Hahahaha. I know the feeling… 
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Well, today I was going to finish planting my Jewel strawberry plugs, I had got 25 Earliglow put in the ground yesterday, and had just started planting the Jewels when we got hit by a storm. Today we had hit and miss storms, but they had been avoiding our area. At about 4:30 I checked the radar and there wasn’t anything close to us, so I thought I’d go out and finish the job.
Well, I had got 11 plants in the ground and I heard some thunder and the sky turned from puffy blue clouds to low gray ones in no time. It started to rain a bit around 5:15, so I got up and took the the stuff to the shed by the house and decided to wait it out, I thought it’d blow over in a few minutes like it has over the last few days. That wait ended up being an hour and a half of some of the most heavy rain I’ve ever seen in such a short time. I kept looking out to see if it would let up and it was coming down in buckets, with a little bit of small hail thrown in. At about 6:30 it had let up enough for me to go to the house and grab some soup and then head out to inspect things. I had a chance to check the rain gauge, and it had 3.5" in it! In an hour and a half. Unbelievable.
Our lower garden which has nothing in it now, had two large channels washed thru it with mud splayed on the grass below it. The strawb patch was a mucky mess, I took one step into it, and almost lost my muck boot in it, it was that bad. There were channels washed out between where the plants were that I had just planted yesterday and today. They look OK, but all that mud can’t be good for them. Our tater/sweet tater/onion patch was a mess, with water standing on the lower part of it where the onions are. I hope the seed taters don’t rot from all this water.
Of course I had to inspect all the fruit trees and plants. The back orchard had a few trees standing in a bit of water, but they were draining OK. No damaged leaves or branches. One of the cages around one of the blueberry bushes had tumped over, and of course it was the plant with the tallest growth on it, so the branches were bent over in the cage. I righted the cage back up and the branch sprang back up, so no permanent damage it would seem. But, the two lower bloob bushes were standing in some water, so hope that will drain soon.
The lower orchard trees seemed OK, except for the 8ft tall Winesap. It was leaning over on its 4ft cage because the soil was so wet it was losing its anchorage. I had to tie it off to the cage to keep it from tumping over. I hope it’ll be OK, we sure don’t need any high winds tonight or tomorrow. The other plants and trees look in good shape albeit a but waterlogged.
Our drainage ditches were running full tilt, full of run-off. Our lower driveway was actually flooded, with water running over it down into the road. There’s a small creek that runs thru a culvert under the drive that was topped by the torrential run-off, it couldn’t drain it fast enough. I went down the road to inspect the creeks and they were raging torrents. I checked on my sis in law, she was OK, but their driveway was almost totally flooded, they live in a hollow and the creek that runs thru it was leaking into the drive.
I went back to the house, and by then the driveway wasn’t flooding anymore, the water was going back under it. But, the drive has huge channels washed out, it looks very rough. Wish my tractor was fixed so I could fix that mess with a grader blade. Oh, and to top all of this, our water pressure is down to about half of normal, which is already low, so it’s practically down to a trickle. I think there’s something wrong with the main up line from us. I read about some other folks on our road that are without water as well.
So, a very eventful day here on the farm, hope it doesn’t rain too much more tonight or tomorrow.
Oh, I didn’t get the last 12 strawbs put in the ground, if you were wondering about that…
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A few pics of today’s events
The washed out strawberry patch. Somewhere in there are 25 Earliglow, and 11 Jewel plants. I think they didn’t get washed away, but they’re in a big muddy gom.
Our mucky tater/onion patch, with our still out of commission tractor…
Our severely eroded lower garden plot, thankfully nothing planted in it yet.
The lower drive being washed out
The raging run-off from the culvert under the drive, usually it’s dry…
The creek up the road from us, near our in-laws’
Looking upstream from the bridge. The creek on the right leads up to the inlaws’ place
And downstream from the bridge
The creek near their house, it’s usually low enough to walk across without getting your feet wet. Not today!
