Finally Drying Out

I know everything is relative, but boy have we had a lot of precipitation this past week. It started with a snowy April weekend, which I thankfully missed by being up north in Door County. Came home to spring plants that were no worse for the wear.

Then it kept raining, bringing the weeks total to 6.1 inches. My Stratus rain gauge isn’t usually this full from an overnight rain

Streams are full, retention ponds are full, and apparently according to the news the storm sewers are full too. So is the swale that runs between our yards.

This swale, or “moon scape” as my husband calls it, obviously needs some explaining, since it looks nothing like it did a couple of years ago (It’s Been a Rainy Month). Watch for what happened in an upcoming post and how we’re fixing it.

In general, the drainage of the whole yard needs some work. Over the years, enough has been altered or settled so that the water just doesn’t run off like it should and I get puddles like this. Luckily for the raised beds, they drain like they should even when sitting in a puddle.

In the meantime, it’s a good day for my slogger rain boots to muck around the yard in.

It’s been a bit cold, so the seeds we planted a couple of weeks ago are just now coming up. At least they weren’t washed away. The cool weather is definitely helping the radishes, which I never have much luck with. I know these radishes don’t look like much compared to the gardens from my southern friends, but up north this is pretty exciting.  I’m going to plant a second row of the cold and cool weather veggies this week.

What have I planted outdoors already?

• American Flag Leeks (Botanical Interests)
• Bright Lights Swiss Chard (Botanical Interests)
• Calliope Blend Carrots (Botanical Interests)
• Cherry Bell Radish Seed Tape (Botanical Interests)
• Gourmet Beet Blend (Botanical Interests)
• Matador Spinach (Botanical Interests)
• Looseleaf Blend Lettuce  (Burpee)
• Heatwave Blend Lettuce  (Burpee)
• Super Sugar Sweet Snap Peas  (Burpee)

Looking forward to getting some garden fresh veggies on my table!