Rain, Rain, and More Rain

Records as of Friday afternoon (June 17th) showed 2.56" of rain on the property since June 6th. Records as of 2:00 PM Sunday (June 19th) showed another 0.95", and it was still raining when I left. Fifteen days and 3.51" of rain, and 13.91" since April 19th (two months!)  It is so green and lush. The grasses in the meadow were already 3' and growing, the trees looked great, and the garden is coming along, or at least the potatoes and asparagus are. Verdant is the best word to describe it.

Because of the earlier May wash-out, we are only going to get 60% of the seed potatoes to sprout, although some are just now showing, so that number may improve. The Russet variety seems very slow to sprout, and the Red Pontiacs that were completely unearthed by the May rains are looking really good. I mounded some manure around the plants and raked dirt into mounds. There are about 20-22 asparagus plants coming up, out of the 25 planted.

What is really surprising is that the beets, carrots, and parsnips haven't come up to any significant extent. Nothing. The beets are only 55 days, so these can be replanted. When we're back on the property over the Independence Day weekend, we can see if anything new is up, but the seeds have been in the ground a month, so I doubt much will happen any more now. The corn is doing OK, but just. The plants are still pretty small. I fertilized everything, so that may also help.

Our fruit trees are looking really healthy. Out of a total of eight apples, three cherries, three pears, and three plums, we have lost only one pear tree. This year, we will get our first crop of sour cherries (a whole dozen) and one apple. One day...

Added one new bird to the list of sightings: Grey Catbird. That brings the total to 49.

There's another big storm headed that way, and I don't know how much more rain the ground can absorb. A big rain will probably wreak havoc with the garden again, but there isn't much I can do about it now.