I finally got around to totalling 2009's rainfall. We got 71.4 inches, which broke down like this:

Jan 3.5" Most of this came on Dad's bday, Tuesday the 27th, in the form of freezing rain, followed (finally) by sleet. Having watched ice storms hit my daughter in Tulsa in 06 and George in Tahlequah in 07, I knew it was just a matter of time for us so had a tree trimmer take off a dozen large limbs from oak trees that overhung our mobile home and our storage building, last Oct. We still had a small limb crash through the living room right next to the west wall. We were 9 days without electricity. SIL brought a generator from Tulsa on Friday as it was getting warm enough for freezers to thaw. We used it to run only the freezers and in the evening the well pump so could take showers.

January started out deceptively warm. On the 3rd, it was 72 d F. and DH and I sunbathed in front of the tin wall of the garden shed.

Feb 4.5" Feb is when I normally start Sugar Snap Peas on the warm bench, but the seed I ordered didn't get here in time. Planted what I had left over, only enough to plant 20 feet of row.

Mar 3.5" The broccoli was also backordered so planted leftover Early Dividend seed, only enough for one 50 ft row. Bought Calabrese off the seed rack at WM as it said it was an early variety. Then when the Packman came planted it. Also found Super Sugar Snaps at a local feed store and bought some. Since it was so late I germinated them in the house and planted only the sprouting seed directly in the garden. Got Zip. Seed rotted. So late as it was, planted on warm bench in peat pots, which meant that tomatoes didn't get planted out there as not enough room. Put broccoli on bench, tomatoes in Kitchen

April 5.5" Had a hot day 88 d F on the 22nd. Peas and broccoli mulched good, but definitely too hot for them.

May 8.6" Too wet to do much in garden first week when most of this fell. Packman, the broc seed which was subbed and planted lateish started bearing, but the Calabrese was almost a total bust. I miss Early Emerald, my old favorite, which couldn't get, but Early Dividend did well.

June 3.7" The 2nd planting of peas bore until mid June along with a few of the Calabrese. Pulled up over 1/2 the Calabrese without getting a thing from them. Then we got a string of 100 d F days. 1995 was last year that had 100's in June. I feared a hot summer. Got a lot of green beans from two 50 ft rows of bush beans. Tried a couple new cucs from Baker's this year. The Sikkim produced nothing at all, but the little yellow Poona Keera was very good and bore well.

July 3" Had to start watering the garden a bit. Fourth of July has been corn harvest and putting by for years and this year had some but not as much as I planted corn 4 times this year instead of the usual two. The cold soil and the blackbirds opened up so many holes that both beds had to be spot replanted. The hot weather didn't materialize, instead turned off coolish again. We took a vacation to Washington state, first trip back in almost 40 years. They had 100's and most people with no AC. We were miserable for a few days, but with low humidity, the nights were bearable back to low 70's My brother and wife stayed at our place to take care of the garden.

Aug 10.1" Ten minutes of quarter to half-dollar size hail did a lot of damage in the garden on the 5th, shredding the okra and corn leaves, dinging lots of tomatoes, which I picked green. The damage to the watermelons wasn't immediately obvious. It was only a week later that we realized that all six left on the vines had rotted before ripening. The 50 ft row of Kentucky Wonder Pole beans I planted was a real magnet for Japanese Beetles. This year we hung nine traps around the garden and orchard. Then I learned that the traps will draw beetles in from a 1/2 mile or more. So next year we will move out to the perimeter of our property across several acres and hang the traps on the pasture fences well away from the garden.

George (Macmex) gave me some Cherokee Stripe Cornfield beans which I planted late enough to escape the beetles and which I picked until frost in Oct. A very tasty bean, which I will grow again even if it does have strings. Picked corn in Aug. CAn't remember ever doing that before . Okra did well, Tomatoes started showing disease problems. I raised Ark Traveler this year, Black Brandywine, and Thessaloniki, all heirlooms that were very tasty. Carol sent me seeds of Sungold and loved that little yellow cherry.

Sept 13.9" I planted the fall garden, transplanted broccoli, cabbages, chinese cabbages, brussels sprouts that I started last month on the porch. Direct seeded winter radishes, daikon and Chinese Red Meat. This latter is a wonderfully sweet, mild radish. I'll be raising that again.

Also didrect seeded mustard, turnips, lettuce, spinach, raddichio, kohlrabi, rutabaga and bok choy.

We didn't just get a lot of rain in Sept, we got a lot of clouds. It almost felt like being back in Seattle.

Oct 11.3" A continuation of Sept weather. Too cool, too cloudy, too wet for my broccoli and brussels sprouts to make. I picked quite a bit of everything else, until the deer got in and ate down 3 50 ft rows, lettuce, spinach, bok choy raddichio were favorites. left the other stuff alone. Got a light frost on the 24 which took out all the tender stuff. I didn't get any cucs from the fall planted ones. Only 5 sunny days for the month. George and Jerreth found a Kiwano (African Horned Melon from Baker's) in the garden while they were here and told me they can be juiced. I let a bunch go to waste because I didn't want to peel the spiny things. May try again next year.

Nov 1.3" Finally turned off dry and we got some bright sunny days. 11/26 was our first frost that was hard enough to kill the impatiens by the house. I pulled all the winter radishes and cut most of the chinese cabbage and all the broccoli, which finally made teacup size heads. The cabbage and brussels sprouts never made at all. We had huge turnips though, and the mustard went to flower at 6 ft tall. I dug my raddichio plants and put them in a tote in the storage building to see if they would put back out. I learned that I love the flavor of kohlrabi sliced raw into salads. Left a couple in the garden to see how much cold they can take.

Dec 2.5" Still eating on the winter radishes, turnips, rutabagas and chinese cabbages that I brought in last month. They should last another month easily. But ate the last of last spring's Irish potatoes and now have to buy again. Even after pulling off the sprouts, my own have better flavor.

And that was 2009 for me. I don't know if it was a recordbreaking year for rainfall. I've only been keeping track since 06, when we got 62.5" Got 46.4" in 07 which I think is more normal, and 62.6" in 08.

Happy Gardening to everyone in 2010.