Just think in August we will be complaining that we need water!!!!

It came down in sheets and torrents yesterday, and it lasted all day long. We are closing in on nearly 9". Our lot is low anyway and there are more than a few areas where there is standing water around the yard.

I'm not particularly worried abut the gardens, though. Most of what I have planted likes a lot of moisture, today I'm more worried about the gusty wind... and the peonies I have yet to stake. :(

It's New England. Last year in May it rained for three weeks straight. Be glad we live in a place that GETS rain-- you could be posting messages about how much longer the water rationing was going to last and whether your garden would make it until then.

I am grinding my teeth in frustration. I have dozens of new perennials to get in the ground and lots and lots of clean-up and pruning and fertilizing to do. Normally, I don't mind working in light rain--in fact, I enjoy it. But this is the sixth straight day of hard rain, and entering the third day of an absolute deluge. Not conditions for gardening.

I am most worried about all my flats of annuals and hanging baskets. I had them under a tarp on the deck but they were being crushed by the weight of water, and the temp was dropping into the 40s. Won't kill them but seriously sets them back. So I went out in my bare feet and dragged them all, dripping and draining, into the house, where they are all over the family room and looking miserable for lack of light. And no end in sight! End of vent.

I am pretty sure this is real bad news for the dahlia tubers I planted last weekend. Everything else should be okay, but like Ginny...I have perennials and annuals in the kitchen waiting to be planted.

Even worse, since I can't do any actual gardening, I have gone to Russell's this weekend and picked up a couple of more clematis! They're in the kitchen now with the other stuff waiting to be planted.

I have a lot of tiny seedlings from WSing, most still in containers. Most of them, at a quick glance, appear to be ok, but I can see there are some casualties. The itty bitty amaranthus I planted in the border garden is almost certainly history, but some of the snaps appear to be making it, and I know that some of what looks like toast will bounce back. Plus I have a zillion more seeds I can plant if I need to.

I can relate to the frustrated gardner syndrome...
I have 32 mail order plants that just came in and they were looking forward to getting acquainted with my garden.

On a positive note... I've had the chance to do plant research and read past postings.

The rain brought down most of the blooms on my kwanza cherry, but it looked remarkably lovely. Took a blurry shot and am posting a photo for the first time. Looks like pink snow.
Patty

I took these pictures this morning on my way to the grocery store. This is the road I live on:

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This is Route 1; traffic was backed up to nearly Ogunquit as there was only one lane that was passable; fun duty for the policeman on traffic detail.

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This shows the power of water!

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And how would you like to find all this in your newly landscaped front yard?

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This one of the fairways at the golf course, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for the water to recede and the course to be open for play:

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It is once again raining very steadily and has been for the better part of 4 hours. The Hostas, ferns, and Rodgersia look wonderful, though!

Wow, those are some powerful pictures, chelone! Makes the deluge in WMass look tame in comparison...
Emily

That's a little bit of flooding you have there, Chelone.

I guess the bright side for me is that I can get some things done on the inside of my house. Not that I'm getting much done today.

The recorded rainfall for my town is now 10" in 24 hours, there is another 2-5" expected in the next 24 hours. The bridge over the Cape Neddick river has effectively collapsed, dropping 4 feet. To prevent people from attempting to drive around the barriers they have dumped a load of gravel in front of it.

York Beach is under 24" of water right now (the tide has just turned), and parts of route 1 in Wells are closed to traffic. Rte. 95 southbound has one lane open in some places and the water is sheeting over the road. A dam on the Salmon Falls river in Lebanon has been topped and there is concern that it will fail, and send a 10 foot wall of water down stream. Residents in the area are being evacuated and they are asking people to stay off the roads in the area. It was a very interesting news update a few minutes ago!

I have lived her for nearly 16 years now and I've never seen anything like it. It's really very awe inspiring.

