We need rain🌧️, grow your own broom🧹, and the one plant that everyone should grow. (It's not what you think.)

Published: Sun, 07/17/22

Greetings, Rural Sprout readers,

It seems that we have entered the dog days of summer. Even after the sun goes down, it’s hot, and it stays hot until that last hour before the sun comes up. Yeah, it’s about this time of year that I get to thinking about January and snow and all the wool sweaters that are tucked away in my closet.

I don’t know how things are out your way, but here in rural Pennsylvania, it’s dry.

After encouraging everyone to be more hands-off in the garden last weekend, I turned around and decided it was time for some soaker hose in ours. We need rain. And as we aren’t going to get much of any in the near future, I decided it was time to take action.

Now there is a long black rubber snake curling through the garden, and the plants got a thorough soaking.

It got me thinking back to all the gardens my dad had when I was a kid. Our water came from a spring, and every summer, around August, the spring would go dry. So, the idea of watering the garden with a hose was unthinkable. Even when the water tables were good, it wasn’t something dad could do on our off-the-grid cabin with its spring-fed water supply.

There were plenty of summers when the soil in the garden was hard, with large cracks in the earth because it was so dry. And yet, he managed to grow things. Plants were watered by the rain and any rainwater collected in the large 55-gallon drums set up in the garden. Dad lost his share of vegetables over the years, but next year he would always try again.

As much as I like to complain about technology these days, we have it so good, and I’m grateful.

After another week with no rain and the plants starting to fail, all I have to do is open an app on my phone, set a timer and voila, the hose is turned on, and my garden is watered. All while I drink my coffee four miles away.

Not too shabby.