For Father’s Day this past weekend, my dinner of choice was a shrimp sandwich. At the grocery store, I found some colossal shrimp on sale and couldn’t pass them up. Shrimp (and everything crustacean) is at the top of my favorite foods list. As we prepared dinner, I realized that maybe my love of shrimp starts with a dad that caught shrimp with his bare hands.

I’ve told a few stories about going crabbing in this newsletter before. Throughout the summer, when the low tide in Tampa Bay occurred after dark and corresponded with a full moon, we would get our gear together and organize an evening out in the bay to catch blue crabs. Our method was to shine a bright light back and forth in the shallow, grass-covered areas of the water until we saw a crab. We would see all sorts of sea creatures as we walked: a variety of fish, stingrays and every now and then we would see two little glowing eyes hiding in the sea grass. If you shined the light right on a shrimp, you couldn’t see it, but in the halo of the spotlights, you would find two bright dots. When you saw that, you were in the presence of a tasty shrimp.

We had a little shrimp net to try to catch them to add to our seafood extravaganza, but for some reason, every now and then, we would crouch down, form a circle around the spot that we saw the eyes and try to catch the shrimp with our hands. No one was better than my dad at it. Most of us would shoot our hand out and close just a moment too late, missing our target. For some reason, he could catch them more often than the rest of us.

I’ve applied those same shrimp-catching skills to grasshopper-catching in my backyard. It doesn’t yield a tasty meal, but it does allow my plants to thrive without damage. I guess I have my dad to thank for the quick hands.

I’ll leave you with a few summer reminders. First, be sure to water your plants. We’ve been experiencing a drier than normal pattern and that means extreme heat each day. All of those new plants that have been added to your garden over the last few months need regular, deep watering to become established. Make sure that you are watering new plants each morning for the first month, every other day for the second month and twice weekly after that. Some new plants may need a cool down in the afternoon as well, when the feels-like rises into the 100s.

Second, to give our staff a little break from the heat, we will be closed on Mondays, starting June 29th through Labor Day. We will maintain regular hours Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5:30pm and Sundays, 11am to 4pm for you to get what you need for your garden. See our summer garden checklist below and don’t forget to stay hydrated, have fun and enjoy your garden.