Most of my summer columns are spent whining about the lack of rain and the hauling of hoses.

F.Y.I., it is better for plants, especially established perennials, to give them a deep soaking once a week rather than a daily spritz. The roots want to be sent down for a drink. If they get a mere surface watering every day, the roots will stay at the surface and suffer if you neglect the task for just a few days.

Just give up on your lawn right now. It will come back in the fall. Many are downright crispy right now – poor things.

Every year, I mention the red Cape Cod Rambler threading up a cedar tree at the end of Meetinghouse way across the right fork to Katama. Once again, it did not disappoint.

There is a nice vitex near the entrance to the Martha’s Vineyard Times office. That shrub can cause some late spring and early summer anxiety. It is very late leafing out and I usually think I killed it over the winter.

I have a lovely patch of echinops. I think the cultivar is Blue Glo. It has impressive blue flowers about the size of golf balls.

Speaking of blue – last week I mentioned the wild chicory and how I had yet to notice it. Where have I been? It’s everywhere and lovely as ever.

Last Sunday morning, I picked the entire bed of Lacinato kale. It is also called Tuscan or Dinosaur. It looked great and I could see it would end badly if I left it out much longer. Between the golden snails in the white cabbage moths, it did not stand a chance. I spent the afternoon in front of the fan cleaning it. They spent leaves went to the pigs. I soaked the rest in salted water in case there were any pests – rough chopped — put raw on trays in the freezer for an hour or so. Then I bagged it up in serving size-amount for use later in the year for soups or smoothies. My friend, Sharlee, has done this for several years and finally encouraged me to give it a go.

I like to grow my onions from seed. They do very well and I get to choose the varieties. This year, the Southport Reds were pathetic. They simply refused to grow. I can probably use them in stock.

Both Patterson and Cortland are coming along. They are a yellow, long-storage type which hopefully will last until spring in the pantry.

The star of the season once again is Ailsa Craig. It is a sweet heirloom that needs to be used fresh. It can get to several pounds. Mine are already larger than softballs. It originated on the island of Ailsa Craig off the coast of Scotland in the Firth of Clyde. It is where they find the stones used in curling. That’s my trivia information of the week.

The only woman to lie in state at the capitol rotunda was Rosa Parks. She died 50 years after sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger landed her in jail.

How many times did the young John Lewis end up in jail? He was beaten repeatedly for participating in the Freedom Rides and famously on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

It was tear-inducing to see his flag-draped coffin being hauled over the bridge one last time in a horse-drawn caisson. Finally, lying in state at the U.S. capitol where he’s so long served, gives us all reason to hope for a better, more equitable world.

The stand on which the casket rests is called catafalque. The one on which congressman Lewis lies was constructed for Abraham Lincoln.

There you have it… the week that was!