Picked this week, even though there’s frost on the ground some mornings now and we’re wearing hats and gloves in the northeast.  We’ll rototil this weekend, the definitive end of this year’s garden (sorry, carrots).  The refrigerator is stocked with bags and bags (and bags) of vaccuum-sealed veggies.  The canned stuff is in the basement.  I think I’m finally prepared [...]

This enthusiasm is kind of ironic since I’ve always been more a bread and chocolate than broccoli and cauliflower kind of gal, but they do taste better and become exponentially more interesting when you’re growing them yourself.  Here’s the garden six weeks ago and today: . . . . . . Tomatos, eggplants, peppers… . . . . . [...]

Each of the nine summers we’ve lived here we’ve had a vegetable garden.  It started out, as many things do, on a very small scale.  A few tomato plants and spices in a scrubby and way-too-shady part of the backyard.  The yield that year: nothing.  We tried a sunnier spot the second summer – still in a bare and weedy area - [...]