The summer garden has been started!  It’s like the first day of school putting the tomato starts out there – all by themselves and exposed to the elements and the harsh, cruel world.  I worried about them, but they survived the latest gusty cold front and are putting on some new growth already.  The eggplants had a close scrape.  The sprinkler was badly adjusted, and they weren’t watered in well enough, but even they seem to have recovered and are settling in nicely.

We also got a crazy corkscrew carrot from the winter garden!  I still can’t believe how nice the carrots are this year.  They look like sumo wrestlers compared to the usual pencil-thin-and-nubbly ones we’ve always grown.

I really want to grow all of our vegetables this year.  Organic vegetables these days are so freaking expensive, and now that I’ve been spoiled by having a lot of garden fresh vegetables, I can hardly even bring myself to eat the ones in the store.  They are so soggy and over-handled, and such a far cry from being able to be simply sauteed in butter with salt and pepper to bring out their flavor, because there just isn’t much there to bring out.  After a season of mostly store veggies, with occasional bunches of broccoli, arugula and greens from the garden – I’m inspired!