What a rainy week. It is too wet to garden, too grey, and damp and soggy to do anything outside but take pictures. The creeks and rivers are flooding from all the rain we have had the last few days.

We have been lucky here. Folks nearby have had 6 inches all at once while we have only been getting about an inch and a half a day. We lucked out on the hail and high winds too. Thank goodness.

The veggie garden is growing like mad and I am really glad I mulched the potatoes, peas, spinach and broccoli at the same time I planted them this season.

Otherwise the weeds would have taken them already. The asparagus is on it’s third year and we have been eating it every other night for dinner, along with the kale that wintered over. I picked a nice basket full of broccoli tonight too.

We got the strawberries weeded and cleaned up just before all this rain and there are lots of green berries and plenty more blossoms opening up. I am glad they are not ripe yet or they would be rotting out there. We have had 5.9 inches of rain this week and it is not done yet. Hopefully the newer strawberry flowers will still get pollinated. Bees don’t forage well in the rain. Last year, when I still had my bees, the black locust tree blooms got frozen so the bees lost out on a major nectar source.

Now they are in full bloom but it keeps on raining. Maybe the bees are  out there dodging raindrops. I hope so. The air smells incredibly sweet and clean.

Lush does not begin to describe the greenery outside right now.

When the sun finally comes out we will be smothered with rampaging plants, humidity and all the insects (gnats!…) that will explode with growth all at once.

Spring Optimism

I am afraid this long, rainy week marks the end of my annual  spring optimism, that time every year when I think I might just be able to keep up with the garden chores. The gorgeous flowers and lush greenery have been so delightful and are so much better than a dry spring though. I can live with some nice healthy weeds, especially since all the edibles are also doing so well.

My problem is that  I tend to feel just like the weather looks. A beautiful sunrise never fails to lift my spirits, but days of rain can send me down into dark places. Today, to combat the rainy day doldrums, I drove down to the river to watch the power of the water rushing by.  It tends to put things in perspective for me.

After watching the muddy water roll by awhile I drove along some back roads that had obviously received a humongous amount of rain.  Bridges and culverts and blacktop sections were washed out and guys with heavy equipment were in major clean up and repair mode.  Water was pouring down hillsides where there were not even any streams normally. I stopped and talked to one guy who had lost all his driveway gravel and  whose neighbor was  pumping five feet of water from his basement. That worked to snap me out of it. I am counting my blessings.

Wendy lee, writing at ,Edgewisewoods Gardens and Critters