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!

Only a week remains before the summer solstice, but I hardly need a calendar to tell me that; it’s written all over the garden. Lettuce heads that didn’t get harvested in time have begun to grow upward rather than outward, sending up tall flowering stalks in the heat. The pea vines, having enjoyed a good two weeks of peak production, now look tired and yellow. And the radishes, too, will soon grow bitter and pithy in the long, warm days.

But the summer vegetables – now is their time to shine. The summer squash plants already threaten to spill over the edges of their beds, and tiny zucchini lengthen by the day at the base of large, golden blossoms. Though the cucamelon vines have a bit of growing to do yet before they put on flowers, I’ve spotted at least one miniscule slicing cucumber. And the tomatoes! The cherry tomato vines are covered in big clusters of little yellow blooms, and the early tomato vines already bear small green fruits.

So you might see zucchini on the table in a week or two, and perpetual spinach chard will begin to replace the spring greens. For now, though, let’s savor the flavors of spring. The final spring plantings of lettuce and radishes still wait crisp and sweet in the beds, and the peas have one last crop waiting to be picked. Come to the Broadway Community Market this Saturday to find:

• sugar snap peas
• radishes
• lettuce
• kale
• chard (maybe!)
• garlic salt
• crocheted items

Don’t forget: this Sunday is Father’s Day! Support local small businesses at the Broadway Community Market and find unique, heartfelt gifts for the father figures in your life. Plus, every purchase at the market this month earns you an entry into a weekly drawing and the grand-prize drawing at the end of June!

See you at the market!