Here in Goffstown, NH,several roads including Mountain Road are closed. My road which is an alternative route to get to 114 is being washed away and will probably be soon closed. The Piscataquog river is cresting at a height that hasn't been seen since the 1938 hurricane. Schools are closed for tomorrow. My flower garden is a lake. My vegetable garden is being washed down into the field.Weather forcast says we may get another 5 to 7 inches. Guess I like everyone else will be busy repairing the damage in the days to come.I never dreamed this would happen this time of year. It goes to show you never know what the future has in store.

Looks like it's not over yet...

Severe Weather Alert

Flood Watch

NORTHERN NEW HAVEN-NORTHERN MIDDLESEX-NORTHERN NEW LONDON- SOUTHERN NEW HAVEN- SOUTHERN MIDDLESEX-SOUTHERN NEW LONDON- 343 PM EDT SUN MAY 14 2006
...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM MONDAY EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS ISSUED A

* FLOOD WATCH FOR MUCH OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING AREAS...MIDDLESEX...NEW HAVEN AND NEW LONDON COUNTIES.

* FROM MONDAY EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON

* A WARM FRONT APPROACHING THE AREA AND STALLING SOUTH OF LONG ISLAND ON MONDAY WILL ACT AS THE FOCUS FOR HEAVY RAINFALL OVER SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT FROM MONDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.

* RAINFALL TOTALS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE FORECAST. THIS RAINFALL...IN COMBINATION WITH RIVERS STILL RUNNING HIGH FROM THE HEAVY RAINS OF FRIDAY AND NEAR SATURATED SOILS...WILL BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR RIVER...SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOODING ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT FROM MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

Yikes, chelone! That area (York, Ogunquit) is just about my favorite place in the world. Wow, those pictures are something.

As you can see from my cheery, pink snow shot, I am not experiencing anything that catastrophic here on my high hill in Connecticut. I know near the Connecticut River and the shore line things are bad as well. Hope all the GW-ers are safe and dry, even if our plants drown and our seeds rot or wash away. Maybe someone down hill from me will get my peas and radishes growing in their yard.

Patty

I had to pick my daughter up from college with all her stuff this weekend. I also visited my mother with some flowers for her containers. As I got to northern NJ on Thursday, the sun came out. The Philadelphia area had a severe thunderstorm Thurs. night..about 2+ inches, but Friday was fabulous. Sunny, dry, about 72. It was worth the drive for that day alone! Of course last night, before dark as I drove toward Connecticut, there were those dark gray clouds and drizzle reminding me what I left behind. Ok the only upside some of the blossoms, lilacs etc. last longer with the cooler days. However, mosquitos will be in abundance.

I agree this rain is Nuts! School has been cancelled all over the place. I've never heard of such a thing~ I too have plants longing to be in the ground, including a magnolia and lilac I got today for Mother's Day.
CC

half my lawn looks like a rice paddy. seriously. the flip side is that when i went out to check on my beds during a lull today everything seems to have doubled in size since last week. and no lily beetles! maybe they drowned.
viv

Wow, Chelone, those are amazing photos! Yikes! Some of my best friends live in Moody right between the beach and a marsh, I bet they have standing water now! Ouch! That is such a beautiful beautiful area- last fall my DH and I went up there and it was just gorgeous.
This rain is getting absurd. Tha's all there is to it. I don't think I've been properly dry since last week! And my tulips got beat right down, the flowers are getting rained off my lovely new rhodie, and everything else looks sulky!
Lexi

The new bed I dug last week has turned into a mini river with whitecaps - I just stood there watching my soil wash away

There is plenty of standing water in the lawn, and we are on a hill. Everything outside looked OK as of today though, although the petunias flowers I just got for window boxes are beaten down, the greens look fine.

I just saw on the weather channel predictions of rain for the next 7 days

I guess the bulb display is effectively over for the season, huh? The Narcissus were so pretty this year, and the Muscari was just coming on strong when the deluge hit. :( . And I can't think of much more frustrating than watching newly amended soil trickle downhill in a slurry. Ouch!

Still, some images made me smile; rice paddies, and the surprise on a neighbor's face when they discover peas and radishes in places they never expected to find them. Drowned lily leaf beetles floating toward the "big lily in the sky"... hahah.

