Water at last

Two years ago, driving home from somewhere, Dan and I screeched to a halt when, by the side of the road, we saw a nice, double bowl porcelain sink with a free sign on it.

Quicker than a wink, we loaded it into the car with a mental thank you to the home remodelers who cast it aside, and later that spring, using leftover lumber from some other project, built a frame for it near the vegetable garden.

Earlier this year, we finally got around to running a water line to the back, and this morning, took the last step and added a Y connector and a separate line to the sink. The crowning touch, my old salad spinner ready to wash greens right out in the garden.

We've had our first hot spell of the season here, with temps in the high 90s and equally high humidity for the past two days, making gardening a bit unpleasant. Early this morning, I weeded the herb bed and then, after breakfast, then a brief rain shower, mulched. As we never have enough compost, I'm experimenting with a mix of compost and leaf mold this year, to see how this works for weed control. Between the lack of rain, their relative youth and the evil slugs, my poor herbs are still so tiny I covered them with yogurt containers and plastic pots to spread the mulch. Like my pal Tracy, I was too mortified by the weeds to show the before photo. I hope by next week you'll be able to see the herbs in the bed!

I finally finished up at about 12:30 and that was more than enough! Yesterday I managed to weed the lettuce bed, side dress with fertilizer, and cover with the shade cloth before heading to cooler climes inside.

Fortunately, the forecast calls for clear and cooler weather tomorrow. Dan and I plan to pick some berries, then load the kayaks and head for the water, followed by a get together in celebration of the weekend with friends Karen and Bill for champagne and strawberries, mmmm!