I SUPPOSE I SHOULD HAVE DONE AN INCANTATION of one of my favorite songs before things got to this point: 9 inches of rain in barely more than two weeks. I have a wildly eclectic collection of recordings of “You Are My Sunshine” (and thanks to a recent gift from blogger Sarah McColl, a vintage-style sign to accompany them). This 1963 Ray Charles version is one of the best, and I’m playing it loud with the speakers pointed out the window, invoking a prayer that the rain that’s been swamping parts of the Northeast and the northern Midwest will go relieve dusty conditions in places like Texas and elsewhere it can do some good. May the weather you need come your way, and soon.
rain, anyone? 
gardening links: japanese beetle help, rain barrels 
Hang in there Margaret! I am a stone’s throw away, in Red Hook (Dutchess Co., not Brooklyn…). Dare I say, I think we might finally be turning the weather corner this week!
We’ve only — only??!!– had about 7 inches in eastern Connecticut. June is my favorite month and I feel so cheated having to be indoors most of every day. The slugs are going wild — eating everything in sight! Be glad you don’t grow delphinium. Mine are mostly damaged beyond recovery.
The only plants that seem happy are the Japanese iris. Hopefully they will be spectacular enough to cheer me up.
Hang in there. This too must pass…
Welcome, Poochiemac. I am scanning the skies for a glint of light; at least there was no rain of any significance today here, and the wind blew, which helps a bit. See you soon again.
@Amy: Usually I do not worry about slugs here but it looks like a commuter highway on my front stone walk…they are everywhere. Some pots I had to upend to drain off the bog-like contents were positively filled with slugs, too. Gross.
We’ve had 20+ inches since the first of April. And out of those days, there have only been 11 “clear” days, as opposed to cloudy, partly cloudy and flat out rainy! Lots of storms rolling through at all hours and two tornado touch-downs in the past 10 days. And all of this in Baltimore!
I shouldn’t confess this, but my windows were so dirty and between a sore shoulder and necessary garden work, I couldn’t get around to washing them. So I hired someone to do it and they came on Monday June 8th. It rained that evening and has been raining ever since!!!!!! The last time I do THAT!
I listened to that song as I watched the birds bathe in the standing water in my garden from the last downpour we had in lower Delaware. It gave me hope!
Started to dig a new raised bed in the veg garden a week ago. Only got the perimeter dug when the rain began. Today was hot and dry, so I went out to take a look — it’s like a little canal around that bed. Guess I won’t be digging there anytime soon.
Grass needs mowing every 2-3 days.
Is this the summer we so longed for??!!
I really don’t mind, the OH to much rain. This evening, I cut back the spent peonies, and pulled a lot of grasses, and weeds that got past the Preen. The one FUNNY thing that happened, because of all the rain, is the SEED in the bird feeders started to germinate. Rain got into them, and the seed sprouted. I don’t think birds eat sprouts, so they had to be emptied, scraped out, and filled again. I remember some summers when it rained every weekend, and some when it was so cold , that we only had five warm days for swiming. Let’s face it, WE are heading BACK to winter, as of TODAY!
I live in Pensacola, Florida where the temperature has been over 100 and it hasn’t rained in two weeks. Everything is curling up and dying. I’d love 9 inches of rain.
Welcome, Melissa. Yes, the maps (and news) show the fierce weather you have been suffering through, and I hope it changes up before long for you. Seems to be a feast-or-famine year in so many areas, so much drama. See you soon again, I hope.
The weeds in my garden are going wild. I spent sometime last night trying to make a dent it did not happen. The rain has made is easier to weed, so I am glad about that. Looking forward to the sun.
Margaret: All this rain has been a good excuse to stay out of the garden and visit nurseries. Last week I went to one specializing in hostas and saw ‘June’ for the first time. It is one of the most beautiful. Thanks so much for showcasing it.
I’m not minding the rain so much (except I wish I had room for 20 more rain barrels), but I’d sure like a little more heat to get some of the plants going. I’d like to give some of my heavy feeders some food, but I’m afraid it’ll get diluted or just wash away!
There are branches all over my neighborhood, following this weekend’s storms in Chicago. One tree nearby came down. It was pretty exciting! I lost a sunflower and a pea. (One small benefit to small-space gardening — not much to lose!)
Picture this. I am dancing around with headphones on listening to Ray Charles. LOVE IT!!!! Must be my rain dance, as we are having 100 degrees all week. :)
Did you get the inch of large, pea-sized hail on top of the 2 1/2 inches of rain in under an hour last Monday? I almost cried. I just sat and watched pools appear in my lawn and my herbs get torn to shreds. And all this after having had a deer in the front bed earlier that morning. I nearly threw in the trowel.
But I didn’t. At least not yet. I’m waiting to see how things look after being away for a week ;-)
Awwww for a little rain. We are dry, dry, dry here in Tallahassee, Fl. How about we trade some of our 100+ temp. weather for a little of you rainfall.
Margaret what happens to the tomatoes with all this rain?Also 17 days at the Jersey Shore with no sun. No sign so far of disease but wondering what could happen if weather continues have thirty plants in the ground and pots.susan also found it easy to weed and am still planting in the rain. Suzanne
the rain I can deal with but hail storm #5 last night was more then I can handle, I’ve replanted some things 3 times– I say enough already!!
Yikes! enough rain to wash you away! We’ve got the opposite problem here (and we’re supposed to be in temperate rainforest!). Very little rain, forest fire conditions at high alert, and things are pretty darn dry when you dig down. How about we trade for a week?
It is so hot and dry here in Central Texas it is just plain sad. But I can see how too much rain and (seriously 5!?) hail storms is only different – not better. People here are reporting desperate animals chewing through fountain tubing and certainly the deer are eating anything with leaves still attached. This is no year for gardening sissies, that much is clear.
On a lighter note – the frogboys are delightfully male, aren’t they? Two guys decking colors and then each other over a female who has apparently thought better of either of them and moved on. I’ve got that “Froggy came a courtin and he did ride” stuck in my head just thinking about it. Uh-huh…[uh-huh].
I just heard a GREAT version of ‘You are my Sunshine’ by Aretha Franklin. Hope it’s part of your collection…
Okay, now it’s august and it’s rained at least every other day of the summer. In fact I can count on one hand the number of days that it was sunny and WARM, and DIDN’T have to work. It has yet to reach 90 degrees this summer. The forecast for this week, today 73 and rain/flash flooding (even though we’ve declared a state of emergency in my county from the flash flooding that happened 2 days ago), tomorrow sunny, warm, and 82…Sunday 75 with severe thunderstorms and flash flooding, Monday 79 with left over showers and storms, and the rest of the week will pretty much follow suit with temps. in the 70′s and rain. I swear the world is coming to an end.
Welcome, Julia. Yes, all of the above. I topped 20 in 6 weeks not so long ago, and have now stopped counting. My sister (in Troy) is the same as you describe as well. Ugh. A big ugh. But our friends in the Pacific Northwest haven’t had any rain since late May, I think, and temps over 100 even, and I think I’d rather be sodden than fried. The world is upside down and backwards. See you soon, I hope, if we both stay afloat.