Sunflowers and Cornstalks

If you're of a certain age, you'll remember that TV show - Green Acres. A city slicker banker and his perfecty-put together wife, move to the country to live among nature's abundance. The banker becomes a farmer, growing his own crops and raising livestock, and most of the time he's dressed in a white shirt and tie, vest and dress pants - just like he was back at the bank! The wife wears her chiffon poignoir sets, with maribou trim and dainty little heels to match. Ah, farming at its finest!

What brought that oldie-but-goodie TV show to mind was something my sister, Penny, said to me when I mentioned I had tomatoes, corn, squash, sunflowers, zucchini, and bell peppers growing along the side of my house - she said it reminded her of Green Acres! City folk moved to the country to take up farming. And she's right - I love growing vegetables, flowers, herbs, grapes - anything that will sprout and flourish. And although I've enjoyed living in big cities over the course of my lifetime, nothing about a big city comes close to the wide open spaces of country living. After I get home from work and take care of the kittens' needs, I go outside with a frosty glass of iced tea, and water my crops. It takes me about 45 minutes to give everything a cool, long drink of water, and then I "inspect" each plant for bad bugs and new growth. The cherry tomatoes almost always have a ripened tomato that I instantly munch on while I'm walking "the field", and each day, I see the yellow squash get larger, the corn get taller, and the blossoms of the zucchini begin to turn. I combat the devious squash bug who completely destroyed my pumpkins last Fall, and now I'm practicing "search and destroy tactics" to rid my crops of that horrible insect. On my way back and forth from the Humane Society, I pass by fields of much bigger, much greener corn and I must admit I have "corn envy" - my stalks aspire to look as healthy and vibrant as those acres!

I love my garden, and it loves me back by giving me a bounty of vegetables that I hope will at least end up in a stir fry within the next few weeks! Start small, dream big - and you, too, will have a great summer garden !