Jon makes the world’s best sandwiches. He drizzles olive oil on mini baguettes, warms them up in the oven and then stuffs the little loaves with provolone, cheddar, spicy pickled peppers and vegetables from the garden. We like to take them on picnics and to the Fremont Outdoor Movie.

He usually wraps the sandwiches up in parchment or plastic wrap, but I love the ideas of using these reusable sandwich bags from Lil’ Adi instead. The super cute cotton bags are lined with water and stain-resistant nylon and are machine washable. Brilliant!

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We’re headed to the beach (with a few of Jon’s sandwiches stowed in the cooler), but I’ll be back next week with recipes for garlic scape pesto and strawberry lavender lemondade.

I’ve got tomatoes! Hooray! I just noticed them while I was watering this morning. So far ‘White Currant’, ‘Black Cherry’, ‘Green Grape’, ‘Urbikany’, and ‘Principe Borghese’ have set fruit. Apparently I’m not the only one who has been enjoying all this sunshine!

I’m especially excited for ‘Green Grape’, ‘White Currant’ and ‘Black Cherry’ to ripen so I can make Pasta with Citrusy Tomatoes. It’s so good!

This simple trellising project comes courtesy of Jeanette Richoux, a really fabulous gardener in Port Townsend, Washington. Jeanette and her husband Howard grow an astounding amount of food in their terraced hillside garden. They have raspberries, espaliered grapes and figs, and tons and tons of vegetables.

Like me, Jeanette loves to grow ‘Trombetta’—an heirloom Italian summer squash that climbs, or in the case of Jeanette’s garden, cascades. To make the most of their terraces, Howard built  this simple wooden frame and then stapled heavy duty plastic deer fencing over it. To install the trellis, they just prop it up against the terrace. The trellis provides support to the ‘Trombetta’ vines and makes it easy for them to scramble down.

I think this trellis would work equally well fitted with a triple layer of bird netting or even chicken wire and could be used to grow ‘Trombetta’, cucumbers, pumpkins, and winter squash off a rockery or out of a large container. This year, I’m growing ‘Trombetta’ up my fence trellis and onto a wrought iron obelisk. If you haven’t grown it before, be sure to put this squash on your list for next year. The apostrophe-shaped fruit dangle like earrings off the plant and have a really mild flavor. I like ‘Trombetta’ grilled, but you can steam, saute, and make zucchini pancakes with it, too. Yum!