This is no ordinary egg.

2 inches in length, it's my first Japanese white eggplant!














My yellow wax beans (technically pencil pod black wax beans) are coming up! I took master gardener Jenks Farmer's advice in one of his recent columns at The Shop Tart, and I did indeed put them everywhere!

Unfortunately, a bunch of revived poison ivy is also coming up.

Any tips on removing poison ivy without resorting to Roundup herbicide?

I don't want to use herbicide near my awesome front yard raised garden -- look at how great it's doing!

This cucumber is going to end up in a pitcher of ice water later this afternoon, I suspect.

Although next year I'm going to pick a different type of cuke, for the seeds in these "Burpless Hybrid Cucumber" fruits are really big and woody.








Natural pest repellents like nasturtiums have been doing their job pretty well, I think! And they are so pretty.

See those petunias? They are totally protecting my parsley. (Or is that cilantro?)

Luffa gourd! I'm growing my own loofah sponges. I'll let you know how it goes!

In the upper right corner, that's borage, a cucumbery, flowering plant that I've planted all over my gardens to deter pests, per the organic gardening books I've been consulting.

Not sure if I will be able to get the salt out of these teensy, tiny seashells, but I collected about 5 gallons of them to use as a calcium-rich, sharp-edged (and therefore slug repellent) mulch.

Any advice?









My lil sideyard patch is kicking out the yellow wax bean jams.

These early jalapenos are indeed early, and will end up in a salsa soon!

 Yay, my first black zucchini!

Getting very stoked for these pimientos de padron.

The catnip is going bonkers! It's also a known natural insect deterrent.

Not sure what's up with the main stem of my white pattypan squash, though...anyone know what this is?

The plant is otherwise producing lots of leaves and flowers, and starting a few fruits, although I found two babies had rotted and fallen off their stems. Hm.

On a cheerier note, these supersweet 100 cherry tomatoes are delicious!

And my green shiso leaf (perilla) is taking off. Tastes bright, green, herbaceous, and I have no idea what to do with it besides put it in a spicy tuna roll. Ideas?

I have extra plants that I grew from seed if anyone wants one -- let me know!









I also have some extra sweet Genovese basil plants as well as extra Brandywine tomato and supersweet 100 cherry tomato plants -- hit me up!

The lemongrass and citronella are doing magnificently.

At the beach last week, I chopped up a frond of lemongrass and added it to a saute/soup of ginger, garlic, local shrimp, coconut milk, lime juice, chilies, etc., which was pretty fab, I gotta say!

The epazote seeds I planted are *finally* coming up. Or at least I *think* they're epazote...

My first cleome (spider flower) blossom! Grown from seed! Woo-hoo!














And check out my hen and chicks! Hi guys. You're succulent. You're cute.

The early summer garden is a total delight!

Can't wait to see what happens next.