I get by with a little help from my dad...

Just when I thought I'd hit my wit's end with Elliott being sick for 10 days straight, the garden desperately behind schedule, and grass growing up past our knees in some places...guess who comes in for a surprise visit? My anal retentive...yet helpful dad.

We spent the week sweating and yelling at each other (because Italians generally don't talk to each other--they yell at each other) about why I wanted to use a shovel instead of a tractor in the garden, of course, but we did manage to get a lot done. In the picture below you can see most of the rows were installed with mulch and drip irrigation. And the beds with the straw on them are already planted and growing watermelons, squash, corn, okra, sunflowers, and beans. It's easily 15 to 20 degrees hotter under that black plastic in full sun, so when we plant, we protect the young seedlings from heat stress by mulching with straw over the tops of the beds.

Call me crazy, but I think we look dirtier, sweatier, and happier than I can ever remember. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Imbraguglio.



Arianne