green beans in colanderThe Chinese believe that everything in life has Yin and Yang aspects, and I’ve certainly found this to be true of gardening. Sometimes the garden can give you bountiful gifts, like a whole colander full of green beans you find hiding under the leaves.

But for every bountiful harvest, there seems to be an equal numbers of garden heartbreaks. This year I planted four rows of swiss chard, and every bit has been eaten down to the stalks. (I have no idea what is eating my chard like this; would love to hear from anyone who has thoughts about what it might be.)

Of course, if you look hard enough you can find a kind of savage beauty even in garden destruction.

Some plants bring more pleasure than you ever imagined, like these Flying Saucer Squash that turned out to be beautifully multi-colored. (I can imagine they’ll make a lovely Raw Summer Squash Salad.)

It is heartbreaking when plants don’t flourish, and there’s no apparent reason. (This is one of two Celebrity tomatoes side-by-side and the other one is about three times the size.)

Sometimes the plants give it their all and manage to produce good things, even if they aren’t 100% healthy!

If you look for it, you can see the future in your garden, and when I look at this Roma Tomato plant, I’m seeing Slow Roasted Tomatoes.

And when you look at your plants and see that Green Zebra Tomatoes are well on the way to ripeness, you forget all the garden heartbreak and only think of the pleasure to come.

What kind of uplifting and heartbreaking things are happening in your garden this year?

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