We got the water bill. It was a bit of a shock. I know we live in the desert, but still. . . Good thing that summer electric and gas are so low, or I would be singing major blues!

My back knows that we use a fair amount of water – I have to lug the hose around everyday; sometimes twice a day to water. Great exercise, but kind of a pain.  I am lusting after an irrigation system. I hear that an irrigation system really cuts down on the amount of water you use.  Hmmm!

I can not tell you how grateful I was to have a weekend of monsoon rains! Two whole days without watering. There are parts of gardening that have to be done and are not a lot of fun!  Watering is right up there with weeding and fertilizing. Plants are demanding little things and it is not as if you can skip watering without paying a pretty high price! Some afternoons as I drag myself out to water, I have to remind myself that the results are way worth the aggravation.

We have lots and lots of squash – I am close to exhausting my recipe repertoire and am really ready to eat something else! The picture here is what we picked in ONE day.  I’m thinking that the  something else may just be cucumbers – we have a lot of those. Or, heaven forbid, it just might be kale.

The second planting of radishes is starting to produce salad size servings. We are getting just enough string beans each day to tease my appetite but not quite enough for a real side dish.  The second onion planting is thriving and we are getting a few ready to eat. And by the end of the month we should have more peppers than we know what to do with!

The broccoli and cabbage are growing at an amazing rate, but are not ready to harvest. The pumpkin plant has a new baby and the second planting of beets and carrots are up and flourishing.  Even the new spinach is growing.

Tomatoes have gone into a quiet period.  We had lots of them a couple of weeks ago, but right now we are between plantings and while there are LOTS of green tomatoes we are very short on ripe ones.

And now, since there is always more to do, it is time to start thinking about fall crops.  Right now we are thinking about spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, onions and carrots. Will probably start planting next week.

In the meantime I am just going to keep watering and impatiently waiting for broccoli, cabbage, string beans and more tomatoes.