The Back 40

Spring has finally arrived, blustery winds and all, so it's time to go outside and take a look at how the back forty has survived the winter.

Being an urban gardener is not easy; that back forty is only the back forty feet. Every last inch of earth is precious; each summer we scrutinize the lawn to see if another six inches can be spared to grow more tomatoes or beans. Our local neighbourhood watch wondered last year while leaning over our mutual fence if we were planning to keep any lawn?!

Personally I could do without the seeding, fertilizing and mowing that maintaining a lawn involves, even if it is dearest hubby doing the work. It's so much better to have plump ripe tomatoes, crisp lettuce and maybe a zucchini or two.

Speaking of zucchinis, last year dearest hubby decided that we should grow zucchini--not just one, not two, but four! Now if you know much about zucchinis, you could call them the monsters that ate Manhattan. They start out all innocent, just little green leaves, all cute and perky. Then somewhere along the way, they morph into monsters that take over and keep growing and growing and growing... not to mention that they are masters of reproduction! Bunnies have nothing on them, believe me...

We have more recipes for zucchini than even Julia Child! Secretly I am hoping that I can distract D.H. this year by dangling the prospect of spaghetti squash, or more tomatoes, maybe, in front of him. No, better yet, I have an idea...

Here, kitty, kitty... You know that piece of garden you used as a litter box last year from which we kept chasing you off... welcome to it! Make yourself at home! Just make sure you aim for the dark green leaves right over there...