The ‘Sunset Celebration’ roses above were my treasured “harvest” this week. They don’t grow in my vegetable garden but their exuberance and fragrance cheered me yesterday as I made the bouquet. You’ll understand the reasons at the end of this post.

The artichokes grow larger and more succulent with the warm spring days. We share one at dinner every other night. The Italian purple artichokes should be coming on as these finish.

The arugula quickly progresses from the baby state to larger leaves these days. My salads are usually half arugula. I’m quick to cut it for anyone who likes arugula.

Favorite garden salad ingredients added to the greens lately are celery, carrots, scallions, kumquats and radishes.

I finally extracted the broccoli plants to make room for tomatoes. Usually they require removal before this as aphids overtake them. This year only one of the ten had evidence of them. I encourage hover flies, soldiers in the pest wars by allowing small flowers of mustard and arugula nearby. The bachelor buttons were also right next to the broccoli. The hover flies prefer the tiny flowers of herbs and the carrot family.

By this point the flowerlets were very small but perfect for soups and casseroles so I blanched and froze four pints.

How we love strawberries. You knew that. ‘Seascape’ which is day-neutral, will continue to produce into September.

As I think about planting butternut squash, I’m reminded to use the last few harvested in the fall.

The ‘Black Magic’ kale is woven through with ‘Ruby Streaks’ mustard in flower and it too is free from aphids.

At least once a year I make this savory stew with butternut squash, kale, cranberry beans, red pepper, rosemary and green olives.

This is my favorite photo of Lucy, my garden companion. Though snapped five years ago, she yet retained that happy dog look. Here she’s asking “Are you coming to the garden?”

Lucy, our beloved Brittany departed this life last week just days before her 17th birthday. Someday cherished memories will overtake the sadness we feel now. You can read a tribute to her place in our lives at A Time to Say Goodbye.

You may enjoy seeing what other garden bloggers harvested last week at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.

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