Rain, potatoes, and ditches

It has been raining.  A lot.    Nothing like the amount it has rained in Southern Maine, but a lot.

I went out this morning to check on the garden, and found the potato trenches full of standing water, several inches deep.   It would be nice to have a "before" photo, but at time like these, one tends to run for the shovel first.

The picture at right shows a partially drained potato trench, with a bit of drainage ditch below.   I dug about 45 or 50 feet of drainage ditch along one edge of the garden.  Then, I widened it to hold more water, and started a side ditch to try to sheet the stormwater off into a buffer area.   I'm glad that it wasn't raining while I was doing this, and that there is a large vegetated buffer area beside and below bed #1. 

The water shown in the left side of the photo is in one of the potato trenches.  The water heading off to the right is in part of the ditch.   The rest of the bed #1 looks pretty good.  The paths between the plantings tended to drain off the water.

But..the seed potatoes may be rotting in the ground.   This would be unfortunate, because we store the potatoes and eat them during the winter.   If the seed potatoes are rotted, I wonder if we can still find any more around here?

On a cheerier note, the grass is nice and green.

The white temporary fencing is used to keep the groundhogs out of the garden. So far, we haven't had to electrify it.   We have nice groundhogs around here.

The wind is from the northeast, and more rain is coming.   No watering is required, happy and cool onion seedlings, pumps in the cellar working, and George just came home looking sharp from the barber.  Time for lunch!

Rainy Squash Sunday

I love rainy Sundays in August.   There are a whole lot of things that can get put off due to the rain*, so things slow down.    And, even imperfect squash that will be bread or compost are pretty.   

*Turn over the new garden bed and plant winter rye; bush hog; mow; move hay bales; weed; plant more veggies; paint; trim sheep hooves (wet sheep are a bit slippery); grease outside machinery; fix loose board on side of barn; fix fences; move the garden fence again....

I mowed along the garden fence but didn't get it moved.....

Keeping tidy while it rains

Potato plants in the garden

It has been a very wet spring.   We finally got a little hay in the barn, but the first small batch will need to go for mulch hay (lower price) because the ground was a bit too damp.   The second small batch was baled when the humidity was a bit too high, so it is being checked regularly for heating in the bales.    If it doesn't heat up, which might happen in the next two weeks but could happen in the next two months, it will be kept for sheep on the farm.    The animals here usually get the first hay, and this year we need to keep it just to keep an eye on it.  Whew, amazing the extra work and worry caused by a little humidity.

We got enough hay in to check out all the machinery,  and try out the new hay tedder.   A tedder spreads cut hay out broadly so it can dry more quickly and evenly.  I don't think we'd have gotten any hay in so far without the tedder.   I feel good that I operated all the machinery in the field, with help from my husband hooking up and adjusting things.   There was that incident with the tractor and the garage door but....I might write about that when my face turns a lighter shade of red!

Any hay baled in July will be "late first-cut hay", which is less nutritious than hay of the same quality baled earlier in the year.   We'd have liked to have baled earlier, but the weather didn't agree with that goal this year, as is probably true for many hay producers in Maine. 

String bean plants

I just wandered out into the garden to take pictures and cheer myself up.   The overcast skies and damp air make the soil and mulch dark and soft.  In spite of the lack of sun, and the usual invasion of cucumber beetles, the plants are hanging in there.

I tried to help the young squash plants repel the beetles by sprinkling soot from the wood stove on the leaves.   Ash doesn't kill the beetles as an insecticide would, but the beetles seem to try to avoid the ash. 

There was a deer in the garden last night.    His narrow feet left big, deep tracks in the soft ground.   It looks like he checked things out, but didn't eat much of anything.   Good deer!

I am off to wash sheets and pull weeds....tidy the beds all around.

Squash plants

Monday (Rain)

It has been raining for two or three years. I was wondering to my husband the other day if this is what Ireland is like - all wet and multi-colored green.
We didn't have all our hay equipment in May, so couldn't have hayed then, but people who did were definitely ahead of the curve. I wonder if there will be a hay shortage this year around here. What we put in the barn is not doing well - may not be able to feed it due to spoilage.

Bright side: if you want to eat lettuce, you and your 100 bunnies should be swimming pretty. The garden lettuce is happy with the cool and wet days.

Three sheep sheared and two to go. I'm starting to think about trying one the proper way, on its backside, instead of on a stand. So far the sheep have been remarkably patient with me using the stand, considering none of them has been on one before. Well, I could say that until the last one, Ophelia. She fought it all the way through. But, she is the daughter of my deceased lead ewe, so I actually appreciate the attitude.