Weekly update -- August 24

On August 21 we had two days (24 to 48 hours) of rain. Here is a map of the rainfall totals as of 7 Am on the 22nd. We are in the purple area near the top of the map with 2.51 inches of rain average, but in Elmhurst it was amazing the amount of rain that came from several different storms.

Courtesy of NOAA.gov

A press release from the City of Elmhurst stated this:

The City of Elmhurst experienced a significant rain event beginning Thursday, Aug. 21, and
continuing through the overnight hours into Friday, Aug. 22. Real-time data from the United States Geological Survey reveals several heavy bursts; 0.31 inches in 10 minutes just before midnight; 1.19 inches in approximately 30 minutes just after midnight; 0.26 inches in 10 minutes at 1:15 a.m.; and .42 inches in 20 minutes at approximately 2 a.m.

A total of 4 inches of rain fell in northern Elmhrust, where the garden is (only 2 inches down were I live.)

The roads to the garden were flooded and I expect that the garden itself was under water. I could not go see for myself as the roads to it were shut down.   The railroad tracks however, would act as a barrier keeping the rain in the lower area to the north of the tracks which is where the garden is located.

taken with my cell phone so not as clear but you can see the darkened earth from the rain

Lots of tomatoes, but nothing ripe because it is not that warm.  The rain is not making the tomatoes happy.  They may die from too much moisture.

When I was finally able to visit on August 23rd you could see the mud and dirt in the garden paths showed that a river must have run through the garden area.  It was too wet to walk even on the paths and I became a muddy mess just trying to harvest a few zinnias for the garden club competition.

Because of the rain, the weed population, especially in the back garden area around the squash and beans, has more than doubled.  Some of the weeds are taller than the squash and melons.  You can see the yellowish fruit about int he middle of the last photo.  That is the only melon so far on the musk melon plant, but with all this rain I am not sure the powdery mildew problem will be going away at all.

The peas were about to give us a second crop, but I think they are going to die back instead because of the wet ground.  The beans both bush and heirloom climbing beans seem to be faring well, but I could not harvest them  for fear of ruining the soil around them.

All I did was cut my zinnias.

You can see the remnants of the river in the path to the right but the broccoli rabe and hot peppers seem to be doing well despite the soaking.

I did not stay very long, as I was sinking into the ground everywhere I stepped both in the grass around the patch and on the garden paths too.