2011 - Year of the Flood

Record rains for April and now May has caused flooding in many areas. We often have a wet spot in the Plattsburgh gardens when Lake Champlain reaches 101' or more. This year the lake has reached 103' many times the past two months. A record since they have been keeping records!
It is Memorial Day weekend when most people plant their gardens in this neck of the woods. We have water to our ankles in the back yard and to our knees in the gardens. During the past two months we had two days in April when we could walk on the garden pathways. One patch of Bloodroot flowers could be seen for a day stretching their flowers to just above the water surface. The beautiful double Bloodroot had not even come up yet. A few Mayapples on higher ground were up but no visible sign of most of the Mayapples. A ten foot row of Columbines were up 6". Catnip plants were up 4-6", but no sign of the large patches of Bee Balm. We had hopes the areas that had the most water were delayed in growth. Then it rained more, and more, and more.
Finally we had three days where we could walk the wood chipped pathways. I had to move back the logs along the sides of the paths as they had floated away. The newer wood chips had also floated so to strangers to the gardens it just looked like a mess. I dug down to root of the Bee Balms and Mayapples and found mush! The tops of the Catnip and Columbine were also mush. The Mints looked shorter than usual for this time of year but very alive. I dug-up and potted the wandering Mints and Sweet Woodruff. I had started a fern walk with a variety of ferns and none seem to have survived. The bramble type berries all seem fine. The peach tree had started to send out it's leaves but for the last six weeks seems to have halted as if frozen in time. That is a preferable thought than thinking this tree my mother started from a pit is drowning to death.
I emptied four sand bags in the garden. Gosh they are heavy. Our garden wagon could only carry one at a time. Something told me not to hurry with the rest. We thank the City of Plattsburgh for delivering 24 bags to our house. It diverted more of the whole block's run-off water from entering our basement.
We did manage to pick enough violet blossoms from the yard to make jelly. At home in Chateaugay I picked Dandelion blossoms for jelly making as well as Apple Mint. So the season of harvesting and preserving has started which lifted our spirits.
This weekend is depressing. We had 4.5" of rain the past two days! The plants I potted to sell at the farmers' market were ready, but I was not prepared to hike through water over my knees to get to the potting table! The bright side? I had left just enough sand bags to keep most of the water from entering the basement.
That is just one story from one who lives three blocks from the lake. You can imagine how much worse it is for so many others. It is the slowest disaster I've experienced. Many cannot even see the damage till the water level drops. We will be recovering from spring all summer long. Food prices will be going up as so much of the country has had disasters this year. So get your gardens in if you can.