Rain, come again another day!

Rain, rain, go away,

Come again another day.

Rain, rain, go away.

Come again some other day.

Little Arthur wants to play,

In the meadow by the hay.

Rain, rain, go to Spain,

Never show your face again.

Rain, rain, pour down,

But not a drop on our town.

Rain on the green grass,

and rain on the tree,

And rain on the housetop,

but not on me.

Rain, rain, go away,

Come again on washing day.

Rain, rain, go to Germany,

And remain there permanently.

The rains came this week…over 2 inches – 5.08 centimeters! We really needed it. When you grow up in the desert, as my wife and I did, rain is a special thing. We enjoy the thunder and lightning and rejoice in the way rain freshens everything.

 

Our average annual rainfall in Abilene is 23.78 compared to 14.04 inches in our hometown of Odessa, Texas further to the west. Average rainfall in Texas tends to increase as one goes east. Texarkana on the Arkansas border gets a whopping 48.39 inches a year! In Adelaide, South Australia where we lived for over nine years the rainfall is a mere 520 mm a year (a little over 20 inches). It is very dry from November to April and then gets wet from May to October which is the winter season there. So you can see that I’m used to gardening in dry places.

Nevertheless, this is our monsoon season in Texas and the storms can be fierce. The typical spring storm can contain hail and produce high winds and the occasional tornado. We stay glued to the NOAA radio during stormy weather.

For gardeners, hail is especially dreaded. It can defoliate plants in nothing flat. We have a couple of wire mesh cages built by my son that we put over the more vulnerable plants when hail is predicted. So far so good in our two episodes of hail this year.

On another subject — the combination hairy vetch and winter grass cover crop has been cut down in the tomato bed. I use a very sharp hoe which I re-sharpened about three times during the process. I cut only the top parts of the plants leaving the roots to release their nutrients as they decompose. It was a good workout but now it’s done. In a few weeks we will set out the tomato plants which have become quite lanky.

In the meantime, eat your veggies! Nonnie and Pop said so.