May Garden, photo by smalltowngirl

The garden now bears little resemblance to that tiny garden I started with in May. The tomato plants and berry bushes are as tall as I am, which isn’t saying much, of course.

The trellice you see in the photo is for the zuccini, squash and cucmber, all of which grew very quickly at first, before falling victim to an unidentified bug infestation.

Harvest, photo by smalltowngirl

I’m harvesting 5-6 good-sized tomatoes each day, and have made both homemade salsa and homemade tomatoe sauce this weekend as a result. This bowl of tomatoes is two days’ harvest:

Harvest, photo by smalltowngirl

My salsa was lovely, and my pizza wasn’t bad, either. I used a pre-made whole wheat crust, with garden tomatoes, mushrooms, seasonings, and cheese (I didn’t have mozerella, so this I used what I had, which was cheddar jack).

Homemade Pizza, photo by smalltowngirl

I can say with all honesty that planting a garden was one of the best things I did for myself all summer. I’ve loved watching the garden grow throughout the summer, from several tiny plants to huge plants standing taller than my 5’4″ head.

Harvesting vegetables from the garden brings such satisfaction, and eating what I harvest is the best part! There’s nothing like cooking a meal based on what my garden gives me each day. Life is good, friendly readers. Life is good.

Zucchini the Size of Smalltowngirl's Head, photo by smalltowngirl

What else was there to do with this giant zucchini, then, but bake homemade half white/half wheat flour zucchini bread?

mmmmmm…..

Mmmmm, bread and photo of bread by smalltowngirl

In looking at Brooklyn blogs tonight, I found this one, talking about Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where I worked. There’s a photo and a short blurb about a 70 year old man who loves BBG and loves Facebook. It then talks about BBG’s Facebook Group, which I started. Something I did in my job at BBG created joy in the lives of this man and his wife.

Maybe I left my mark in Brooklyn, after all.

smalltowngirl at work at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, summer 2008

Much to my delight, there are already green peppers the size of my thumbs and tomatoes the size of golf balls. The berries have me the most excited, though. My “golden raspberries” are looking suspiciously like blackberries, and my blueberries are growing, though they’re still green.

At the close of a week that’s been peppered with questions and concern, watching my little berries grow renews my belief that all things do grow and change. My hope is restored by these little green miracle plants that are becoming fruits and vegetables right before my eyes.

The thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that I have a very un-green thumb. It’s true. I’m notorious for not being able to keep plants alive. That said, maybe my little growing garden helps build your faith a little bit, too.

Garden, photo by smalltowngirl

Now that I’m back in Missouri, where there’s no shortage of land to plant on, I’ve been working with my parents to plant a garden.

Growing up, we grew strawberries, tomatos, cherry tomatos, cucumbers, and a few green peppers. This year we planted all but the strawberries, as well as crooken neck and zuchinni squash, blueberries, golden raspberries, and lettuce.

I’m excited to cultivate life this summer, and to do my part where sustainability is concerned. Walking into the backyard for lettuce will certainly leave a smaller carbon footprint than driving 4 miles to the grocery store to purchase lettuce that’s been shipped in from far away.

Are you gardening this summer? 

I saw our little tiny tomatos and berries as a good excuse to practice taking super-macro photos this afternoon. Here’s what I came up with:

Beginning of Blueberries, photo by smalltowngirl

Beginnings of raspberries, photo by smalltowngirl

tiny lil tomater, photo by smalltowngirl