Picked Clean

When I visit other people's gardens, or look at their tables at the Farmer's Market, I am always jealous and depressed at how bad things look out at my place.  My produce is harvested the instant it is mature....and many times before! There is not a cucumber or tomato in the garden that is safe!  Just once it would be fun to see how big something could get.....

On the other hand...it feels so great to feed people, and to see kids picking vegetables and loving it. It's just hard to come to terms with having a garden that is always picked clean.

Broccoli heads:

Kale:

Zucchini:

Peapods:

Swiss Chard:

Lettuce:

 And Garlic Scapes....oh, how I mourn the loss of the Garlic Scapes..........

But then the eternally optimistic farmer inside of me says, "Whoa, wait a minute...look around you....there are more things maturing and the best is yet to come!"

More Broccoli heads and sprouts:

Cauliflower:

Radish pods:

More Peapods:

Raspberries:

Carrots....sweet, sweet, Carrots:

Fennel:

Leeks:

Cabbage:

More Zucchini:

Sunflowers:

Cucumbers:

And Tomatoes:

The U-pick garden is a well used little plot of ground.....it will never be a showcase garden. It's a place where kids step on plants and pick the wrong thing. It's a place where Carrots are picked when they are too small and Zucchinis don't reach foot long status. I will never win any blue ribbons at the fair or grace the cover of a glossy gardening magazine.....but I LOVE this little place......it feeds my heart and soul.