Just as the wind-swept rains plummeted from the sky yesterday afternoon, the Gerhkings and I all but finished our day's goals for the garden.
It really is quite amazing what was accomplished in a few short hours, spurred on by the darkening skies in the west and south.
We had some seed potatoes, onions and leeks that needed to be planted while the garden was dry enough and before the rains. It's a delicate balance in soil like ours; it holds water so very long. If we go in too soon after a rain, we tramp down the soil and ruin the tilth. If we cultivate too soon, we really mess things up by cementing large clods of earth together for the rest of the season. And if we wait too long, it rains again.
Friday afternoon proved to be the short window we had to get 120 potatoes, 70 leeks and 750 bunch onions planted before the big storms. We also had the fortune to transplant about 40-50 onions that overwintered from last year. Just as we had about a dozen left, the rains began to fall. Gale, Cortnie and I would likely have stayed in the rain to finish the job, but peals of thunder had preceded this shower. Not taking chances in a big open field.
And then the rains came down. We had a steady downpour from about 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Then, the heavy stuff came. We were in the path of several angry storm cells, producing 65 mph gusts of winds, hail and even tornados. We sat glued to the news and watched the atmosphere outside turn chaotic.
Maybe it wasn't the best idea to get so many live plants in the ground that afternoon. As the storm raged on, I saw in the last grey light of the day the back garden. It was completely under water, all 3/4 acre.
Oh boy.
But this morning, a bright sunshiny day, no hail here and certianly no tornadoes had crossed our path. A few puddles of standing water and several beds of hardy little onions standing like pale green flags of victory. Yes!!! Thank you God for your mercy yesterday.
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