In late May, the floodwaters finally emptied off my garden with the help of running a submersible pump 18 hours a day for two weeks.

The rain stopped, and the sun and wind dried the ground enough to till it and finally get some seeds and plants into the ground.

I put several Roma tomato plants in the ground, five rows of Provider bush beans, several packets of assorted sunflower seeds, some small melon plants and a few pepper plants.

Two days later, the skies opened up again, and my garden was under four inches of water.

More pumping, more rain and more watching the skies. After four days underwater, I figured all the seeds I had placed in the ground were going to rot before they germinated. I was hoping some of the plants would survive.

I waded the edge of the garden and saw the small melon plants were gone. The peppers were about five inches tall. I hoped they might make it. The tomatoes were seven or eight inches, and I thought I might not have to worry about them.

I was wrong.

The tomatoes died, as did about half of the pepper plants.

Once again, the waters receded and the ground eventually dried.

Do I replant, or just give up and buy my produce from the grocery?

Try, try again.

I had plenty of leftover bean seeds from last year. I planted them thickly and hoped for some decent germination.

I put out seven rows this time. I had no sunflower seeds left, but a half-dozen plants had survived the flood.

Only one of the variety I really wanted was still alive. It was supposed to grow to 15 feet tall with inch-and-a-half-long seeds. I will be taking special care of this one plant through the season.

I found a few tomato plants left in the store. They were expensive and looked puny, and I bought only three.

For some reason, I had not planted all the melon seeds, so I put out the remainder of those. Five pepper plants looked good, so I didn’t get more of them.

I planted about 10 rows of ornamental corn and lots of gourd and pumpkin seeds. Then, I stood back to watch.

I am happy with the results so far. The tomato and pepper plants are loaded with tomatoes and peppers. The melon plants have many blooms but no fruit started yet.

The corn is about 18 inches tall, and the gourds and pumpkins are starting to vine all over the garden. The only bad part about the replanting is all seven rows of beans are thick. Last year’s seeds did outstandingly, and the plants are loaded with blooms. The bad part is we will have to pick, snap and can all of those beans when they mature.

I’m not sure my back will be able to handle that.

I didn’t plant any zucchini this year, but I don’t think that will matter. Our new neighbors planted them and are already picking some almost every day.

Since I tilled his garden, I can probably talk them out of some.

Maybe I can persuade them to help me pick the beans if I hobble out to the garden on a walker and whine a lot.

While I’m waiting for everything to ripen, I can spend some time in the kitchen. I keep getting requests for my pineapple sheet cake and brownies from the girls at CVS in Pendleton, and the staff at Hacienda Vieja will eat anything I bake for them. I picked up a few new recipes this weekend I want to try.

One is for a quick bread, and I found two delicious-sounding cookie recipes.

I am heading for the kitchen as soon as I finish this column.