If you have a garden, you know that it yields hair-pulling and frustration, pride and wonder in equal measure—often, all in the same growing season. So I hope you’ll excuse a little bit of the latter [with emphasis on the pride part].

I took these photos about 2 weeks ago, and already the garden has changed: The chard is plush, the garlic is sending out scapes (want to know how to grow your own garlic this fall?), the arugula has bolted and been re-seeded. I’ve planted green beans and another round of Tom Thumb lettuce, and potted up my starts of zucchini, a ‘patio’ variety that I’m hoping is as compact as advertised, lest my already crowded vegetable bed get completely overrun.

From top to bottom: garlic, arugula, Tom Thumb lettuce, Chardonnay grape (just for shizzles), mixed flowers.