Kiss the Earth

How did you start your day today? Lucky me ... mine began at Chanticleer, where I hadn't been since opening day in April. That day was raw and rainy. Today was the opposite, just about the nicest a summer day could be.

The garden had lots of visitors ... a group of artists, families with young children, couples, senior groups and more. I headed straight for Doug Croft's vegetable and cutting gardens, one of many favorite spots here.

These sunflowers were outstanding, as cheerful as the day made me feel. My sunflowers at home are still only a few feet high. Doug's hint at what's to come.

He took a few minutes to show me around. The sugar snap peas are fading, so he's putting pole beans in. He's got beet seedlings growing and while it's late for sowing tomato seeds, he's put more baby tomatoes in. His lettuces are bolting but he's left the towers in the ground. "It's kind of fun to see the yellow flowers," he says.

Now I don't feel so bad. My lettuces are flowering to beat the band.
And I haven't ever grown - or eaten - kohlrabi, but these were beautiful. Wonder how they taste?

It's a garden in transition, Doug says. Cold season crops are out, warm season crops are in. And even though we think of lettuce as a cold weather crop, there are warm weather varieties available, he says. To increase the chances of their making it through a Philadelphia summer, he suggests planting them in the shadow of some tomatoes.

When he pointed to his little warm-weather lettuce seedlings, I didn't even see them at first. They're about a half-inch tall! In my garden, they'd probably get mistaken for a weed or smothered by one. But this garden's nearly perfect. (I say nearly, but I mean totally.)

The cutting garden is magnificent. Besides the sunflowers, Doug's got bright red lilies, clematis-covered arbors, helianthoides (a striking, tall yellow perennial), a cloud of white astilbe and so many more I can't even remember, all planted in rows.

Standing there under the warm sun of a brand new summer, I could think of no place I'd rather be.