Once again the weather people promised rain on Sunday and were totally off. I wish I had their job and could be wrong most of the time and still keep it. I was very dissapointed as it means more hauling of hoses.

I do have a flat hose similar to the type used by firemen. It’s very handy on the job sites as I can drape 100 feet over one arm. They don’t last forever but sure save stress on the aging body.

I’ve been busy this week harvesting garlic. I wonder what I was thinking last fall. I planted quite an impressive amount. It is a fool-proof crop. No pests ever seem to bother it. It can be planted in late October, mulched heavily and walked away from until it’s time to cut some scapes in June. It is ready in July, a full month ahead of storage onions.

I put it into the greenhouse for a few days strewn all over the benches. It will cure nicely and be ready for a pantry basket by the week’s end. It is still great for some fun Christmas presents.

I also pulled all the fava beans. They are a bit of a pain to prepare but a real bang for the buck. I planted a mere 25 seeds and filled a two-quart colander with the enormous beans. They are great sauteed with tons of the aforementioned garlic.

Every year I plant early Jersey Wakefield cabbages. We love them. This year I also tried Charleston Wakefield. It, too, is conical in shape but much larger and a few weeks later.

I picked the first potatoes. I never bothered ordering seed this spring but rather threw in the wizened ones left over from last year. Covered with almost a foot of hay, they took a while but now have bloomed and some are the size of tennis balls. Lucky me!

This early spring I seeded a package of coleus. Every single one germinated. I was too busy and/or lazy to separate them and just tore off chunks and crammed them into a couple of window boxes. Amazingly they thrived and look better than things I fussed over endlessly. Go figure!

Last year’s winter squash and pumpkin crop did exceptionally well. I canned (in the pressure cooker) many quarts of the puree. I decided to not plant at all this year in hopes of sending the heinous squash bug away from the property.

I noticed a trumpet vine threaded up into a tree just past the lower Lambert’s Cove Road entrance. There used to be one on a dead tree at the entrance road to the amphitheatre at the Tashmoo overlook. It’s gone this year.

I was happy to hear that plastic straws are being eliminated here on the Vineyard and in many other parts of the country. I’ve often wondered why we need them at all. I am perfectly capable of drinking from a glass. Good for the school-aged children who saw the pollution problem and have worked hard to educate the rest of us.

I’m writing on a Monday this week so who knows what will come of the world situation. The beginning of last week was the disastrous summit in Helsinki. We moved on to the release of both the FISA warrant on Carter Page and the Michael Cohen tape. Honestly, every day, I say you cannot make this (expletive) up! This morning’s all-caps tweet picking a fight with Iran dominated NPR all day. Have mercy!