Unexpected Beauty

This last summer, my boys and I finally broke our streak of neglected gardens from years past. Sadly, I can't say the same about our lawn, but our garden was really rockin' this year. I picked a few tomato plants and an abundance of basil, sage, rosemary, oregano, cilantro, and mint. I let each of the boys pick their own plant. My oldest picked a Santa Fe pepper. My middle son picked a six pack of broccoli, the only vegetable we can get him to eat. My youngest picked watermelon. My theory was that they would be excited about watering and weeding while I was at work. I think they remembered to water about three times in the first two weeks. After that, it became my lunch hour chore. Nevertheless, the garden persevered.

We had an early girl tomato plant and an orange cherry tomato plant that both got taller than me. I think only two watermelon were ever ripe enough to consume. One watermelon over ripened on the vine until it burst open, and our dog rolled around in it's rotting juices in the mud. Lovely. The Santa Fe peppers produced enough for salsa and chili all summer. The broccoli almost died from an infestation of flea beetles, but when it finally made it, it kept going and going.

After the first frost, I stopped harvesting the broccoli and let it flower. I had never seen broccoli plants come to full bloom. The flowers are pretty, but even more exciting was the dozens of honey bees that have been swarming around them. Yesterday, I was quite hypnotized by them, so I took some very amateur photos. Here's one of the close-ups. I would love to know where the hive is. Maybe I missed my calling as a bee keeper. If any honey producers in the area notice a slight broccoli flavor to the next batch of honey, give me a call. Maybe my middle child would eat broccoli flavored honey.