Larry, I'm sorry to hear your garden has been so disappointing this year.

Because we were flooded constantly, I didn't even plant melons until mid- to late June. I was frustrated I couldn't get them planted any earlier, but it was just too wet. So, now that the rain has stopped here, and my plants are growing and have formed small fruit, I think I might eventually get a melon worth eating, as long as the rain doesn't return in a big way until after the melons have matured. Since the rain here stopped abruptly and shows no sign of returning, maybe at least the melons will be good.

My garden's performance overall has been very uneven. Some things produced nothing, some produced moderately well and a few produced really well. It mostly hinged on whether they tolerated the heavy May rainfall well or not. Some years are just that way.

I'm trying to just count my blessings and be happy that the garden mostly survived the flooding, because it could have been much worse.

I was reading a story in our local weekly newspaper yesterday about a family here that obviously lives along the Red River. They lost several thousand dollars in fencing, roughly 60 pecan trees and about the same amount of acres. From reading the statement made by the landowner, it sounds like the Red River cut a new channel during the flooding and, unfortunately, the new channel cut right through their property, washing away a lot of it, and leaving some of their acreage now on the Texas side of the river. I know this can happen when the river floods, but it still is shocking to think about having their property damaged and destroyed like that. I don't think FEMA is going to help them with any of it either.

Whatever garden problems I have this year just pale in comparison to what they have been through and are going through. Still, I wish that all of our gardens had not suffered so much from the endless rainfall. I hope El Nino will be kind to us this fall and winter because we've all been through enough already.

Dawn

That's bad. FEMA will not help with that I am sure. FEMA does not help agriculture I now this from tornado damage. If you are zone agriculture they send you to the FSA, which has no money, so therefore you receive no help. They have a long a rough road ahead. You are right, our garden problems are insignificant compared to theirs.

my prays are with them.