I dream of gardens. I want a garden so bad it hurts. A big, old fashioned victory garden with a bean tent, and trellises of cucumbers and zucchinis, tangled pumpkin and watermelon vines along the ground, and bright red tomatoes ripe all summer long. You know, something like this one:

Look how amazing it is!

Then come the dreams of chutneys and relishes, homemade bread-n-butters and dills, quick frozen tomatoes and jars of salsa and sauce.

Then comes reality. Sigh!

In New York I magically managed a small garden. The studio I rented had a small garden plot, which I filled with tomatoes, herbs, lettuces and cukes. The tomatoes generally did pretty well. So did the herbs. I think in total I harvested 2-3 cucumbers in 3 years, and half a head of lettuce. Queens is not conducive to gardening. Also that patio only got a smidgen of sunlight each day.

B took this picture last summer, in our tiny city garden. The plot was maybe 3′ x 6′?

We won’t have the space for a real backyard garden until next spring. As a placeholder, we picked up some pots at Menards, and B built me a perfectly-sized patio planter. Just like a built-in should, it looks like it is part of our patio. Isn’t he the best?

I can’t wait to start planting.