Last week we had some pretty heavy rain, about 8" over three days. In one of our fields we had standing water for several days. Amazingly the eggplant and broccoli seem to be still alive but tomatoes and peppers died within about 24 hours after the ground was saturated. 
Peppers and tomatoes in some beds died 24 hours after the ground became saturated. It almost looked like we had had a frost as the tops wilted but next day the plants croaked. "Water wilt" seems to be the technical term.
Today is our CSA delivery and we are really going to be scraping to fill the boxes. Overall, due to a cold spring, germination problems and other issues, we have lost at least half of our harvest. At the Batavia, Illinois, farmers' market last week one vendor said, "I was worried about an early frost but not not. Everything is dead." Pretty much sums up the mood around here.
This week we should start to cover some of our summer crops with temporary hoophouses to help extend the season a bit. Eliot Coleman has an interesting design for a low-cost house that can be put up very quickly. We'll cover some of the winter crops later and we're planning a small fall CSA. Ultimately we hope to harvest all winter for our local market.
