by Lynne Conte

Created on: February 17, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

Garden experience since a child has always been fascinating to me. Even though I am one of those people who just can not keep houseplants alive, I always managed to nourish my parents vegetablegarden in a small town in Massachusetts. My parents every year during the spring planted tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash, peppers, green beans and eggplant seeds. There is nothing better than fresh vegetables, so I had fun with the hose watering the vegetables to keep them alive and I watched them grow.

My parents were boaters and their hobby was fishing. As I was older to say home by myself, I always took care of the garden. We would enjoy fresh tomatoes with fresh scallops, lobster and fish that was caught when Thelma and Gene (parents) adventure to Westport, Massachusetts where they had their boat docked.

The tomatoes grew nicely big, red and juicy. I would make Italian gravy known as spaghetti sauce squishing the tomatoes with my hands making one of the best Italian gravy in town. Left over Italian gravy was absolutely delicious over the eggplant also grown from the family garden. Eggplant can be made with the skin on or off, but like potatoes, skin on has many vitamins and is very healthytoeat.

Another way eggplant was made, lightly cooked in olive oil with other homegrownvegetables, such as, summer and zucchini squash, peppers and store bought onions with seasonings for taste. This was a vegetable dish that flavored any meat, chicken or fish. Nevertheless, baked eggplant parmesan made with provolone cheese was my favorite dish prepared from the garden. My second favorite dish was homemade stuffzucchini.

Preparation to make stuff zucchini is to cut the vegetable in half the long way, take the vegetableseeds out and put to one-side. Or while cutting the zucchini, already have saute onions, peppers from the garden and Italian sausage cooking while steaming white rice or a rice of your choice. Once rice, onions, peppers and sausage are cooked, mixed together adding left over Italian gravy from the homegrown tomatoes prepared a few days ago. Leftovers are always tasty because ingredients mix in together. Once you have all ingredients mixed well, fill (stuff) the mixture into the zucchini, then bake covered at 350 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes or until zucchini is soft.

The soil in our backyard, in a small town in Massachusetts, must have been very fertile because the zucchini would grow big making stuffed zucchini nice and fulfilling. The same process as making stuffed zucchini is prepared for stuff peppers, just cut the top off the greenpeppers and clean out the seeds inside, then stuff, bake 350 covered for 30 minutes or until peppers are soft. Like the stuff zucchini, add a little wate to the bottom of the baking pan or dish to keep moist. DO NOT add too much water.

There are many, many recipes in which can be found on-line and recipe books. Vegetable gardens always make great salads to go with any meal or to make as a meal by itself.

I always wondered why I could not keep houseplants alive and why I have fake plants throuhout my homestead when I could grow juicy red tomatoes, healthy eggplant and big zucchini. Today, I do not have a garden, but the remembrance of maintaining Thelma and Gene's small vegetable garden is a memory and I do buy fresh vegetables and fruit often.

The secret to a good homegrown garden - fresh fertile soil, sun for energy and plenty of water never letting the soil dry. Cover the garden with a net to keep small wild animals out and weed your garden on a regular basis.

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