The problem is the pests and disease. Tomatoes in particular (which are most of the vegetables we grow) seem so needy. I like them fine when they're young and undemanding, but then (about this time of year) they start getting mystery ailments and bug infestations. (Leaf-footed bug-babies! ~shudder~ And oh, how I loathe caterpillars! Even the ones I know will turn into "beautiful butterflies" kind of give me the creeps, but the pesty ones that live only to destroy? Ugh.)
Other vegetables are the same way. Squash are fun for a while, but then they too go into decline... Even the tough peppers from last year eventually became the hip new hang-out spot for all the local leaf-footed bugs, which is the best way (short of a huge wasps' nest or a den of snakes) of insuring that I will avoid an area at almost any cost.
I guess I can't forgive them for being short-lived annuals that need a lot more TLC than I'm willing to give in the hot humidity of summer... Maybe I should look into cool-weather vegetables for this area, instead.
And now Luna has developed a taste for tomatoes! (She had it last year, too, or maybe the year before that...) She goes outside, disappears (behind the garage, where the vegetables are out of sight from the house), and comes back smelling suspiciously of tomato plants. Circumstantial evidence? Hmm... Well, Donald's seen her eating cherry tomatoes right off the vine before, the little thief. ;o)
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Tomatoes:
Regular yellow squash (I think):
Tromboncino squash vines:
There are a few other things in the vegetable patch--onion chives, a young okra or two, some type of lettuce/mesclun mix, radishes-- but that's mostly it. I'm the most interested in the new (tromboncino) squash-- curious how it will perform and what the squash will taste like. It's been a little slow to start, but it's picking up the pace now that warmer weather is here.
