New growth due to rains

The neat thing about farming is that things change every day.  If you work in an office, you may look out of the same window at the same view.  Even though our seasons, except for summer, are very short, when the seasons change, you see the land change as the leaves turn colors and then plants go dormant.  You see burst of tender, new bright green growth in Spring.  Even when it isn't Spring, after a rain, you'll see a revitalized growth on plants as the dull green color of leaves gives way to bright green leaves on all the plants.

Rain prompted new growth on blueberry bushes

A ficus tree that was in the sunroom that we moved outside is enjoying the rain and sunshine and is putting on new leaves in abundance. 

We also have lots of new growth on our orange trees and satsuma trees.  As I was checking out the orange trees, I noticed that they are loaded up with oranges.  The only problem is that most of the oranges have damage to the fruit done by birds.  We have an overabundance of blackbirds, grackles, mockingbirds, and blue jays.  The fruit itself isn't damaged I don't think, just the orange peel, but it isn't pretty to look at.  Next year I'll put up bird netting on all the trees to better protect the fruit.

The impatiens by the side door are full and blooming.



Crepe Myrtles showing off their blooms

Due to all the rainfall we've received lately, I did some searching for YTD rainfall totals for our area.  The latest update I could find from a month ago and was from the local TV station in Lafayette, a city about 45 minutes east of us.  They stated,

Earlier this month, Lafayette surpassed all the precipitation that it received for the entire calender year of 2011.
To date, more than 40" of rain has fallen in Lafayette this year...compared to the 36-37" of rain that fell in 2011. This time last year many spots across Acadiana were struggling with drought and rainfall of less than 20 inches for the year.
Normal year total rainfall in the area is around 60 inches.

That was a month ago.  We've easily gotten 8 or 10 inches since then, putting us within spitting distance of reaching our normal yearly rainfall total in August.  Wow!  Now, I feel a little guilty about complaning about rain when our friends in the midwest are suffering through a brutal drought.  I'm starting to get ready to get the fall garden in and would like to have it planted by September 1.  The ground is too wet to even think about planting anything for a while.  In the meantime, I'll start checking my seed inventory and planning what all I'll plant.  Hopefully we'll get a few dry days so that the land can dry up and we can begin planting.