New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Oh the good aches attributed to a garden ready for a good soaking.

Tuesday 06/11/2013

I bulled hard yesterday in a delayed rush to get the rest of my garden in before the predicted rain. I planted a few tomatoes and peppers three weeks ago along with a row of beans, but had lots more to plant and time just seemed to get away from me the last few weeks.

So I made the push yesterday planting another dozen tomatoes I bought along with a whole platter full of plants my mother had started and was worried they would never get in the ground. All tolled I counted 35 when they were in the ground. Plus I planted a couple rows of cucumbers, another of beans and a couple short rows of dill. Now my garden is about 50 or 60 feet long. A pretty good stretch of ground to dig out a furrow for placing seeds in the ground. Oh ya, I hoed up my two rows of potatoes as well.

So last nights welcoming sound of rain on my deck roof out the bedroom window was heard much of the night as I tossed and turned on aching arms and shoulders. Good pain for sure. My thoughts of the rain soaking the seeds and drenching the roots and soil no doubt giving my little charges a good chance of surviving and awarding me with vine ripened tomatoes. How I love garden tomatoes.

My mother at nearly 90 sits in her chair at garden's edge mostly quietly watching me. Though as my toil was, I thought, nearly ended she pointed to the two short rows of cabbage I had planted a month ago and pointed out they needed to be transplanted. That's when I mentioned to her that there were some potato bugs already on the plants that she needed to do something about. Dusting the potatoes is her job. And of coarse as I took a break to make a work call she quickly had that done leaving me nothing to complain to her about. I find it's hard to stay ahead of a 90 year old these days.

I heard American toads calling down back the day of my birthday on the 31st. That was one of the string of days in the 90's. Haven't heard them since. This has been kind of a weird year for frogs and toads. From a near full month of drought thru May with little frog movement because of the lack of rain to periods of below average temperatures that had the frogs just stop singing. And the end of May is late for our toads. The tree frogs migrated thru the trees around my house three weeks ago headed to the meadow down back. That seemed early to me. But now they have moved through the trees from in back of my house and are calling from the trees across the road on their way back out into the forest for the balance of the year. I must say not that many as years ago when the river backed up into the meadow before they took the Buck Street dam out. So fewer frogs and toads here since the dam removal and not a single bull frog anymore. I used to have a dozen down back.

It just seems that this spring has been all jumbled up. Winter hung on longer than usual, spring has had fits and starts and throw in a mid 90's heat wave for a few days. My furnace may get whiplash from turning it off then back on in between quickly digging out the air conditioners and slamming them into the windows for a couple of days. Today is in the 50's, more like an April day. Very confusing spring.