First Lemon Cucumber

Harvested my first lemon cucumber yesterday. It was a little smaller than I know lemon cukes can grow, but the color screamed “ripe” at me. I cut it in half and peeled one of the halves. The outermost eighth-inch or less was still a little harder than the rest, but I think if I waited longer, the center would have been too mushy and the seeds too large. The flavor was excellent cucumber!

 

Meanwhile, my peas grace me with abundance. I munch pea pods raw for spontaneous snacks and in salads. Or I blanch them just for seconds until bright green, but still crunchy, to bring out the sweetness. And a stir fry with a handful thrown in at the end adds such satisfying homegrown zest. To plant, nurture, harvest and eat from my garden – in these moments life is complete, at peace, perfect.

Vanquishing the blackberry

We cut down the blackberry canes on Friday. Even those with flowers.

My friend who helped me grieved over the lost potential of berries. I fear I diminished myself in his eyes by viewing this food source as a marauding Visigoth. Nonetheless, he energetically attacked with loppers and pruners, dismembering and purging massive tangles, some 15 feet or more long. We extricated twisted canes from fragrant mock orange, Western hazelnut, viburnum, rhododendron and lilac. Resisting, thin branch ends whipped around, grabbing us in thorny holds.

When the yard waste can was stuffed to capacity, we piled the brambles on the lawn. The curving canes that once held captive the western border of the garden are today a spiny shipwreck, sharp brambles still guarding a non-existent cargo.

Caution: active thorns!