Some foreboding clouds in the gloaming…
And finally, our cat was as shocked as we were about all the rain we had!
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Today I transplanted 8 pomegranates from 4" pots to 5 gal pots. These are rooted cuttings that I got from CRFG scion exchanges in January. I have a bunch more, but they are less advanced so I will wait a few more weeks until they grow more roots before transplanting them.
Also this evening I ate my first apricot of the season. It was a Nicole. Not fully ripe yet but very nice aroma. Both Nicole and Tomcot seem to be close to ripening, I expect the harvest to begin in earnest within the next 2-3 days. You can already smell the apricot aroma by standing near the tree.
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I think you need to get that tractor running. It looks like everything else is growing green and lush. All that water makes me think the mosquitoes will be out in full force. It’s a shame mother nature played havoc on your town. I hope it all comes back together without to much work. My garden is small but on a hill. I’ve had it wash out too. I live on a big hill off of a cow path of a private dirt road that goes down hill for a mile. The county road is less of a grade but our roads get washed out with every storm. To us it seems like every time the county grades it’s just before the next storm.
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Adorable little Tuxedo!
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That’s a good example of why farmers have gone to no tillage. No till significantly reduces erosion. Can only imagine how many tons of soil would wash away from a big farm in an event like that. Keep as much grass as you can. That’s all that stands between your current farm and one with big gullies.
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Devastating.
Thanks, I’m sure there’s folks around here who have much more washed out drives and fields than us, so I know were not as bad off. I also saw some news about some folks down in Alabama got 8" of rain yesterday, so I don’t feel so bad. Hope you’re OK, @Auburn, @barry, @drusket.
My bro in law is in town visiting, and he said he’d help me get the tractor done. He’s practically a mechanic, he thinks we could get it done in an hour or so. I have the parts, but there wasn’t any urgency to get it done, especially since my other BIL disked our plots for us. But the repair will have to wait until it dries out a bit. Yes the pasture is already a foot deep in grass and weeds, so I need to bush hog it soon.
It’s raining again this morn, but just a steady shower, not the total deluge like yesterday. I went to bed about 2:00, and it was just starting to rain then too. I just checked the rain gauge and it looks like we got about 4 tenths more, so we’re close to 4" over the last 36 hours or so. I figured we had about a 2.3”/hour rain yesterday. I was furious over all the rain yesterday, but a lot of good that does, can’t always get what you want. I’m glad we didn’t have a lot planted out.
This is my fourth year here, and I can’t remember there being any extended dry spells, it’s like a temperate rain forest. I can just imagine the disease and insect pressure when our fruit trees and plants actually start bearing. I’ve already had a sneak preview, I guess, with disease devastating my tomatoes the last couple years.
We still have practically no water this morn, it’s coming out in a little trickle now. Thankfully, we had enough pressure last night to get a shower, we both needed it for sure. Heard and seen on Facebook that some folks on our road are in a similar situation. Hopefully they’ll get the water main problem fixed, wherever it is. Drinking bottled water for now.
Alright, better get after it. Hopefully the rain will be ending sometime this afternoon.
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Hope tractor doesn’t sink into the mud!
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Hope you dry out soon Bob. We got about the same amount of water here (about 3") but it fell as snow, 3’ total but it was warm enough that it compacted some on the ground.
Shot from a 2nd story window (through the screen, sorry about that). This is after two days of melting too. I did some checking out of the trees, and did not see any major limbs broken. Although the snow is too heavy to pull the branches which are buried out, it strips all the buds off them. So they will just have to wait for melting to free them.
We are still shoveling out some paths and vehicles. One advantage to liquid water is that it moves out of the way on its own 
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Looking at Bob’s photos I long for more room. The good thing though living in suburbia is pest pressure is low. No deer!