I have been thinking of people who have flooded cellars and now have no heat as a consequence, or ruined property/household contents. For us, it's simply dreary and inconvenient, but at least the house is dry and warm.

I have been wondering though, when I'll be able to get to work on the stacked stone wall I carefully laid out last Monday! what's your best guess... next Saturday/Sunday?

You guys got the great deluge from Boston north- here in Connecticut we had a few showers Saturday and Sunday, but was dry most of the time. My garden looks well watered and lush-after a dry spring thus far. Heavy rain moving into eastern Connecticut later today.

My perennials look great (The black eyed susans, white daisies, echineacia, astilibe are doing great- the only slow one has been the Russian sage- which is growing now.

I have a 5 gallon Windmill palm planted now- in a great southern protected location- will buy a mini plastic greenhouse from Flowerhouse-planthouse 4.- for the winter, mulch it well- and provide some form of heat- depending on the winter weather. Will add protection in mid December-

Once the sun and warmth return I will have to weed- but the moisture will make the garden thrive with some sun and warmth. Hope we all dry out!

Here in north central CT we've gotten 7" total so far but are expecting much more over the course of the week. Chelone's pictures are frightening given what is yet to come.

Here, the ground is still absorbing water after having been so dry for so long. The plants are growing and despite zippo sun, things are blooming. I've been out when the rain has lightened up and haven't lost anything, yet.

My thoughts go to those of you who have. Stay SAFE!!!!

Martie

Here's a present for Dragontek from Southeastern/Central NH & Southern Maine:

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I'm here in the Merrimack Valley and it's just unreal. My front yard is a small swimming pool with canada geese enjoying themselves, right in the middle of a perennial flower bed. Outside my back fenced in yard is another swimming pool and it's full or ducks. Now the geese, I understand where they came from, they fly. It's the ducks that I thought didn't fly very far.
Inside the fenced in yard are about 800 WS containers that need transplanting to my gardens and potted for the plants swap on June 3. They look green, some a little, ok a lot, flattened down from the rain. Been trying to start getting them ready for the swap and all it does is rain for the past week.
I had seeds that hadn't germinated yet from WS. Wonder where the seeds will come up this year. No doupt not in the containers that I put them in.
I have water in my cellar, not too bad though. A lull right now, but just too wet and pooled with water to check on any plants and seedlings now.
Oh, yes, my groundhog family is outside the fenced in yeard rolling around in the wet mud. Mom, Dad, and 4 littleones.
They better leave my plants alone this year.
It's gonna be a bumper crop of weeds, slugs, misquitos and ticks this year for sure.
Now, can anyone figure out how to turn the faucet off so we can dry out some and take care of our plants?

Still raining here north of Boston. I had a man here all morning vacuuming water out of my basement. He got 127 gallons and when he left, it didn't even look as if he had been here. I am most worried about the boiler. I turned all the heat off last night and it was mighty chilly this morning. The water had not quite reached the boiler--it's on a little concrete platform--so I turned it on briefly to take off the chill. My "garden" of annuals, baskets etc. in the family room looks ok, if a little bizarre--hey, no weeding. Wed and Thurs are supposed to be a bit better but lots more rain tonight and tomorrow and then again Friday! Roads closed, schools closed, no mail. But at least I'm safe and I hope you are too.

littleonefb, I just heard on the radio this morning that the Merrimack River is one area that folks are watching closely, as well as several other spots in Mass and Vermont (I think - may have been NH). I guess there is the worry that dams will fail and as Chelone says, people are being evacuated. I heard that some places have water higher than it's been in *seventy* years!

Please stay safe everyone.

