Chef's Choice: Fresh from the garden

'Many hands make light work," a fellow gardener reminded me recently. One look out my window at our vegetable garden tells me this old adage lives on for good reason.

I've had a sizable garden on the lot next to my house for about four years. The first couple of years I tilled, sowed, weeded and harvested on my own. Admittedly, ambition and excitement far exceeded prudence and good planning. By July, I was overwhelmed by the relentless proliferation of weeds and was elbow-deep in baseball-bat-sized squash and zucchini, most of which went to the Lighthouse Shelter or my neighbors.

Eventually, I learned how to...