We absolutely LOVE having a garden!  We loved our herb garden instantaneously, and for the last month we've been able to enjoy everything else that is growing in our backyard!  There is something unbelievably satisfying about watching something you've planted from a seed (or a start) take root, grow and bear fruit or flowers.  We've been childishly excited each time we've noticed our first cucumber, zucchini, pepper, artichoke, strawberry, green bean, tomato or carrot top.  It's definitely been a highlight of home ownership.

When we got back from Ohio, our zucchini had gone nuts. We've had some incredibly LARGE zucchini come off our zucchini plant.  One of which I think could have contended for breaking some sort of record.  It was as long (and nearly as round) as Lee's thigh.  We've had to get creative with how to use them all:  zucchini bread (several batches), a zucchini augratin (with goat cheese and pecorino - delish!), grilled zucchini and multiple pasta dishes with zucchini and lots of other good things.  We planted seven tomato plants, four of which grew so fast and so tall that they topped the fence.  We have been loving the little tomatoes that we harvest every day.  Unfortunately, we're afraid we won't get to enjoy them as long as we had intended to-- they are suffering from some sad, sad disease (we think they caught it from the soil) and are slowly dying.  But, until then, we LOVE our salads with garden carrots, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.   And our mint ice cream is some of the best now that we can use the mint from our own backyard.  We're looking forward to plucking off the few artichokes that are nearly ready to eat - we didn't think we'd get such a great artichoke harvest its first year.

We just ♥ having a garden and we're already excited about next summer and what we will plant more of.

(Our sunflowers have also topped the fence line and are looking gorgeous!  I can't get enough color!)