Summer Greens Emerge at the Community Garden

It's a gardener's delight this time of year! Community gardens that were bare two months ago are now rich with greens, vegetables, herbs and sunflowers. I am back from a 2+ week culinary tour of Florence, Tuscany and Rome -- more on that below -- and I am eager to see how the garden fares. I drive to Bible Street Community Garden in Cos Cob, CT, with my almost-five grandniece, Ceci. The dirt road is quiet, and we hear only sounds of turkeys and the rustle of hidden fawns. 

I am thrilled to see my garden plot is flourishing. 

The garden goes green, zucchinis blossom,
lushness takes over. Mini-gardener Ceci has a ball

• Arugula heads fill out, mutant radishes call for picking, fresh scallions grow tall, cucumber vines spread, basil takes hold, zucchinis blossom, and tomatoes and peppers reach skyward. 

• Crouching at the edge of the garden bed (the hill towns of Italy took their toll on my knees), I cull weeds, stake the peppers and cucumbers, place metal spirals around the tomatoes and tie up zucchini so stalks grow upward. 

• This is my first year of zucchini, and they are starting to spread and grow blossoms. One zucchini, about four inches, peeks though the stalks. My first! So proud. 

• This year I mixed seedlings bought from the community garden with seedlings grown at home and seeds sown directly in the plot. The community seedlings -- tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini -- are a foot taller than others and looking mature. Home-grown seedlings are not as tall, but they are healthy and catching up. Seed-planted basil stand tall enough so as not to confused with weeds.

I roughly plot out my plantings

The community garden hosts an array of herbs, lettuces, vegetables and flowers. Some gardeners' have tomatoes already forming (yellow flowers show up on mine, so there's hope). Others have sunflowers shooting up (July is the month for sunflowers), bean towers spitting out tendrils, and dill weed running riot. A few gardeners plant their vegetables in crisp rows, like soldiers. Other gardeners plant vegetables wherever space opens up. I am part of the latter camp: I track the items in a rough layout so I can remember what grows where. 

Using my vegetable bag I collect the first crop of the season. I harvest fresh arugula, scallions, basil and radishes and I savor them with freshly milled olive oil and balsamic vinegar brought back from Ravagni in Anghiari, Italy. Delicious! 

Diane and PJ Morello 
in Talamello in Emilia-Romagna

A final note: Our late-spring trip to Italy was filled with cooking classes, pasta making, bread baking and dessert making. For six days we visited hill towns in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Les Marches. We learned how to make tortellini, stuffed olives (to die for), pizza, wine, prosciutto, gelato, olive oil and truffle paste. Best of all, we met other foodies who enjoy cooking, sipping, tasting and traveling as much as we do. If you want to take a culinary trip like this, check out Rustico Cooking for their Italy culinary trips. Micol and Dino are wonderful chefs and trip arrangers. 

Back to community gardening: How are your gardens doing? What veggies are new in your plots? Which veggies or herbs are starting to flower and mature? What's ready to harvest?

Ciao for now! 

-- Your intrepid garden blogger, Diane Tunick Morello