I made the mistake of planting all of my cucurbits – winter squash, cucumbers, and summer squash – on the same side of the garden. Besides the fact that this will allow pests to move more easily between them, it mostly just makes moving through that part of the garden almost impossible. The cucumber vines, seeing the sprawling winter squash on one side and enormously bushy zucchini on the other, have apparently decided to take a page from their neighboring cousins’ books and go wild themselves.

That entire section of the garden is now a lush, chaotic tangle of greenery, and it is both beautiful and daunting. (One of these days, I’m going to lose my balance trying to get through there and go tumbling down onto the innocent sweet potato vines.)

The good news is that when I dive into that green mass, I come back out with cucumbers, zucchini, and yellow crookneck squash. Soon, I’ll be picking cucamelons too. Yep, that’s one in the picture above, still only half size.

A stroll through the rest of the garden (positively relaxing after the cucurbit chaos) this morning revealed the first blushing tomato, which means fresh tomatoes will be coming soon as well! As I was admiring that faintly pink-tinged green fruit, something golden caught the corner of my eye, and I discovered the first of the cherry tomatoes had ripened. I popped it in my mouth, and it was like a little burst of warm sunshine on my tongue. I can’t wait to share these with you!

In the meantime, come visit me at the Broadway Community Market tomorrow for some cucurbits! The Straight Eight cucumbers, true to their name, grow about eight inches long and beautifully straight, with with a sweet, crisp flavor. I’ve been enjoying salted cucumber spears with lunch almost every day. And even the largest zucchini I hacked into was still tender and had remarkably small seeds. Although I shredded it for zucchini bread, it just as easily could have been sliced and sautéed.

I’ll also have garlic salt, crocheted items, and possibly some fresh basil tomorrow.

See you at the market!

When I walk out to the garden, I am greeted by clouds of cherry tomato blossoms. These branches filled with giant, airy clusters of starry yellow flowers will, in a few weeks, be weighed down with as many little round fruits. The early slicing tomato plants, and even some of the later varieties, already have green fruits set on, slowly filling out before they begin to blush red.

Further into the garden, the cucumber vines grow faster than I can trellis them, and this week I spotted the first itty bitty baby cucamelons among the chaotic tangle of string-like stems. (Yep, that’s a baby cucamelon in the photo above!)

I am already overrun by zucchini, and they have only been producing for a week! The yellow crookneck squash may soon follow suit. I’m no longer entirely sure where the line is between bed and path in that section – it’s all just the summer squash patch now.

Back inside, in the cool of the basement, the garlic I harvested on Monday is hanging to cure. In a couple weeks, I will trim off the leaves and roots and bring the bulbs to the market. Whatever remains unsold by this winter will be dried and ground for garlic salt – and maybe some new seasonings!

In this transition from spring to summer crops, I don’t have many vegetables to offer at the market right now, aside from the zucchini, the surprisingly heat-tolerant kale, and the aptly named perpetual spinach chard. So it works out well that this is the one Saturday I am not planning to be at the market. I will miss seeing you all, and my fellow vendors, but I hope to have more to offer when I return next week!

See you at the market – next week!

There comes a time every summer when the squash plants become so lush and large that the entire bed – and sometimes part of the path – disappears beneath them, and I have to dive head and shoulders into the broad, prickly foliage to hunt for zucchini. If I don’t make this a daily ritual, I may resurface with fruits more closely resembling rolling pins or clubs than tender summer squash. Regardless, one is bound to evade me long enough to reach impressive proportions.

That time has now come, fittingly, on the day of the summer solstice. While I don’t have any emerald baseball bats yet, I did pick some beautiful zucchinis this morning at that perfect size that’s still small enough for sautéing but just large enough for zoodles or zucchini bread (or chocolate zucchini muffins – yum!).

Come get some of these beautiful Italian heirloom zucchinis this Saturday morning at the Broadway Community Market, and celebrate the start of summer. Here’s what all you can expect on my table:

• zucchini
• chard
• kale
• radishes (likely the last!)
• garlic salt
• aloe plants
• crocheted items

And don’t forget to enter my birthday week giveaway on Facebook! One winner (selected tomorrow morning) will receive an aloe plant, handknit dishcloth, and $5 gift certificate for fresh veggies. Check out the Facebook post for details and to enter.

See you at the market!