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!