I was told that April was the wettest on record and that it was the second most rain in a month ever. I got onions, lettuce, corn and kohlrabi out yesterday in my little garden that has good drainage...big clay soil garden wont be planted til the 20th or later. I've 47 tomato plants indoors half of which are getting too big. There is one sunny day in the 9 day forecast....boo boo boo!

I had to hold onto my onions far longer than I wanted to, but they are coming around as long as they don't drown. Leeks, on the other hand, are at maybe 40% loss. I'd say a fourth of the potatoes drowned; and if it doesn't stop raining I'll lose the rest to weeds. I'm afraid to till much because at least now the soil is compacted enough that most of the water runs off. Of all things, I'm also struggling now w/asparagus beetles. They've ruined probably 40% of the crop as well. I hold out little hope on all the lettuces, spinach, chard, and beets. We had pounding rain, which crusted the soil, and weeds are the only things coming through. Oh, and all the rain flooded our basement --twice-- till I figured out gutters were clogged as well as the window well. The first time the sump pump float got stuck. It's getting nearly impossible to keep up 2 places and work 3 jobs. My allergies this year have also just knocked me down. The pollen is so thick this year that the pond is coated w/a film of it. Thank God summer is almost here, but I am ridiculously behind. Then again, so is everyone else. It's currently raining yet again.

Oh wow, thank you everyone!! I wasn't getting email notification so I didn't realize people had responded to my question :) Ok, I am going to put them in their final pot (they are determinate varieties--I got them because our teeny tiny garden is too shady to do an indeterminate variety (and there would literally only be room for 1 indeterminate plant) I was going to grow them in 7 gallon pots (I haven't bought any yet) but I will go get larger ones now. I didn't know I could just plant the seedlings in their final location (I wish I had asked this question sooner!)... I researched how to grow tomatoes from seed a while back and on a couple websites I was on said to plant seedlings in a bit of a larger pot first before putting them in their final location. now I know I can skip this step when I try again after the summer :) anyhow, the temperatures are in the low to mid 70s here now and I have kept the plants in these pots strictly outdoors so I don't have to harden them off. I had read about removing leaves to plant them deep in their final location and was going to do that but for this time I will skip removing leaves as advised by bets because of the fact that I started late (hopefully not too late!)and have to give them the best chance to set fruit before the heat and humidity can fry the plants. I will also try to make a way to put a shading cloth over the plants... this is my first time I will see if I can get fruit to set (I first tried last year but started I think it was in late February by seed and it was way too late... the heat came in and killed the plants) bets, yes it is a HUGE change from Colorado LOL... The short winters here in Dubai are awesome (though the temps are more in the mid to high 60s during the coldest time LOL) but the summers are absolutely brutal here! my biggest concern is fertilizing... last year I saw organic fertilizers here in Dubai but this year I haven't found any yet... there are a couple other gardening stores I haven't gone to yet so I hope I find some! For now I have some crushed egg shells and alfalfa meal... but its probably just enough for the planting of these 4 I have... Also, for the pots they don't have the cloth pots here! I just learned about them the other day so I am going to order some from Amazon for the next growing season. again, thank you everyone :)

My DH is a cadaver kidney recipient. He lost his due to 22 years of diabetes. I can walk you thru what we went through, during the decision process. His siblings were climbing all over each other to donate theirs, but since diabetes is prevalent in his family, he decided to decline (both his brother and sister who offered have kids of their own and he thought if the parents end up with diabetes, their only remaining kidney would be at risk and he didn't want their kids to risk losing parents). At that time we didn't have kids yet. I didn't get tested for some of the same reasons. First, I also have a lot of diabetes risk due to family history, and second, we knew we'd eventually want to have kids, and though you can have kids with one kidney, the risk of carrying a child is greatly increased. Finally, Emory University was initiating kidney-pancreas transplants. The thought was, if you still have diabetes after you receive the transplant, the life expectancy of the donated organ is lower than if you were not diabetic. So why not try to see if the pancreas would work? We figured we didn't have anything to lose by trying (normally cadaver pancreas is not utilized). DH was the third KP transplant Emory did. They now do over 200 a year. He lost the initial pancreas, but 2 years later, he got a secondary pancreas only transplant, and it succeeded. So in his case, he's been normal-blood-sugar since 1998. In theory, his new kidney should last as long as a non-diabetic person's kidneys would. The dialysys and wait for the initial transplant was nearly two years, but only a little over a year of that were we actually on the waiting list (it takes some time to treat initial renal failure, then some time to get approved for a transplant). We are very grateful to both of his cadaver donors. We also knew the person who received the liver from the same donor we got the second pancreas from, and I saw that liver work a true miracle in that family's lives. SIDE NOTE TO OUR DONORS: THANKS TO BOTH OF YOU WHOEVER YOU WERE! And thanks to your loved ones and families who made such a phenomenally difficult decision. Know that we now have a 7 year old daughter we would not have without that kidney, and also that DH takes great care of himself, and is doing wonderfully. So far, his sister has developed thyroid disease, and his brother developed Type 2 diabetes, so we do not regret turning their generous offer away.