I don't believe that covering the area will prevent the soil from becoming saturated. Moisture moves in all directions in the soil, through tiny capillary channels. Water from the surrounding area will absolutely move into the location you wish to dry out. Covering the soil is likely only to prevent the free exchange of soil and atmospheric air, which is important to the health of the root/soil system. Don't do it. Without knowing how large your plant is, no one can tell you if transplanting is a good idea or not, nor what size container to use. Generally speaking, citrus fare better when planted in the ground, as long as that soil is reasonably well drained. Your plant may have grown a great deal more than you realize. Root systems are the first part of a plant to branch out once they are planted in the soil. Because we silly humans can't see them, we don't give them much importance. The root system of your plant may have grown far and wide. Has your soil become swampy with all of the rain, or is it simply wet? If the area never drains, or if the water table is too high, then nothing will grow in it. But if it continues to drain, your tree should be fine. Is the area problematic, which led you to plant high?

Carol, During the Red River flooding of 2007, parts of our Mesonet station were disabled for days and days. I think the issue lasted until the worst of the flooding subsided. At some point they went back and manually corrected what records they could, but much data for the Burneyville station for that month is incomplete and considered somewhat unreliable. It drove me nuts. I had to rely only on my own observations! LOL I need a rain gauge that measures 10 or 12" of rain. I don't need it often (hee hee) but once every 2 or 3 years we get 25-35% of our annual rainfall in one day. When that happens, depending on how fast the rain is falling, I have to put on my muck boots, grab an umbrella and run outside and empty the rain gauge when it gets close to the 6" mark so it won't overflow and give an incorrect measurement. In April 2006, we had 9.25" in one day and most of that fell in about 4 hours. I went out and emptied out the gauge when it hit 5", and then I went out and emptied it out again when it hit 4". Shortly after that, the rain pretty much stopped. This year, the 12.4" fell over a longer period of time--maybe 8 hours or so--and I dumped the rain gauge 2 or 3 times so it wouldn't overflow. Based on statistics, we shouldn't have a massive rainfall for another 2 or 3 years, but sometimes statistics lie. "Christmas Day maybe?" LOL LOL LOL Here is what I am thinking. I am about to catch up and I will have one of those days really, really soon. I have two large bowls of tomatoes on my counter to process, so I think I'll roast them and a few other veggies at the same time and maybe make roasted tomato-garlic soup. That takes care of them. Then, I'll pick tiny tomatoes this evening (too hot already this a.m.) and dehydrate them. Then, I shouldn't have to process tomatoes again for 2 to 4 days, although I pick daily. I'll pick okra at the same time I pick little tomatoes, add it to what I picked yesterday, and blanch and freeze that. That's another veggie I shouldn't have to harvest again until tomorrow evening then, and I usually wait until I have two days' worth before I blanch/freeze. I also should have enough purple hull pinkeyes tonight to either cook a batch or freeze one, and then I should be able to skip picking for a day or two because they are slowing down. So, if I can get black-eyed pes, okra and tomatoes all done today/this evening, I shouldn't have to process them again for about three days. LOL It isn't much, but it is the best I can do. That only leaves hot peppers and sweet peppers. OK, so I have a lot of sweet peppers coloring up and I can pick them and freeze them for future use any time. I might do that tomorrow. If I do, it will take me just a couple of hours to pick 'em, wash 'em, slice 'em or chop 'em and get them into the freezer. That, then would leave only hot peppers. I've done a very heavy picking of hot peppers at least every other week since mid-July. At the present time, it has been about 10 days since I did a heavy picking, although I run out to the garden and pick as needed for cooking or canning recipes. So, I might be able to go 5-7 days before I pick hots again since rainfall is low and growth is relatively slow. So, where this is leading to is here: if I pick and process okra, peas and tomatoes tonight (Thurs.) and sweet peppers on Friday, and postpone hots until Mon. or Tues., then I should have Saturday off! Well, I'll have to pick okra, but I can stick it in the fridge and blanch/freeze it on Sunday. So, you see, I might get a day off. Unfortunately, Saturday is our best chance of rain here (about a 70% chance of rain and they are saying it may be heavy) so it probably would be a good day to be inside canning. It is hard to make the 'day off' fall where you want it to fall. I might do all I can on Saturday if it is raining, and try to make Sunday the day off because I love to cook a big family lunch and spend the afternoon watching NFL football. We still need and want rain here, and I think that by the end of the weekend, maybe I'll be able to say we finally got some. And, all my food processing predictions assume the plants will ripen produce as I expect it to. Every now and then, you walk out in to the garden and discover that blackeyed peas are suddenly purple earlier than expected, or the okra grew especially fast overnight or whatever. At this point, I'm just grateful the fall beans, corn, cukes and peas aren't producing finished products yet. As long as I keep up with the still-producing summer plants, I will be putting up a little food regularly, but not huge amounts on any given day. I will have a big green bean and big corn day or two in October if all goes well. I really think the heavy food processing load is lessening though. I'm still doing frequent batches, but smaller ones. When the fall broccoli is ready, that will be a big day or two, but that's some time off. Dawn

Dee, I hope I can reassure you. Here in PSL we are VERY fortunate and things ARE improving. There is still some standing water but for the most part it's receding. Only a few roads are left blocked, most businesses are back up and running, and it's back to life as usual. If you want to send me a message through my page with the area she lives in or some nearby cross-streets, I can let you know how it's faring, if you like. A little north of us, on the other hand, is probably far worse off. I heard that Melbourne/Palm Bay got TWENTY SIX inches of rain - and a twister. I've kept ya'll in my prayers and I'm glad to see a few of you reporting in. april

Thanks,,Kate. Making Rainbows has nice big blooms to be a short plant, and they stand up nicely. Jellyroll Morton reminds me of Clown Parade in being very photogenic. The cats are just nosy. Today I was picking blueberries and Spatter couldn't not help herself. she kept watching the entire time (and I picked five quarts) and had to keep checking to see what I was putting in the bowl. they follow all over the garden when I take photos or pick blooms or weed or put out mulch. At least two and maybe three or four of them will be there. They are now playing with my botanical labels. kay