Gurney's Catalog

I knew it was coming. I just didn't know when. I tried to resist, but it is too late now. I opened my mailbox and it was all over.
I have seen the promised summer to come. It is a summer filled with a zillion varieties of green beans and zinnias and purple carrots and cauliflower that looks like cheddar cheese and kohlrabi (whatever that is). Oh, yes--and there's more! Dripping yellow pears and bright red apples and ornamental peppers that look like Christmas lights will abound! Cilantro and parsley will live in harmony. Gardens will produce pumpkins large enough to hold a small child--or two! It is destined to be a beautiful summer until . . .
The weeds outgrow my plants and I cannot tell which to pull.
Bean leaf beetles not only attack our fields, but my tiny green bean plants as well.
I see a snake and decide to take a few weeks off from gardening.
We have a few windy 110 degree days.
I realize that the only time I can be in the garden is when the mosquitoes are at their worst.
My dog eats the strawberries.
The lawn mower gets a little too close to the onion plants.
I swear I will never plant a garden again.

But--I have hope. I have seen the Gurney's Catalog, and I will plant on! I will have a beautiful, bountiful garden this year--for two or three days at least.