I am great at telling others what to do, it’s doing it myself that is a problem. In other words, take my advice — I am not using it. The following are several timely suggestions which I would do if I lived in my perfect world.

Row covers are the way to go. They protect baby plants from wind, too much sun and a host of insect pests. I’ve noticed Rusty at Ghost Island Farm has a huge patch of his back fields covered entirely. It must frighten the deer when the wind blows through it. His greens are pest-free unlike my own which require careful inspection with reading glasses.

I’ve been so busy of late I confess that we’ve been hitting the salad bar at Cronig’s. How pathetic is that? I have beautiful lettuce ready to be picked. This is the same behavior which I am guilty of mid-summer — spending the day processing tomatoes and then sending out for pizza.

I’m hopelessly behind in everything. I finally freed my tomatoes from their tiny pots. I have yet to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes. It’s a good thing we have an extremely long fall and can stretch our harvest time.

The heady fragrance of locust flowers is dominating my entire yard. They are difficult to enjoy visually as they are so high up in the trees.

I’m pretty crazy about hostas. There must be hundreds of varieties — yes, I am the queen of superlatives. Speaking of queens, my favorite is Queen of the Seas. I have a large patch of them with the allium growing up through. Wow! Spectacular.

That particular allium is a must-have. It is just coming into full flower, will last a long time, looks interesting when it goes by, and importantly will reseed. I purchase the bulb in the fall and plant along the fronts of borders since it is only a foot tall but the flowers are easily as big as softballs. I can’t say enough good things.

I purchased a fresh turkey from Jefferson at the Good Farm. He’s great. He cut it in half for me so I can have some fresh now and freeze the other half for later. I do enjoy turkey in the off-season with none of the Thanksgiving fixings. It’s great cold in salads or with some dressing for lunch at the job site.

My Lauren’s Grape opium poppies are blooming. They are a real visual treat — dark purple with a lime green center on top of blue-green foliage. They resent transplanting but put out a tremendous amount of seeds. They can be scattered here and there and anywhere, in the borders or even in vegetable beds.

I feel like a broken record. Will it ever rain? It’s remarkable how every place else gets it but us. I was digging in a garden recently that does not have any artificial irrigation. It was pure powder, down almost two feet. It’s scary to think about the rest of the season if this is a prelude.

In May there was an interesting chart in the New York Times with various food products and how much water to produce them. Every week the average American consumes more than 300 gallons of California water by eating food produced there. Talk about food for thought. Any small garden of your own will help.

I guess it’s no surprise that I love to talk politics. Actually, I’d rather call it current events. At the risk of being politically incorrect, I need to comment about Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner. It seems to be a huge topic in the news this week. I’m a little miffed by all the talk concerning her courage.

Bruce Jenner is the result of six decades of white male privilege. She can afford all kinds of plastic surgery, has the love and support of a large family, and there is a big fat reality show contract waiting for her. What abut the other transgender people out there? People whose friends and family have totally rejected them, those who are unemployed because of stigma and certainly those unable to do any sort of cosmetic alternations.

Those who manage to soldier on in the face of all that are the real “heroes.”