I have to squeeze things in. here is a short row of strawberries between garlic and a blueberry plant. Their is a 2x6 raised bed border between the garlic and strawberries, you just can’t see it.
Man my strawberries seem to be constant work. I thinned these out in April, you would never know it!
The flower clusters are impressive. a lot of fruit!
My new bed, I hope to keep all runners off for a bit!
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Beautiful Drew. I love how the pots are arranged. Everything looks well tended.
Are those onions in your strawberry bed?
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Yes, onions and shallots. I also have a bed of onions, grown from seed, I have hundreds of them, so fit them where I can. Where the onions are in that bed, next year I’ll let runners grow there, to start the next generation of strawberries.
In the containers are potatoes, blueberries, figs and alpine strawberries.
Here a view from farther back, the new bed is on the right.
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Yes, he’s a funny little fellow. My wife just about off’ed him though, when she found some fresh “deposits” in one of her flower pots that’s sitting on the deck. I told her you can’t expect a new cat to not see fresh potting soil as kitty litter. But, I know it’s frustrating. I know he goes out in the yard or one of the plots, so it’s not like he poops on the deck all the time. Other than that, he seems to be adjusting to his new home.
We have had him about a month now, but still don’t have a name picked out for him. Do you or anyone else have any name suggestions? Here are some of our possibilities: Baxter, Tucker, Newman (from Seinfeld), Greg, Mike, Teddy, and so on.
Oh wow, three feet? I bet it’ll be a mess when it decides to melt. I guess where you’re at, snow in May is always possible, but 3’? Don’t you have tractor to push all that snow out of the way? Are we looking at your fruit tree enclosure with deer/moose fencing around it? Hopefully, y’all didn’t have any veggies planted. But, I suppose you have some in a greenhouse?
Yes, it’s starting to dry out a bit, the last of the rain stopped about noon. But, I just checked the radar and it’s showing some new lines forming out west of us, so we’re not out of the woods yet. I just talked to my Mom and sis back in OK, and they said they’ve had about 7" over the last week. So, I don’t feel so bad now.
We officially have no water now. Just a gurgling sound from the faucets. Apparently the main got washed out about a mile north of us in the flash flooding. They’re working to get a temp line going before fixing the main line, but even with that, we’re under a boil water alert. So, when nature calls, it’s outside I go… Wish I would have built that outhouse I promised my wife.
Been raining here all day…it’s coming your way from here. Over the last couple of years we’ve had our share of flooding and hope that it’s over. I can feel your pain. In 2015 we got 11.5 inches overnight. It rained over 32 inches in May alone. That was the year I decided to start growing fruit. 
. Highways were washed away and some of the bridges on the FM roads have just finished repair. It was a nightmare and I pray you don’t get anything like that. Water can be mighty powerful!
Katy
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Wow, Drew, with all those strawb plants, you don’t have to worry about weeding, they become their own “weed”. Which variety is the close up of the flowers in it?
Yeah, I guess you don’t worry about deer, they are a plague here. I found some tips nibbled off some branches of our big Winesap apple tree just the other day. You have hundreds of acres to forage, and you have to chew on my trees. B#@$$!!
Thanks. I know you guys have been under the gun with tons of rain this spring, and last year or the year before. My mom said her brother who lives just east of her has already had two gardens flooded out, but he wants to try one more time. Glutton for punishment, I guess.
The thing about heavy rain here in the hills, is that it doesn’t take a lot of rain to cause problems. All the water flowing down the hillsides has to go somewhere and it can flood in a hurry. You have to be careful around here because of that.
I lived in Texas for almost thirty years before moving here, I don’t remember it raining like that in the spring like the last few years there.
Since you’re in Athens, do y’all ever go up to Canton for First Monday’s? We went there once when my folks came down for a visit. It was incredible to see so many vendors selling stuff there. I also remember it being stifling hot, we went in July or August. It’s a neat place to go, tho.
We are fersure going to get bigtime mosquitoes this year!