‘Satsuki Madori’.

This is the name of the world’s all-time greatest, most delicious, productive, gorgeous cucumber (in my humble opinion). In the space of just 8 weeks, from a single plant, we’ve harvested 25 cucumbers. The skin is thin, deep, dark green, not too spiny, and never bitter. Slice into one of these babies and you’ll see bright white flesh that is crisp, sweet, and not too seedy.

I cannot get enough of these cucumbers, and it’s a good thing because we’ve got 3 in the fridge and more on the way. Here’s how we’ve eaten them:

Super fresh: Straight off the vine right in the garden. Yum!
Quick and simple: Cut into spears, drizzled with our best olive oil and sprinkled with good salt.
Sweet and Sour: Sliced paper thin and soaked in apple cider vinegar and sugar over night.
Sour and Spicy: Quickly pickled with slivered garlic, rice vinegar, chili oil, and ginger.
On the Rocks: Sliced into a Hendrick’s gin and tonic (in place of the lime)

I’m dreaming up a few more cucumber creations, but if you have a favorite way to eat or drink with them, let me know!

When I look out my office window it’s hard to believe that just four months ago our vegetable garden was a lawn! Now, instead of a healthy crop of grass and dandelions, we’ve got food! Tons of food! The butternut squash has scrambled off its trellis, snuck through a hole in the fence and is now marching steadily through the front side yard. The pole beans wound their way up their wire scaffolding, onto the phone line and are headed towards the roof. And the peppers have been a grand success…they are three feet tall and absolutely loaded with fruit.

Every chance I get, I pop outside and examine my rows of fall peas (they’ve germinated!), pop a cherry tomato in my mouth (they are finally ripening), and make a wish for a nice warm fall (otherwise I’m going to have a lot of green ‘Japanese Black Trifle’ tomatoes on my hands).

I’ve put together a little tour of my garden below, but I’ve got a proposition for all of you. I want you to send me some photos of your kitchen garden. I just know you guys have great gardens out there, and since I can’t visit them all in person (wouldn’t that be nice?), I want the next best thing: your stories and photos. So pop outside, take some pics, and drop me an email (info@digginfood.com) with jpgs of your veggies. In return, I’ll put together a digital garden tour!

Our super sturdy squash trellis

I like to hang out here and watch bees buzz around

Butternut squash dangle off our fence

Curved bamboo stakes support our peppers

Peppers provide a bit of shade for fall lettuces

Fresh dill for our cucumbers

Zinnias mix with fall broccoli and greens

My favorite flower for kitchen gardens

Jon and I just got back from an awesome adventure in Alaska. Our trip included classic Alaskan experiences (floating on rivers, hiking up mountains), but we also managed to squeeze in a little garden time, including a tour of the agriculture exhibits at the Alaska State Fair and a visit to the incredible vegetable gardens at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Palmer, Alaska. Now that we’re home, I thought I’d give you a little tour of a big Alaskan garden.

NOLS students stay at the Palmer camp on their way to and from mountaineering, sea kayaking, and backpacking courses, and they are lucky enough to eat fresh, organic vegetables grown right on the premises. Food scraps from the kitchen are composted or fed to the camp’s resident pigs…and they even raise and slaughter their own broiler chickens!

The NOLS Alaska garden features a gorgeous backdrop of mountains and huge rows of salad greens, broccoli, cabbage, beets, carrots, and rhubarb.

Peas line the fence of the salad garden, which includes incredible lettuces, arugula, and chard.

A hoop house keeps tomatoes, basil, and other culinary herbs toasty warm during the short growing season. I was definitely jealous to discover that this garden in Alaska had ripe tomatoes before me!

Even though the Alaskan summer is short and cool it has long, long days (almost 24 hours of light in June and July), which means that it’s possible to grow really big cool season crops like beets, turnips, cauliflower, and cabbage. At the state fair they have a whole section in the Agriculture exhibits devoted to enormous vegetables. While I have to admit that our encounter with a grizzly bear while hiking was certainly the most memorable part of the trip…seeing a 20 pound rutabaga was a close second!