The more years I spend tending a garden, the more I’m starting to realize that gardening is definitely a long-term sport. Gardeners may measure successes in seasons (“This was such a great year for my tomatoes!”) but the true value of a garden’s skill isn’t defined over one six month period of time. The first year we had a garden, our tomatoes produced like gang-busters, but I only got one green pepper out of three plants. I thought to myself, “Wow, I guess it’s just that I can’t grown green peppers.” Now, with a few years of gardening under my belt, I’ve realized the correct sentiment is actually, “Wow, that was a really bad year for peppers.”

So thus goes the tale of our zucchini plants. Two years ago, in the exact same place in the garden, our vine-y zucchini plants produced pounds and pounds of fruit. We couldn’t keep up with it all. This year? We haven’t gotten a single zucchini off of our plants.

But the truth is, as much as you want to think you have control as a gardener, you are actually just one, teeny, tiny piece of a whole lot of other pieces that have to come together to make a successful vegetable. So, a few weeks ago, we stopped fighting the months-long fight against blossom-end rot and just ended up pulling out our zucchini plants.

Sad, but thankfully, our CSA has kept us fully stocked...