:)
Dee

I also have a lot of new perennials and shrubs I ordered and bought that are waiting to be planted. The good thing is I planned out where everything will go and checked it twice! I did get a lot of stuff planted already and I'm sure this will benefit them a lot. I was lucky to not have more than a few puddles of standing water in my yard. The previous owner of my house, had a bed where I didn't like the location, so I dug everything up and moved it. That's where the puddles were, they are gone already. Unfortunately we just seeded that area with grass seed, it's probably all washed away now. If so It will be a good excuse to go fill it in so that won't happen again. I am enjoying my day off due to school being cancelled though, I feel bad for those who's homes and local roads are under water. Route 3A right in front of T-bones is deep in water and the street adjacent has a small river running across it! Theres a house right between the two that had a problem with the water last year. This year it's much worse! The whole yard and probably the first floor is underwater! Last year it took weeks to dry up, this year it will probably take months. I wish I had a picture to share, it's crazy!

I am so sorry for all the folks that are hurting because of the rain.. You have my heart felt sympathies.. But as for me I am quite happy with all the wonderful rain.. I remember a few years when there was a horrible draught and things were dying.. Also I have always, always planted in a good rain storm or a gentle steady rain, finding that in my 30 plus years of gardening things just do so much better when planted in a rain. Less transplant shock and no need to water it in for several days as it struggles to get established. As to letting the rain keep you out of your garden! You have yet to be truly bitten hard by the gardening bug and find the true joy of really being a gardener IMHO.
Nothing keeps me from my garden, even when I had a small stroke, i was back out there in a few days laying on my side weeding, listening to the water gardens small waterfall gurgling and the frogs glunking. Seeing the birds and bees going about there daily lives ignoring me as I lay there..

If I am allowed I would love to encourage you to get out in the rain and see how easily weeds come out of the ground when it is wet. Or to try and set out all those wonderful plants and see how amazing creations watering system is at providing the new plantings with some wonderous minerals in that rain.. Have you ever noticed that no matter how often you water your gardens with a hose true growth never hits until a nice rain comes, and then it seems that plants just jump up and flowers break out.. Don't let a little rain dampen this great hobby or gifting called gardening.. Smitty

My favorite time to plant is during a gentle rain or mist, however, I worry that trying to plant when there has been several inches of rain and more to follow will result in compacted soil. Is this assumption correct?

Patty

I would never plant in a heavy rain, either. There is a world of difference between working soil that is moist and handling saturated soil. Doing the latter tends to compact it too much... you wind up with something resembling cement when it dries out.

The sun came out about 4:00 PM here in southern Plymouth, MA! It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but the satellite map shows areas with clear skies moving north.

The latest weather system seems to be blasting through at a very fast pace, so there may be hope for the North Shore.

Claire

I also thought planting when the ground is as wet as it is would cause too much compacting. I have to ammend my soil, because it's a new bed. I wouldn't mind planting in the rain, but I don't want to take the chance of losing everything.

Our local news channel showed video footage of the Merrimack River this evening. The power of the raging, out-of-control water was really frightening to watch. There was also footage of lots of flooded streets, homes, cars under water. This was mostly in Lowell.
Hope everyone stays safe!
Emily

I just came in from outside. Couldn't stand it inside anymore. My small stream is raging - actually very pretty - except for the fact that several of my primroses are now in 6 inches of water - hope they can take it. Everything looks so - well, wet. All the daffodil flowers are in the mud and the apple blossoms are hanging on by a thread. Lots of flooding in the area but luckily not on my road.

we are right at the mouth of the merrimac, and it is a scary looking river right now. The feeder river that goes through my town, the Powow River, is terrifying, flooding the downtown, washing out huge granite curbstone retaining walls, and unfortunately swamping a friends restaurant to the point they have had a complete loss.

I did actually sneak out and plant a couple things last wednesday in the drizzle - dh laughed at me but I had to get gardening! Unfortunately it is a whole different situation now. At least the standing water on the lawn seems to be soaking in and is mostly gone.

Sorry,
I have been following the news today since very early in the morning. I feel for all the folks in the low lands.. I am fortunate enough to live on a hillside with excellent drainage. I appologize to all of you people that are truly hurting because of flooding and water logged grounds. I hope that you can get out and play in your garden soon.. I have never had soil compaction when working with wet soil. I think it is because I am a fanatic about compost and organic matter and that my soil is sandy loam or pulverized sandstone ledge. Most of my garden beds are always covered with some form of mulch or another and I continue to add compost and or leaf mould/ or composted woodchips to the soil surface. Or maybe I am blessed with 12 inches of soil over sandstone ledge on a terrised hillside for a reason LOL..

