I hate to admit that his year’s garden is about 180 degrees from the success of last year’s.

Nothing came up like I had hoped - germination was sparce, growing has been slow, and the weeds got the better of me. We had a cold May, but some nice rainy days in June - albeit a bit cool. This makes great “living” weather, but not as great growing conditions for heat loving plants.

All in all - I’m glad I have a grocery store nearby! I don’t know if I’ll have any pumpkins to speak of - though I still have frozen and dried pumpkin from last year.

BUT, I have 12 zucchini plants, which I planted “just for fun”. My husband does NOT like zucchini - and while it is “okay” for me - I may not prepare a lot of it “just for myself” - though, of course, I might. I like it stir-fried with onions and garlic. I also like zucchini bread but I like pumpkin bread better. I have pumpkin…

I went over to the garden for the first time in a couple of weeks. I picked the first of the zucchini when I noticed there were some ready. I had to water today - also the first time since early June as we’ve had a lot of rain this summer so far. It was about 80F and for us, that’s “hot”. Laugh if you will.

I gave them all away within a couple of hours of bringing them to the house though! I found people through our “zero waste” group.

All 12 of them. With 12 nice sized plants and some warm weather, I should have more than I know what to do with in a week or so.

Some of you ask, “Why do you plant something you don’t want to eat?”

Are you asking that? Really?

And you call yourself a quilter. Right? Hmm.

Some of you reading this may not even have ONE quilt that you’ve made “for yourself”. So “why do you make a quilt you aren’t going to use?” Seems like a similar question to me!

For someone else, of course!!!

I love to use this kind of thing as a “neighborhood building exercise.” Zucchini are probably some of the easiest things to grow that exist. I can pick them and give them away to people who DO want them. They think it’s great - and I know they are grown in a healthy way, so it’s a win/win situation. I have enjoyed “growing them” (as if I actually grew them :) LOL) and they enjoy eating them.

The neighbor on the other side of the fence from the garden loves them. Next time I pick, I’ll put some in a bag and put them over her fence handle for her.

But that’s all I’ve got to show you. My earliest planting of corn is pitiful - only a few plants came up. My second planting of corn was better, but still not good germination - nothing at all like last year. So, no pictures of that mess. Sorry. Not going there. Not at this time. The only thing worth a photo is this zucchini!

So…let me ask you - if you like zucchini - how do you fix it?

Thanks for reading along with me today!

Have a great day wherever in the world you are reading this!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!