Today, I unexpectedly pulled this from my garden: a winter carrot.
This carrot--grown from a seed leftover from last summer during our warm, snowless winter--got me dreaming about the great harvest I’ll pull from my garden this summer.
I have big dreams: sugar snap peas, sweet yellow onions, carrots, and bush beans are already in the ground. I’ll add brandywine tomato, yellow squash, burpless cucumber, sweet basil, and buttercrunch lettuce plants later this week to fill the beds.
My mind is racing with possible dishes these yet-to-be-planted veggies will be made into, simple recipes that highlight their full flavor: tomatoes and basil—made into Tomato Caprese Salad (my absolute favorite summer staple), cucumbers and lettuce—made into a simple salad with homemade olive oil and vinegar dressing, zucchini—sautéed with olive oil and garlic. I could go on…
This is how I start out in spring, (over) ambitious and
idealistic about my garden.
Then in July, when my garden has turned into a jungle, squash bugs devouring my zucchini plants and mildew squelching my bean harvest, I
reassess my goals. I am thrilled to discover a zucchini untouched by the ravenous squash bugs or five
slender beans I can save from my many bean plants.
But for now, the carrot has inspired me to dream big. Here’s hoping for a good harvest!
What are you growing in your garden this year?
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