Yours in dirt smitty

Hi all,

Raining here in Southern NH again this AM... I went down Rt. 3A in Litchfield along the Merrimack River to go to McQuesten Farm yesterday and found them just finishing trying to get the flats out of the greenhouses that were now under water. I felt so badly for these folks, not only did they lose quite a few of their flats the water you see here is covering 17 acres of tomatoes, corn and four acres of strawberries.

You can see a bunch of flats floating in the center of this photo.
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You can see a couple flats of tomatoes floating in front of the front house. I talked to the woman and she said they watched hundreds of their flats float down the river yesterday morning.
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This stretch of water is where their corn/tomato/strawberry crop is under water.
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Deanne

I feel so badly for everyone who's experienced such severe flooding. Please know my thoughts & prayers are with each of you. I'm feeling badly because, once again, Mystic was spared. Even today, the first big band of rain has moved east of us & the second...is headed north just to the west & will miss us entirely, or mostly...maybe, a few sprinkles. We've received about 4.5" of rain since May 1 which has been enough to help relieve what was shaping up to be a spring drought but not nearly enough to be damaging. My garden is lush and beautiful. The azalea flowers have not been knocked off. I still have 'Geranium' daffs standing tall in full bloom. Even the Bluestone babies I planted last Thursday haven't been flattened. It's crazy how such devestating weather can come so close yet leave one home/garden with positive benefit & destroy another just a mile away. It's ridiculous that I can still be showing a deficit in preciptitation for the year while decades long records are being broken all around me...even in CT. My gardens are still young...this is just their 3rd year...but if you've lost everything email me...maybe, I've got something big enough to divide as a gift "from my garden to yours" or I could gather seeds come later in the season to send you. Someday, Mystic's turn will come.

Oh my god. That is heartbreaking.

And smitty, you are a class act.

Patty

My friends in southern NH emailed me that their store in Goffstown has been closed for the last 2 days due to state of emergency - my heart is really with the northern MA/southern NH & ME folks; we've been spared here. The McQuesten Farm pix are just awful; that is going to be a huge economic blow to those people.

When all of you that are bailing water out of your basements and watching your plants drown dry out and you can assess the damage, do post the plants you lost - many of us will have some things to share.

Praying for a speedy end to this system.

Pouring, pouring, pouring all night and again this morning here in the Merrimack Valley. Still raining. Men are pumping out my basement right now. I have a neighbor who pumps water from their basement into the storm drain which then empties (no sewers here) right in my backyard, in my wildflower garden. The town engineer told them it was illegal but they keep doing it in every big storm. I had to speak to them at dawn's early light and I hate doing that. They had a fire hose emptying into the drain that connects to my yard.

On the bright side, I took a good long walk around my garden and everybody is fine. Some are beaten down but they will be ok--we've been thru this before. Some, like the Japanese iris, are loving it.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you experiencing flooding. I grew up in Lynnfield MA and spent 15 years in Raymond NH before moving to FL four years ago.
We are suffering through a drought here. We have all been doing the rain dance, although we had two inches of rain last night.
I hope it dries out soon for you.
Marion

I have been amazed at what I've seen on the network news... even lil ol' York Beach made the National News on Sunday, I think.

I echo the sympathies for business owners who have been flooded out, esp. with the kick off to the summer season under two weeks away. Ugh. I've been wondering about Ginny and the heat situation, too. Deanne's shots of the flooded nursery and the fields really broke my heart; all that work and preparation destroyed by too much of the very thing that is so sustaining. What a shame.

I took these images on the way home from work today. The loss of this bridge will require a detour, nothing too major, but inconvenient and a real loss to local kids who love jumping off it in to the channel below:

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The portion of this road south of my home is blocked off to traffic. The detour around that is time consuming, at least 10 minutes. It will gone in a day/two/three, but it has created a real pain for local mail carriers and trash removal guys, not to mention any deliveries.

