Farming

Although it is probably easier to grow vegetables in New Jersey, where the dirt is naturally sandy, and the weather milder; I have to say Chicago in the summer does pretty well. Last year we grew so much cabbage and broccoli we had to give some of it away, and it looks like this year crookneck squash may be on everyone's menu in the neighborhood. I'm getting a bowlful of black raspberries every day now:

As you can see, the squash plants are big:

There is a pepper, though I haven't had much luck with them in the past:

Some really terrible basil (I think the dirt here has too much clay in it). Also with bonus if blurry firefly:

And some pretty good parsley, probably because I had the wit to keep it in a pot:

I've got a struggling rosemary plant and maybe some onions--I wish I had started some spinach and peas earlier, but maybe next year. The weeds grow even faster than the "farm" plants and there are some tricks that we need to use, like keeping netting over the broccoli to discourage the cabbage butterflies. (If you don't, you get too many worms to easily pick out, and even if you boil them they are sort of off-putting on one's plate). I've got tomatoes but they are growing slowly. I also planted hollyhocks this year, and I hope to do more and foxgloves too, next year, now that I have  more sun in front. So obviously not much else is getting done around here--it's mostly digging, weeding and watering outside. I love summer :D