I will sell to other chicken keepers in town.


I made a delicious pizza using the "thinnings" from my rapidly maturing spinach row.


I enjoyed our lilacs.


I found the first strawberry flower of the year.