As the days of spring accumulate and we get closer to June, much of my gardening space remains too wet to plant. More showers and thunderstorms are predicted during the next 10 days which will keep the already saturated soil in that condition.
In all my experience gardening on Long Island and in the North Country, there has always been at least one dry period in April and May which allowed the soil to dry out. In many cases irrigation was necessary to get seeds to germinate. At least so far this year we have not had a break from the cool, wet weather. I hate the idea of abandoning the heavier, wetter soils which make up a pretty good percentage of my summer garden, but as the drop dead date for transplanting winter squash and seeding longer season crops like corn looms, that may be what i'll have to do.
I may just be an avid gardener, but many commercial farms in this area will have to make the same choices. Many farmers count on the window of dry weather to plant corn and soybeans on the heavy clay soils which constitute the bulk of the arable land in Clinton and Franklin counties. They may have to "mud" the seeds in. This results in soil compaction which will impact yields if the seed does not rot in the overly moist soil. Is this what climate change looks like at ground level?
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