For some people, summer is corn season. For others, it’s tomato season. While I love both those beacons of the warm-weather months, it’s really no contest: For me, summer is stone-fruit season.

You might be able to tell just by walking up to my front yard, where I planted a tree on each side of the walkway, one peach and one plum. The peach is a year older, it’s growing like mad, and three years after planting it, in April I practically broke down in tears when I saw the first little fruits on its branches. When I called my husband over, I was almost hyperventilating, and I think he thought I was having some kind of anxiety attack when what I was really having was a joy attack.

The plum tree is growing nicely, too. It’s not quite half the size of the peach tree, and while there were no blossoms (and therefore no fruit) on its branches this year, I’m thinking next year, its third, might also be the charm. Fingers crossed.

The idea, of course, is to be able to go out into my yard any day of the growing season and have my pick of fruit: strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, figs and cherries in the back and peaches and plums out front (along with apples and/or pears once I get those trees planted and producing). It’s my idea of heaven, and of wealth – the kind of wealth that’s worth passing down. As Audrey Hepburn once said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” When you plant a fruit tree, you’re believing not just about tomorrow, but about generations of tomorrows.

Until then, I get my stone fruit wherever and whenever I can – ideally from farmers markets and farm stands and pick-your-own places, or from friends who have visited one or the other and returned with too large a bounty to handle. Let me be clear: I have never had too large a bounty to handle.

Most of them, I eat out of hand, or I cut them up and add them to my overnight oats. I puree them into smoothies, gazpachos and sorbets, process them into jam, bake them into pies and cakes and, in one of my favorite uses, add them to salads for pops of tart juicy sweetness among savory crunchy vegetables.

I would be delighted to substitute my own peaches in this treatment, but that wasn’t possible this year, and not because I had other plans for them.

In mid-spring, when the peaches were big enough, I thinned them out, as recommended, and watched them grow until … an ant infestation took some out, an early heat wave caused more to drop and birds started to have their way. I undertook various interventions, but by mid-June a dozen peaches were left, then a half-dozen, then a handful, then zero. Almost as quickly as they had proliferated, they evaporated.

Such is the life of a gardener. Some years are good, some not so good, and you learn to roll with Mother Nature’s punches.

I’ve chosen to focus not on the lack of peaches, but the overall apparent health of the tree. As long as it keeps getting stronger, I’ll have many more chances at fruit, and will adjust my interventions based on what I learned. I’m never going to stop trying, because the day I have enough peaches, plums and other fruits from my own trees that I can throw them into salads is the day I might just have another joy attack.

Whisking the Tahini Yogurt Dressing: If it’s too thick, add a little water to loosen. Photo for The Washington Post by Tom McCorkle

Plum and Radicchio Salad with Tahini Yogurt

Time: 20 minutes

4 servings (7 cups)

This recipe is a beautiful, richly hued concoction from Desiree Nielsen, a registered dietitian whose latest book, “Good for Your Gut,” features plant-based recipes aimed at digestive health (and enjoyment). Here, you layer red or black plums with bitter radicchio, dates, walnuts and mint, and drizzle it all with a tahini-yogurt dressing. It’s the kind of no-cook, low-effort, high-reward recipe on which I build my summer eating, and I suggest you do, too.

The plums for these came from one of my favorite fruit vendors at one of my favorite farmers markets, but you can substitute any of the best stone-fruit specimens you can find, where you can find them: white or yellow peaches or nectarines, plums or apricots, sweet or sour cherries.

Storage Notes: The dressing can be refrigerated for up to 4 days. The dressed and assembled salad can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE DRESSING

1/2 cup unsweetened, plain coconut yogurt

2 tablespoons well-stirred tahini

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 clove garlic, finely grated or pressed

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground sumac

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Water, as needed

FOR THE SALAD

1 small head red radicchio (8 ounces), cored and finely shredded

4 firm red or black plums (12 ounces total), pitted and sliced

1/2 cup raw walnuts, chopped

3 large Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped or thinly sliced into ribbons

DIRECTIONS

Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, sugar, sumac and red pepper flakes. If the dressing is too thick, add a little water to loosen.

Make the salad: In a serving bowl, toss the radicchio with half of the dressing. Layer the plums, walnuts, dates and mint on top. Drizzle on the remaining dressing, or serve it on the side.

Nutrition information per serving (1 3/4 cups) | Calories: 274; Total Fat: 17 g; Saturated Fat: 4 g; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Sodium: 318 mg; Carbohydrates: 31 g; Dietary Fiber: 5 g; Sugar: 22 g; Protein: 6 g

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