If April showers bring May flowers, then what does a March deluge bring? One thing it brings is flooding, and our local rivers (like the Ohio) are out of their banks and well past flood stage. We have had almost 7 inches of rainfall here so far this month, and the ground is saturated to say the least. But at least we can see the ground, which is no longer covered in snow. The below photo shows the Ohio river flooding the historic old Dam #47 building, which was built in 1928 and has seen it’s share of river flooding over the years. To the left you can see lamp posts and the road which leads to the new dam site a bit upriver.
Old Dam #47 building on the Ohio River
The Ohio is 10 feet above flood stage here, and a good 20 feet above its normal pool levels. Our town has a paved walking/running trail that runs for almost 3 miles along the river’s edge. The river is up so high you can almost reach down and touch it in places. It’s expected to crest before it gets over the trail and the nearby road. The river is still a good 10 feet lower than it was in the terrible 1937 flood, but this years flooding is getting close to top-ten territory. Fortunately Happy Acres is about a mile away from the river and well out of the flood plain. Being on top of a hill doesn’t hurt either! I have to say the river still looks majestic, especially in the early morning light when I captured these images.
Newburgh Rivertown Trail
I have done a lot of seed starting here lately. The petunia seed I started last week is coming up nicely with near 100% germination. The tiny seeds are usually sold pelleted, and need both light and heat to germinate. So I put them on top of moistened potting soil, spritz with a spray bottle to dissolve the pelleting material, and cover with plastic wrap to keep the seeds moist until they germinate. Then the pots go onto a heating mat under my plant lights, where they began sprouting in about four days. Margaret showed us her petunia sprouts last week, so I decided to show you mine. That’s Tidal Wave Pink in the below photo. If you look close you can see that 11 out of 11 seeds came up in this one. And for reference they are in a 3.5 inch pot.
petunia seedlings
In other news, the greenhouse spinach has really started growing now. We’ve been enjoying it in salads the last week or two. That’s Giant Winter in the below photo. It is still my favorite for eating raw, and it’s pretty tasty cooked as well.
harvest of Giant Winter spinach
The overwintered spinach in the cold frame bed is alive and well too. Now that it has thawed out it should begin growing again. The season here for spinach is fairly short, so we will enjoy it fresh while we can, and freeze the extra for use throughout the year.
overwintered spinach in cold frame bed
Inside the greenhouse I have some early plants of lettuce, arugula and other greens that are ready for a home. Hopefully I can get them planted in one of the cold frame beds when the soil dries out a bit. That’s Baby Oakleaf lettuce in the below photo. I need to get it planted soon or else start cutting it for salads!
Baby Oakleaf lettuce plants
Outside, things are greening up all over. Daffodil leaves are poking up, and I’m guessing blooms will be here in a matter of days. Crocuses and snowdrops are already blooming. No signs of hosta yet, or asparagus.
snow drops (Galanthus) blooming
We still have a few Purple Haze carrots left from last fall, and we’re using them on salads. I’m going to try one called Purple Sun this year, but Purple Haze will be the one to beat and I plan on growing even more of it this year. It is productive, tasty and colorful and that makes for a winning combo. I’m also giving Mokum another shot this year. It lost out to Yaya a couple of years ago, but I have learned a bit about growing carrots since then. We will see how the two compare this year.
spinach salad with Purple Haze carrots
I hope you have enjoyed this March update. To see what others are harvesting and cooking up, visit Daphne’s Dandelions where Daphne hosts Harvest Mondays. And thanks to Daphne for hosting every week!
Hope the flood did not cause a lot of damage. Your oak leaf seedlings are so healthy, I am going to start my lettuce seeds earlier next year.
Rain and melting snow has brought river levels up high here too. I’m going to check out the condition of the garden today now that I can see it. I bet its a soupy mess still though maybe the raised beds have warmed up some and dried out. If I’m lucky I may get peas planted this week.
I hope you get some dry weather soon. We got more snow on Sunday and finally broke our all time snowfall record. Sigh. I hope it stops now. I find that Yaya outperforms Mokum in production, but not in taste. So Mokum won the battle for me. Though I’m trying Nelson this year to grow alongside Mokum. I’ll see how it compares. I grow Mokum both in the spring and fall, but spring carrots are the hardest to find. My seed catalog said that Nelson was best for that. Of course every garden is different so who knows how it will perform here.
Wow, that is some severe flooding – I hope there isn’t too much damage, but from the looks of it, that may be a bit of a stretch.
My petunias are still small, but coming along. 100% germination is fantastic! I had 6/8 of my seeds come up, but I also think I removed the moisture retaining plastic wrap off of the cell pack a bit too soon. I purchased some Giant Winter spinach last year but it unfortunately never made it into the ground…of course, now that I see yours, I wish I had made that extra bit of effort.
It’s looking like spring has sprung in your garden. The weather here has been very un-spring like, more like summer and I’m really tempted to sow some beans and squash already.
Wow, that’s a lot of water, I wish we had some of it here.
Sad to see that building flooded – but as you said, it’s been there before. I am hoping for a slow thaw here as we often have nasty floods most years. Wonderful start on your greens – with so much snow, hard to believe you already have flowers popping up!
Hope the flooding doesn’t get too bad. With all this snow (and it is now raining!), I expect we will see some flooding here. It’s nice to see all your greenery. I need to get going starting some kale and lettuce in the hope that we see the ground again in a few weeks.