We had our first salad of the year made with a full-size homegrown tomato just yesterday. The first one of the year is something we note with pleasure, though not religious significance.

The cherry tomatoes have been coming in for a while now - maybe two weeks. I am trying a new kind, "Sweet and Neat," and they are working out well. The fruit is shaped like an eggplant and is 1.5 inches long, so I don't get tired of plucking dozens of tiny fruits.

Yesterday I pulled elm, maple and redbud seedlings out of my beds. Do you suppose they represent the Dark Side of Nature?