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It almost looked like Old Sol might peep out a few times today, but no... . Oh well, it won't last forever. And Smitty, I didn't read anything in your posts that I thought was unfeeling or insensitive!

Thanks for being gracious..

Having lived in the flat lands in CT when the rivers have over run there banks destroying homes and doing damage I feel for folks. I personally have never had this touch my life.
When I lived in an apartment complex we did have three feet of water flow over our garden there for about 6 hours one day. I went out in my boots and trenched the garden all around and finally got the water diverted. But that was just a veggy garden and not thousands of dollars worth of prized plantings. Just didn't want to seem insensitive.. OBTW the sun is out!! I am going outside soon to see if I can garden.. LOL Smitty

Chelone, those are unbelievable pics of the bridge. Unfortunately there are way too many bridges in that condition right now. I shudder to think of what it is going to cost to get our infrastructure safe and sound again.

Like you, the view of those greenhouses and flooded fields broke my heart. I wish you could have spoken with the people. They were so philosophical about it all and concentrating on what they had left and not what they lost. Amazing and resilient folks. I have a lot of respect for people who can look those kind of losses head on and spend the time figuring out how to move on instead of feeling sorry for themselves. I'm personally planning on doing a lot of shopping there this summer!

Deanne

Yeahhhh! We have our phone, computer, and all our tv stations back! The cable man fixed it yesterday afternoon. Had to replace the whole cable and connection from the street to the house. Water had traveled from the street level cable to our house connection and shorted out. He found a worn spot on the cable and the rain water traveled into the cable. Still have water coming into the basement. We are the lowest lot at the bottom of a small hill. We were away visiting my mom for Mother's Day in Mass. for the weekend. Didn't get home till Sunday night. Driving back to Maine was pure h*ll. Found over a foot of water in the basement. Water had covered the furnace motor and shut it down. No heat or hot water for a couple of days. Makes for VERY QUICK showers! LOL. Wayne took the furnace motor apart and dried it out with a hair dryer, put it back together. So we have heat and hot water now. Good thing he's handy. I think I'll keep him around. I've started bagging the ruined stuff for trash day.
One thing we both had a good laugh at...before we left for my mom's we recieved a delivery of dahlias Wayne ordered. I didn't want them to dry out so I put wet newspapers on top of the tubers and hoped that would keep them damp until we got back home. I put them in the basement. They were totally coverd with water when we got back. See I worried for nothing ;) I hope they are okay to plant. They have been drying out for the last couple of days.
Hope everyone else is doing okay now that the waters are receeding. Great pictures chelone. We went for a tour of the town and saw many of the places in your pictures. It just doesn't seem real at times when it is your own town being shown on the news. Well the basement is calling me, take care everyone. NancyLouise

What a mess in Essex County in the Merrimack Valley! Roads closed all over the place. You can't get there from here, so to speak. Water standing where I have never seen it before. The main shopping plaza shut down. This will be quite awhile in the clean-up and damage assessment. I got some perennials planted today and swept water out of the garage in between. As fast as I swept, it oozed back in from the foundation. And obviously others have it much worse. Yuck.

I hope everyone, who has been dealing with flooding issues this past week, is recovering and drying out. This is a long post, but maybe the construction parts will be useful to some.

I have been on the road since Sunday and really wondered what I would return to yesterday. First, some background.

