My soon-to-be-ex-roommate (I'm moving in two weeks, to a place of my own) and I had corn on the cob as part of last night's dinner, and I mused out loud about that old saying regarding a promising corn crop: "knee-high by the Fourth of July."

I guess the phrase originated in the Midwest (as I did). Harvest by the Fourth of July? That's a new one on me.

I've lived in a lot of different regions of N. America in the last few years -- in many of them, I've had the chance to grow my own veggies. The difference in the length of growing seasons from one to the next continues to surprise me, especially considering that where I've spent most of my years, so far, you took a chance of losing your plants to frost if they were planted any time before Memorial Day!