June Update

By this time of the year, life is abundant and growth is spectacular. In the garden, the first blossoms of the season are on the tomato plants (on the vines of the ultra-early Glacier variety, anyway). The brassicas are all producing: the kale and collards are ready to eat, of course, but the first broccoli florets are rising up, the kohlrabi bulbs are swelling, and the heading cabbages are closing up. Squashes, cucumbers, melons, potatoes--all are growing faster than we can keep track. It's exciting. We do, however, appear to have two unsuccessful crops this year: eggplant (the baby plants have been turned into lace by flea beetles) and peppers (which look alive and fairly healthy but which have not grown in size since being transplanted--perhaps due to being planted in a bed that last year held potatoes, another nightshade). Still, the garden feels great--our direct connection to the mystery and sweetness of life.