I have been trying to grow vegetables in my yard but have not been having a whole lot of luck.  I think my tomato plants were stricken with some kind of a black spot disease so I pulled out all the tomato plants and am taking a break from growing tomatoes for a while.  My salad peppers are finally coming out and I’ll have a few peppers ready soon.  My Thai basil plant is alive but seems to be taking a while to thrive.  I’m not sure if the black spot disease from the tomatoes transferred to the basil.  Some of the leaves have some black spots on them.  On the other side of my yard, I have wing beans and bittermelon.  I overfertilized them a few weeks ago and killed off some of them and they are now coming back.  I guess more is not better when it comes to fertilizer.  One of the areas I have not been fertilizing is the pineapple patch.  I just checked it and was surprised to see that two of the pineapple plants are fruiting!  How long do pineapples take to grow?  These plants have been growing for a long time!

My friend Kerri has a lemon tree in her yard. She is a better backyard gardener than I am and shared some of her lemons with me.

Other than staying hydrated with chilled lemon water, I decided to make a summer tomato,  crab, and avocado salad.

Summer Tomato,  Crab, and Avocado Salad

Ingredients
12 oz lump crab meat
3-4 Roma tomatoes
1 avocado, diced
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 t minced garlic
juice of 1 large lemon
2 T EVOO
lots of cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
tortilla chips for serving or lettuce if you want to make a salad.

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine onion, garlic, lemon juice, cilantro, tomato, olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Add crab meat and avocado and gently toss.
3. Taste and adjust lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste.
4. Chill and serve

So simple and tasty.  You can serve this with tortilla chips, crackers, or on a bed of lettuce. I made it for my daughter and her friend when they came to our house after school to do homework one day.  Living Hilo Style.