Rain Anxiety

The dogs know what to do.

Last night I couldn't sleep very well. Anxiety kept me up, a feeling in my chest that I couldn't catch my breath. It's less than a month until the Farmers' Market opens, and right now I feel that this garden won't be ready by then. Taking a look at the garden this weekend, yielded nothing but worry for me: seeds not up, plants plastered into the ground by wind, animal prints through the beds, a mole hill through the sorrel, mud and standing water. Over the weekend, we received another 3/4" of rain. Checking on the garden this morning, my boots made sloshing noises and the mud made sucking noises. There will be no work in the garden today. And the sun of this morning is giving way to clouds and the possibility of more rain.

Deer prints through a garden bed.

 The plants growing under the lights are doing well. They're looking lively, thick & full. But outside, the plants, for the most part, aren't looking too well. Like they've had too much rain or something. Some of the peas, though, are growing, as is the arugula, and the lettuce and radishes in the raised bed look healthy. But I am hoping for some dry weather to help the garden out. And I hope the plants start to do as much growing as the weeds!

In more positive news, Herb Fest in Mattoon was a blast. Rich & I met our friends, Sherry & Andrea, there. I bought some herbs (chocolate mint, variegated sage, rosemary, salad burnet and purple basil) that I'm not otherwise growing. We also bought a couple of strawberry plants and a few other plants (a 3 foot tall coleus, a rattlesnake master and one more). On Sunday afternoon, before it started to rain again, I was able to dig out three new beds on the west side of our house. In two of them, we're going to scatter some wildflower seed we bought. In the one nearest what will soon be our new patio, I planted a small herb garden. The rosemary, sage, salad burnet and oregano. As well as hollyhock, nasturtium and four o'clock seeds. And parsley, large leaf basil, cilantro, chervil, and borage. I left some room for basil once it warms up more. I'm hoping this will be a pleasant garden to look at, smell and eat from soon.

Peas & Arugula & Weeds & Mud

I'm hoping this anxiety about the garden passes quickly. (I bet it will once I can get out and work more regularly in it.) These soggy, sunny days are killing me! I've got a few projects to do this afternoon (build a new trellis for the peas, separate potatoes and get them drying so I can (hopefully) get them in the raised bed tomorrow, find a scale for the Farmers' Market) and hopefully shake this dread feeling that come June 1, I'll have nothing to sell...