Maybe it is just me, but the other day when some new friends came by and started talking about gardening, I was reluctant to bring them back around the house to show them my vegetable garden. This picture says it all:
Not exactly a veggie gardener's pride and joy -- the transitional ugly garden
We are harvesting and cleaning up summer veggies that were done and transitioning to our fall garden. In other words, I had a very unimpressive, pathetic-looking, veg garden. If you pick the right angle in the height of the summer, I am sure parts of my garden could make Horticulture Magazine or maybe even Gardening How-To Magazine from the National Home Gardening Club. But as plants die back and we taper off watering the melons to get them to sweeten, there is nothing pretty about our garden.
Our melon patch in mid-July on the left vs. late Aug. on the right
It is an Ugly Veg Garden … that only a gardener could love 
Bush Beans in mid-July to the left vs. late Aug. to the right
Once I realized my new friends were true gardeners, we all went back and visited my ugly garden. He confessed that his garden was ugly, too! And think about it. Is an ugly vegetable garden all that bad? Not when you’re harvesting the fruits of your summer labors!
Share your pics and a story about your ugly veg garden and we will add them to our Wall of Ugly Gardens!
P.S.
Just ran across this topical children’s book called The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin. We haven’t read it yet, but it’s got several 5-star reviews on Amazon.
It finally happened. 
