As the Year Draws to a Close – Snow and Flood

  • Post published:12/28/2020
  • Post comments:4 Comments
Snow on December 20, 2020

We rejoiced when the weather man promised us a white Christmas. We had at least 16 fluffy beautiful inches of snow. We thrilled to the winter beauty.

Christmas Day flood

But wait! On Christmas morning we woke to torrential rains. The windows are frozen shut. I couldn’t get my window open.

December 26 in the morning – greater flood

It was still raining in the morning of Boxing Day. Never have my planting beds been so deluged.

In the evening the flood withdraws December 26

Guess what?  More rain is predicted!  I’m counting on a prediction error.

Those who live in Greenfield would not be surprised or alarmed about these floods. When we bought our house in the early spring 2015 there was a frozen puddle where our lawn chairs live (we have finally taken them inside). In fact, a passing neighbor told us that  that spot was used as a skating rink by neighborhood kids. We were told that the flooding was due to the loss of a giant willow tree.

We immediately saw the need for raised planting beds, but we missed two other reasons for flooding.  First,we learned that a river runs under it. All the houses on our side of the street have flooded basements. In fact the basement ceilings are very low – or another way of looking at it is that the floors are too high in order to be higher than the river below.

Secondly, we much more recently learned from David Sund that our street is right at the edge of the old Pray Brickworks. That explained the heavy soil that looked more like cement than  garden soil.

But there is always a silver lining.  We couldn’t raise  the whole back yard, but we could buy yards and yards of compo-soil from Martin’s Compost Farm to raise the planting beds that created strolling paths between the beds. I could want no more.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Patsy

    I live in Athol and when I moved here 9 years ago I found several Pray bricks in my yard. You have mentioned the bricks in previous posts. I would very much like to gift you a Pray brick if you don’t have any. I really enjoy reading your blog posts the brick would be a little thank you.
    Patsy

  2. Beth@PlantPostings

    Oh gosh, that’s quite a change from Christmas to boxing day! We are forecasted to get 6-10 inches tomorrow, followed by rain and mixed precipitation the next day. These transitions are tough. I’m glad your garden beds are OK!

  3. Pat

    Beth – It was quite a flood. We are almost used to it. And I remind everyone that the shrubs, and even plants like daylilies, are water tolerant.

  4. Pat

    Patsy – I am delighted that you are a visitor to the commonweeder. And I would be delighted to accept a single Pray brick. Thank you! When we were visiting friend in Iowa and he took us on a tour of historic houses. One of those houses had a brick walkway with Pray bricks. I was amazed but my friend said they were fairly common in that area. Amazing. I would love to meet you when that is possible – and accept the Brick. Thank you so much!.

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