Our vegetable garden's cool weather crops are all in.

The onions went in before last weekend's rain, planted after a full day of other gardening Friday, because I knew a busy weekend and soggy weather would prevent planting after that.

Except for a second planting of peas, the vegetable garden won't need much work until Memorial Day weekend, when the tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cucumber, beans, sweet potatoes and squash will go in.

I feel like I am in pretty good shape, but I did have a bit of jealousy this morning. Nancy and I were visiting a friend, and the friend gave us a nice head of lettuce, grown in the ground but with a greenhouse covering. Maybe we should get one of those, I thought. But there is the issue of time. And return on investment.

Return on investment, by the way, is the subject of my column in this Sunday's paper. What vegetables should you plant if your purpose in gardening is to save money?

Just to let you know, I grow three vegetables that two extension agent experts – Dick Brzozowski and David Handley – said make no commercial sense for a home gardener to grow.

But I have always said that I garden because I enjoy it, not because I expect to save money. I just like watching things grow and eating our own food. But maybe I will cut back in some areas.

Oh, yes. Sorry about the lack of pictures. We attended our granddaughter's first birthday celebration in Medford, Mass., over the weekend and left the camera behind. It's on its way back.

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