I have a confession to make...

I am proud of myself for growing about six full-sized heads of lettuce in an apartment garden lot, as well as an assortment of other vegetables...but I am reluctant to harvest.

Not because I don't want to try my scrumptious homegrown vegetables (I do!) but because they're actually pretty beautiful and I would miss going out there every morning at dawn before my neighbors get up to check on them. I will miss watching the dew gather on the edges of the leaves, making them look like they've been accessorized with diamonds. I will miss "petting" my broccoli (I like to rub my finger on the little fuzzy tree part because the texture is so funky.)

I have alternating rows of green and purple cabbage (which is a lot more ornamental than I thought it would be) and the onions are about three and a half feet high now. The leeks...I don't know what the heck they're doing. They still look like little sprigs of wild onion, and not like anything remotely edible. The spinach looks like something out of Jurassic Park. And the Saladzillas are amazing, like big fluorescent green roses. So shoot me if I don't want to pull them up and demolish them for actual salad.

But the broccoli have broccoli heads! I am pretty sure the brussels sprouts are pretty close to budding out. And my strawberry plant has five (count 'em!) white blossoms, which means I will probably get five strawberries for the entire summer harvest.

It will make me sad when I have to pull it up and make a big farewell salad though. Sad but delicious.