March was a very odd month this year. It started out dry, but got very wet very fast. Record-breaking rains (twice in two weeks) turned the Northeast into a giant puddle the old timers said they haven’t seen for more than a 50 years. Staggering amounts of rain fell in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Rhode Island suffered the most with some areas recording 10 inches in just a few days.
On March 6, the weather folks announced that rain was on its way. Newer technology has made their predictions a lot more accurate, so the interns heeded the warning and got things cleaned up before the storm. It was a good thing they did because the rain did come, and it seemed like it would never leave. For all the trouble the rain caused, we hope it gave the tulips, irises, and the other early bloomers a nice head start.
The rain got really serious from March 17th to the 25th. We stopped emptying our rain gauge outside. Some locations got over 8 inches in a few days. By the end of the month, the total for some areas exceeded 16 inches.
On the 20th, we got a little break from the downpour and the sun peeked out for a few hours. Eliot took the opportunity to get his paws dirty and check out the some of the first blooms. We went and saw that most of the buds made significant progress and were now growing quite vigorously. Knowing that more rain was still on its way, we decided that now was the time to get the GrowBed set. It was a risk, but we also took a chance and planted the passifora we had growing inside all Winter long.
Eliot was not the only one happy with the temporary sunshine. The blue jays also took the opportunity to dry out and to renew the game of "catch me if you can." Eliot can't seem to figure out why he can't get close enough to make the "tag." The bell on his collar may have something to do with it.
Even though we could not work on the garden because of the rain, we didn't just sit around. We started some of the seeds inside. It is now the middle of April and things have dried out a lot. The benefits of the extra precipitation have started to show. Plants are bigger, greener, and blooming earlier. We are excited about all the new things we are doing this year in the RainyDayGarden and are especially eager to see how the new vegetable garden works out this season. [Permalink] -RDG's MarchMadness
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