Sometimes……

Gardening can be a frustrating thing……

“Despite the gardener's best intentions, Nature will improvise.”  ~Michael P. Garafalo, gardendigest.com

These pictures, other than giving me  a chance to play with some settings on my camera without whining and complaining about “one more” shot….

They were supposed to be my

“First crop” pictures……

Wound up being my “only crop” pictures…..

The garden was a miserable failure wonderful learning experience this year.

With the exception of fits and starts of a few strawberries at a time…that were yummy….

The spaghetti squash that was SO promising in these pictures, literally stopped growing after I took these pictures, and even with all our attempts to water daily, just shriveled and died, along with my dreams of yummy garlic and olive oil sautéed (hey look spell check adds the little do hickey!)  squash…..and the tomatoes literally cooked on the vines before I even had a chance to pick them.  Got two cucumbers and they stopped growing. The green beans literally dried on the vine before they were ripe.

It was just so darn hot this summer.

So we dug it all under, hit the farmer’s  market and said,

“better luck next year”!

I think I will invest in some “black gold” from down the road to fertilize next summer. No room for a compost pile.

Then I say to myself – I am the only one who truly enjoys this whole process, or eats the fruits of  the labor. Why do I continue to plant a garden year after year when we live within practically walking distance of a dozen markets?  (although I am learning many of them do not grow everything they sell and it is still shipped in – NOT green at all !)

Of that I am not totally sure.

Except that I enjoy it!  My fondest memories from being young are being barefoot in my grandmother’s “truck patch” and “putting up” the beans and tomatoes with her every year. I vow one year to make my own pickles as well as she did. There is nothing quite so tasty as a home canned bread and butter pickle.

So I guess for me, it is an attempt to maintain a childhood memory, as well as enjoy a fresh off the vine cucumber in June over fresh greens I grew myself, with a side of marinara I made from my tomatoes, along side a nice crostini with homemade pesto on it.

Not much better than that!