CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Heavy rain ruined Aislynn Campbell's garden in Taft back in 2010, but she's not letting a repeat of that weather pattern do the same this year.
She used sand, compost, and lots of mulch to build-up her garden so that it can handle standing water from the almost daily storms. Its helped her avoid what the neighboring commercial farmers are going through -- concerns that all of the rain could ruin some crops.
"It’s actually not been that hard for me admittedly,” she said.
The large fields of cotton, sorghum, and corn near her home can't utilize the same methods she uses, but experts are hopeful that crops will survive and possibly even lead to an above average harvest.
“At this time, everyone feels that we just need some good, dry weather to be able to get the crop in," said Jason Ott, Texas A&M Agrilife Extenstion Service County Extension agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources. "And we shouldn’t have any issues.”
But with fields already saturated, more rain could further delay the sorghum harvest which puts the crop in danger.
"Whenever you have dry, mature grain in those seed heads you can have some sprouting which would affect bushel weight and the quality of that grain that’s being harvested,” Ott said.
He doesn't expect that to happen, and Ott says that the farmers in our area have insurance on their crops just in case it does.
As for smaller farmers like Campbell, she's ready to adapt to whatever Mother Nature throws at her.
“We’ve got to be able to prepare for the unexpected," she said. "Expect the unexpected.”
