I’d like to start off by thanking the magical earth for allowing my spectacularly bright-red and huge perennial poppies to blossom before the heavy rains arrived.

I look forward to these ostentatious blooms every year as their large, podded heads lift almost to the bottom of the windows in the stone planter in front of my house. The pods open suddenly, revealing a blossom that appears for only a very short time. This year, with the beating drops of rain falling on their paper-like petals, the beauty of those blossoms appeared for only a couple of days.

This heavy rain has also beaten down the huge clusters of pink rhododendrons. Those hearty pansies, though, continue to provide lots of color. The only thing that bothers them is hot and dry weather.

In the garden, the vegetables growing in the beds, as well as in traditional rows, are holding on. There are puddles, and of course, the weeds and grass love all this rain, while the vegetable plants could do with a bit less.

The lovely patch of still-spring-green ferns at the rear of the house are happily drinking up every drop of water they can get. These ferns are so beautiful and prolific that we don’t want to move them in favor of more lawn.

As long as the rain doesn’t last for days, everything in the garden will recover and continue its steady march to blossoms, then fruit.

During the summer of 2009, the rain started in late May and didn’t really end until July. That was just too much for so many vegetables, particularly the summer and winter squash, cucumbers and pumpkins that had tried to send forth yellow blossoms. The rain was so frequent that the blossoms molded instead of producing fruits. That was a bad year for pickle-making, fresh squash and even tomatoes.

The more rain we receive, the more apt are tomato plants to get a fungus or blight.

We have found that mulching the plants well with newspapers, then topping them with hay or straw can reduce the chance of a fungus. Although we can’t stop the rain from falling, when we finally do have to water, just water from the bottom of the plant, touching as few leaves as possible. Keeping the plant, itself, as dry as possible will reduce the chance of a fungus developing.

With virtually all of the garden in, finally, my thoughts have turned to some strategies I have used for the overall benefit of the garden.

* Use only good tools. Hoes, rakes, hand garden tools and others can be bought fairly cheaply, but as they say, you get what you pay for. Some of my garden tools are close to a century old and have been passed down through my family. These tools have tough, hard, ash handles that seem to last forever. The tool end is a sturdy steel. I’ve had to reattached the tool ends to the handles only a couple of times throughout the years. It pays to invest in quality.   

* With all this rain, it may be difficult to think of the need for having water available for the garden, but that time will come and we may need more for our gardens than we wish to take from our wells or from the municipal water system. I always keep a 55-gallon rain barrel at the corner of the back of the house, along with a large watering can. When a plant or flower looks particularly thirsty, I’m ready to give it a drink. Worries about providing a breeding ground for mosquitoes can be alleviated by adding a mosquito pellet to the barrel. These are found in all garden stores. They prevent mosquito growth but do not hurt plants.

* Insect damage can be a major problem for both flowers and vegetable plants. There is a specialized insect for virtually every plant.  Here are some tips for reducing their destruction.

— Keep plants as weed-free as possible. Also be sure all garden debris from the previous year is removed.

— Closely observe the plants growing in the garden. Whenever a mass of yellow, orange, red or sometimes white eggs is spotted under a leaf, remove and destroy. Colorado potato beetles can totally strip the foliage of potatoes, tomatoes (first cousins to the potato and subject to blight, too), peppers and other vegetables.

— Most insects hate marigolds. Intersperse marigold plants between vegetable plants.

— Try laying the large leaves of rhubarb plants between rows of vegetables. Some destructive insects do not like them.

— To protect seedlings from being decapitated by cutworms (which are the larvae of some of those very attractive moths we see near outside lights), use a cardboard “collar” such as empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls, cut to the right length, then encircle around the lowest part of the plant and into the soil.Encircling the plant with crushed eggshells or limestone will ward off cutworms as well as slugs.

— Tiny, spotted cucumber beetles can wipe out both squash and cucumber leaves in no time. Because they are so small, it’s impossible to pick them off plants individually. Growing very healthy, sturdy plants helps prevent insect damage. Also, a relatively nontoxic insecticide, such as pyrethrins, which are made from flowers, could be used.

— Sometimes success can be found by using a spray of onion or garlic infusion.

— It’s too late this year to do anything about those voracious Japanese beetles except handpick and destroy them, but at the end of the season, success is possible by applying white milky spore, a rather expensive liquid, to the garden soil for next year. Milky spore is a bacterial disease that infects Japanese beetle larvae. Once the milky spore is applied, it doesn’t have to be done again.

— The only way to rid tomato plants of those, large, ugly hornworms is to pick them off.

 A little attention to the insect pests will help the overall garden.

In the meantime, keep those weeds out, pick some gorgeous flowers and marvel at what the magical earth can do.

Eileen Adams of Wilton has been gardening for nearly 40 years and continues to be amazed by the bounty of color, beauty and nourishment offered by the earth. She can be reached at [email protected]