Even though I live on a 50+ foot deep sand hill in the Connecticut River valley as Ive described in other postings, the pitch of the main house roof onto the rear Âbarn or extension roof has meant that, for the last 236 years, water has poured down into the corner made by the main house and the extension, pooled up, and run down through the stone foundation and into the dirt floor basement. So, the basement is always damp, making it unsuitable for storage and also a source of dampness and odor that can affect the whole house. Last fall, when those poor people died in Alstead (about 15 miles south of me) after the dam on the Cold River broke, my basement flooded deep enough to cover the furnace motor (nancylouise, I feel your pain). Fortunately, the motor fired up, once I got the sump pump working and drained the basement, but then and there I decided to tackle the centuries-old problem. The solution was two-fold: 1) build a 50-foot long, seven-foot wide (eight-foot roof) farmerÂs porch on the north side of the extension (which houses the kitchen, mud room and garage/carriage house) to deflect the water that comes off of that side of the roof out into the lawn, and 2) build a 24 x 16 foot great room addition into the other corner where the larger quantity of water has always pooled and leaked into the basement. The frost walls from the addition have perforated piping along their outside base and there is even a pipe along the old foundation of the main house that goes through the frost wall and links up with the other pipes, all of which empty into a drain pipe that goes under the drive and dumps into the stream. The new room is framed out and, as of Sunday the roof had been felted, but the metal roof was not on, yet. My rainfall totals for the past eight days have not been nearly as impressive as those of the folks in the Merrimack Valley, but still added up to way more than normal:

Friday: 0.40
Saturday: 0.93
Sunday: 1.03
Monday: 0.12
Tuesday: 0.53
Wednesday: 0.01
Thursday: 0.03
Friday (So far): 1.10
Total: 4.15

Odd how, for me, today has been the wettest day, so far.

So, how did things fare?

The farmerÂs porch was completed earlier this spring and has completely solved the problem on that side of the house (so far). The ground on that side of the basement is slowly drying out (was soupy for most of the winter).

On the other side with the room, which now has the metal roof in place, but where the ground has still not been finish graded, the water came off of the roof so hard last Sunday that it created a 2-foot deep sinkhole next to the new frost wall up against the main house. If you can imagine all that rain coming off of the main house onto the new roof and then pouring off in one spot, it kind of looks like Niagara Falls. As a result the water had nowhere to go, backed up under the frost wall and came through the foundation and into the basement. The water was pouring over the rocks of the foundation like one of those indoor waterfalls. I saw this just before I left for my trip, and it freaked me out just a tad, since the whole point of the new room was to carry the water away from that piece of foundation. . But, my contractor put some wood up temporarily to deflect the water over the sink hole, and no water has come through the foundation since, so it is a specific problem with a solution. The site guy is coming up this weekend to dig it out and run additional piping along the wall and a second drain pipe out to the stream (After the grass seed I spread two weeks ago finally sprouted in all this rain, of course). Once everything is graded, we will be adding a couple layers of 6 mil plastic sheet on the ground along that entire wall, which will be under a permanent eight-foot wide, full room length deck. This should move the water away from the foundation and finally provide a permanent solution to the wet basement problem. As a side benefit, the new room is going to be wicked cool  lots of windows and skylights in a south-facing room.

Out in the gardens, all the plants seemed to have taken this deluge well. The daffodils, tulips and hyacinths didnÂt lose any petals, and the constant watering has certainly helped all the new plantings. All-in-all, except for that one glitch with the sink hole, which is really a function of the ground settling, things seem to be moving along. Again, my best thoughts and wishes to everyone, who has not been so lucky.

If there is a take away from the ramble it is that for anyone considering running exterior ÂFrench drains to remediate a water problem, my advice is to not underestimate the power of water and to overbuild the solution. Better to add larger or extra pipes that will Ânever be needed than to wake up one morning to a cold house, a flooded basement and a submerged furnace. My contractor, the site prep guy, and the foundation guy all thought I was overreacting in my comments about how much water came off of the roof and into the house. In one sense, IÂm actually glad the water came into the basement this week, because it showed everyone what I was talking about. Also, if you have the option, just moving the water away from the foundation might be all you need. The farmerÂs porch didnÂt cost much more than the trenching and piping solution would have cost. But, with the pipes I would have been left with nothing to show on the outside of the house. Now, I have a functional covered porch that actually adds beauty and breaks up some boring lines on that side of the house (before it was just an 80-foot straight piece of wall). So, sometimes you have to think Âoutside of the box.Â

narcnh