Our raised bed is booming at both ends, and we're working on getting the middle filled in.

At one end, we've got a spicy salad mix that includes mustard greens, frisee, and a few other things that we're not exactly sure what they are (if you recognize any of it, definitely let me know!).



As you can see, just a few hot and sunny days in Seattle, combined with the fact that we weren't quite sure when/how to harvest these greens, means they got a little bit TOO big, and the frisee totally bolted. However, this weekend we finally got around to plucking the biggest of the greens. Our first harvest of the year! Sadly, the bolted frisee was pretty much a loss, though I did enjoy its pretty yellow flowers. On the other hand, those big fat mustard green leaves cooked up beautifully in a simple fritatta that included bok choy purchased from one of our nearby farmers markets, a little onion and garlic, and some grape tomatoes. Topped with salsa verde and sour cream, it made a scrumptious dinner, much of which even our 8-month-old could eat.

Also down at that end of the bed, the peas are already fattening up, and some of them were ready to harvest this morning. We haven't eaten what we picked yet, but I did taste one while still out in the garden, and it was sweet and juicy. The flavor of summer. Here, have a look:




I think, as a newbie gardener, peas are my favorite. So easy to make them grow and they aren't fussy if you plant them a smidgen too early in the season. Plus, it gives you an excuse to build some kind of lattice/climbing contraption. We made do with some pieces of wood and string we had around the house, and I think it actually looks pretty good! Also, they have really taught me that the notion that plants are immobile is a fallacy. These little guys can move, reaching their tendrils across wide spaces and winding themselves around anything that they can find. Finally, what's not to love about their sweet and dainty flowers?

Down at the other end of our veggie bed, the squash plants pretty much doubled in size during last week's heat wave. We have two varieties: black beauty zucchini and butternut squash. I'm thinking it's a good thing we heeded the spacing directions on the seed packet, since these bad boys are growing as if they are on steroids.



So that's what's going on in the veggie bed. All this lush greenery got us excited to plant a few more things this weekend. We now have leeks, onions, chard, beets, cucumbers, pole beans, and a couple of kinds of peppers in the ground. We just went for it and planted from seeds, so I'm pretty nervous that they won't actually grow, but we figured it was worth a try.

I'll end with a final shot. This is my husband's project more than it is my own. He is trying the whole upside-down-tomato thing and has started two plants growing down out of the bottom of some buckets. They're doing great so far, about 2 weeks after transplanting into their new gravity-defying position.

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.

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.