The Missouri Monsoon Season

I had to write a little post about the incredibly wet weather we've been having lately. In the last few weeks we have had torrential downpours on a regular basis such that I am getting really tired of schlopping around in the mud. And that is only a small part of the problem. A few days ago we got five inches of rain overnight. Last week we had and inch of rain in a ten minute downpour and the runoff cut a gully through the middle of about 6 garden beds in the Skyhouse garden I am tending this season. It washed away some tomatoes and peppers, but fortunately I hadn't planted most of the beds yet. I've since made a trench to divert the water through the garden and this morning in a flash flood it turned into a garden river. Watching the storm from my house early this morning I was traumatized when the huge raindrops began making a much louder noise on the roof and I saw that the rain was turning into hail.


Hail is a nightmare for anyone trying to grow anything outdoors. Just imagine bullets raining down on your vegetables and fruits. Fortunately this hail was small enough that the damage was minimal, but considering all the strange weather we've been getting, I worry that we might get golf-ball sized or worse before long.


Anyway, the rain has prevented me being able to get into some of the garden beds to prep them because the soil hasn't ever had a chance to dry out enough to work. I've already planted potatoes twice because every time I plant them it rains and the tubers just rot in the ground. The broccoli is being wiped out by something related to the moisture. Surprisingly, some plants are doing well, though blight due to the wetness is beginning to show up on the peas, and I've heard others' tomatoes are being damaged by blight. If this rain keeps up the plants doing well now soon will not be.