And it rained all night and then all day...

And it rained all night and then all day
The drops were the size of your hands and face
The worms come out to see what's up
We pull the cars up from the river
~ Thom Yorke

And the rain has continued...and continued..........and continued.....................

I can't ever remember such a soggy wet spring. Plants that are in raised beds, such as the vegetable garden and the front beds, aren't faring quite as bad as plants that live directly in the ground, which is so soaked with water that it's having trouble draining, turning the soil into compacted, hard, muddy clay. I can just imagine all of the little roots that are suffocating right now. Such is the nature of good old Mother Nature...

Despite the gloomy weather, there are pockets of gorgeousness in the yard - speedwell, coral bells, miniature roses, budding heads of yarrow, and my first apricot foxglove bells.






I raised the foxgloves from seed last year - they are a funny plant, producing only foliage their first year, blooming the second year, and then dying.

In other news, I harvested the first goodies from the garden this year - white icicle radish and plump little saxa radish. Crunchy and zippy!

A couple weeks ago I was quite disheartened when I discovered that the groundhog had eaten his way through the netting protecting the veggies. A nice palm-sized hole had been sheared away and half of my plants had been nipped to the root - kale, peas, swiss chard, and greens were all decimated. Slightly furious, I rotated the netting to hide the hole and have been praying for the best ever since.

While the furry marauder hasn't been back, the damage has been done and the garden's growth has been stunted. Couple that with all of the water we've been getting and I'm not feeling too optimistic about this year's "harvest". Just something us gardeners have to learn to accept I guess. Thank goodness we're signed up for the CSA with Eaton Farm again this year. We just got an update that our first pick up day will be May 29th - can't wait!

And lastly, I leave you with my latest culinary creation - a rhubarb custard pie with a latticed top. I've never baked a lattice top on a pie before, only because I didn't realize how easy it is. Pretty boy!