The Garden Sink

If you have ever harvested produce from your own garden, or brought in cut flowers from the yard, you and I have very likely had a shared experience. You’re washing off your prize when out crawls something unwanted. Maybe it has six legs, maybe eight (the WORST!), or, ewwww, no legs at all and is slimy. Whatever it is, it is now inside. Exactly where you probably don’t want it to be.

I have had this experience way too many times. What really brought this issue to a head was when I was harvesting my first crop of artichokes. Mmmmm, steamed artichokes dipped in a good mayonnaise one petal at a time, and a heavy side dose of… earwigs???!!! Not exactly what I had in mind. Yet, there they were, crawling out of the gaps as I was rinsing off my bounty. I had to keep flicking them back into the sink where I would send them to their watery grave.

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For a while after this I washed my beloved artichokes with a hose out in the back yard over the lawn. At least this way the bugs could crawl away and I wouldn’t find them on my kitchen floor later on. But it was rather tiresome (and wet) work being hunched over a couple of bowls on the ground while I soaked and swished until all traces on the invaders were gone.

Eventually the Old Man took pity on me and came up with the idea to install a sink outside. He loves those artichokes as much as I do, and really didn’t want to eat them with earwigs or bits of grass stuck in them. He’s kind of funny that way. So off to the hardware store and the internet to search for the perfect match of utility and low price for both the sink and the faucet to go with it. Once we had the parts all together, it was just an issue of hooking it up to an existing hose faucet and we were set.

There is no hot water, but in the end that’s not needed. This sink is used for gardening purposes, rinsing hands that are going to get dirty again in a moment but just need to be less chunky, and of course, for rinsing off those critters from our harvested produce. There is no drain hooked up, just a bucket to catch the used water, which is then dumped onto plants and trees in the yard. We don’t use any chemicals in this sink so the water is perfectly safe.

I love having the faucet that has a sprayer attachment.  It makes it much easier to wash down the sides of the sink and to target multiple pieces of produce at a time. It also allows for more of a power wash setting, so you can get more done in less time. Given the fact that we were going to be sacrificing this set-up to the elements, we also went with the least expensive yet functional options available. You will also want to take into consideration where you place something like this so you aren’t getting beat by the sun while you’re using it. We happened to have a hose faucet under some trees and so this is where it went. This sink is probably one of the best ideas ever, and you will be really happy if you put one in for yourself!