A perfect, most glorious rain

Three or four days ago, we received 4/10s of an inch of rain, which really perked the garden up; it was another of those hit-or-miss rains, which has been the only kind we've had this year... and we are usually the ones that miss.   Almost every day the weather folks will tell is we might get a rain, and the most we see is a few sprinkles.  The forecast was the same when we went to bed Saturday night; we'd had a few drops of rain, but nothing significant.

Imagine my surprise when I heard a brisk rain outside every time I woke up in the night.  Not a gully-washer, but a nice, steady rain that does the most good for a garden.  When I got up in the morning and the rain stopped enough that I could go look at the gauge, there was an additional two inches.  It was, again, a hit-and-miss type of rain, because many people didn't receive it, and others got a lot less than we did.   All my local farmer friends were beside themselves with glee, and I was right there with them.  

Of course, after a rain the weeds start working overtime, but I'll take the bad with the good.  

I planted this hill of corn when it was really too early, but it survived.  Those plants will probably give us eight ears of corn to eat, long before the main crop is ready.

Here's the corn crop so far.  I just planted those on the near end of the two rows about five days ago.  To the right of the corn, you can see my second planting of green beans already.

This was the strawberry patch.  I still need to get rid of the ones close to the fence (on the left), but they are making babies for me right now, for my new strawberry patch.  

Somewhere in this area will be my new strawberry patch.  You're not supposed to put them in the same area where strawberries have been, and they don't do well following tomatoes.  Those beets will soon be out of there, and so will the peas.  I don't care for these Alaska peas.  See how brown they are, down by the roots?  Also, the pods are short, with only three or four peas in them, so you have more to open up.  My mom's favorite, Little Marvel peas, are definitely my choice too; now I see why she liked them so well.  

That middle row has onions on this end where the Little Marvel Peas didn't come up, but there were some that did survive beyond those few onions.  Notice how much darker green they are than the Alaska peas in the upper left-hand corner of the picture.  And the Little Marvels have been there at least two weeks longer.

Each  year I have one eggplant (eggplant plant??).  I just put 3 or 4 seeds in the ground for good measure, mark the spot, and pull up all but one when they start getting some size on them.  I happened on a website recently that had a list of vegetables considered hard to grow:  Eggplant was one of them.  The only problem I've ever had with them is that in a certain stage of development, bugs will kill them if you don't use a little Sevin dust.  Most of the fruits (yes, it's a fruit) go to waste, because I only  use one or two of them every year, and nobody wants eggplants.  We do love ratatouille, so I might make that two or three times.  Besides, I love seeing that pretty purple color in my garden.

I see a bloom on the pepper plant.  

The  green beans are blooming!  I can't wait till we can have fresh green beans.

In the meantime, we've been having peas and beets, and I'm thinking about digging up  a few new potatoes.  I am really enjoying my garden, as always.