I planted my midsummer garden in the rain. Martha Stewart gave me the idea. I've watched her planting both seeds and plants in the rain several times on her television program - in the old days - and its a good idea.
I'd been tilling and weeding and generally working up a sweat when it started a light rain. Quickly I ran to the house and gathered up my seed packets. I choose several kinds of lettuce, Golden Cross Bantam sweet corn, beets, cucumbers and several types of flowers.
The rain was light, just enough to wet my clothes a little and cool me off.
Another Martha Stewart tip I've found useful concerns dryer fabric softener sheets. On a program about laundry Martha happened to mention that you really only need half a dryer sheet per load. I tried it and it works. Now I keep a pair of scissors on my dryer next to the box of dryer sheets and always cut a sheet in half before tossing into my dryer.
I like Martha Stewart because she has good useful information. Yes, she's a bit over the top with her army of worker keeping all her properties looking picture perfect. But her historically thrifty attitude appeals to the money saver in me.
She also has a very good and very simple humus recipe which is a great summer appetizer.
It's from her 1995 cookbook of collected recipes for every day. It's super simple, just a can of chickpeas, some fresh garlic, lemon juice, good olive oil, and salt. Whirl it all together in a food processer and voila! you have hummus. Serve with warmed pita bread or pita chips. I like to throw a few chopped green olives in or a little roasted red pepper was well.
