The abundant rain so far this year in the Flathead Valley brings good and bad news for gardeners, farmers, cherry growers and people trying to keep their yards looking respectable.

Sure, wildflowers likely will be exceptional this year, flowering trees and shrubs are loaded with blooms, cherry trees look healthy and strong and the expected high grasshopper hatch has been stunted.

While the rain helped boost growth of alfalfa hay, it also prevents farmers from cutting and baling that hay.

Although noxious weeds are behind schedule, once temperatures rise they will sprout in full force.

For gardeners hovering over their plots searching for evidence of sprouts, the window of opportunity to replant is quickly shrinking. Root rot or blight may have struck potatoes and tomatoes.

And then there are aphids.

The tiny bugs love soft, new plant growth and they’re everywhere sucking up the juices of the plants that are thriving because of all the rain.

But, aphids are wimpy and can be killed easily with sprays.

The good news about the bad news is there are remedies for most problems, Montana State University Agriculture Extension Agent Pat McGlynn says.

The local hay crop “is looking great,” McGlynn said, and the time for the first cutting of most hay has arrived. But wet fields pose two harvest problems, she said. Moving heavy harvest equipment into wet fields is a bad — if not impossible — idea. And, even if the field is dry enough to cut the hay, laying fresh hay on wet ground allows the ground moisture to penetrate the hay.

In spite of May and June moisture last year, “we had a bumper hay crop,” she said. She’s optimistic that fields will dry out enough to allow farmers to cut and bale hay.

Flathead County is the largest producer of weed-free hay in the state, McGlynn said.

Gardens are late, no doubt, McGlynn said.

A lot of local gardeners got anxious in early May when it warmed up and they planted their gardens then, she said. Soil temperatures weren’t necessarily high enough for planting then, she said, and there’s been plenty of rain hitting the ground.

“A lot of vegetables are root rotting,” she said. Some plants will have to be replaced, but at this juncture, it’s hard to say if the plants could catch up with the number of growing days that are left in the summer.

McGlynn reminds gardeners that in Northwest Montana, vegetables don’t ripen overnight as they do in warmer climates. If the temperature doesn’t stay above 55 degrees, vegetables can’t ripen.

“Our vegetables cool off and it doesn’t warm back up until noon or so. That means they have eight or so hours a day to ripen,” she said

For gardeners who do pull out particular vegetables because roots or seeds have rotted, McGlynn said crop rotation is vital. Don’t plant the same vegetable in that same spot, she said, or you risk more rot or blight.

Gary Hoover, a Flathead Lake cherry grower, said the cherries in his orchard are about the size of marbles right now. “That’s not bad,” Hoover said.

Rain in May and June isn’t terrible for cherry trees, Hoover said. “If it was mid-July and we were getting this weather, I’d be a lot more nervous,” he said.

Like a year ago, the cool spring likely will push the local cherry harvest back a few weeks into August, Hoover said.

McGlynn agreed that this year should bring a good cherry crop.

“The fruit set really well this spring,” she said.

She also expects harvest to occur a little later than usual. But her prediction is that the harvest may only be off by three or four days. Often, a slightly later harvest is good news for the Flathead crop, she said, because it pushes Flathead cherries onto the market after Washington cherries have been harvested. But this year the Washington crop is about three weeks behind normal, “which puts them right in our market.”

McGlynn cautioned that harvest is a month away, and all sorts of things could occur between now and then to change harvest times in either the Flathead or Washington.

Cherry growers got lucky this spring with the absence of hail and a late freeze, McGlynn said.

Peaches weren’t as lucky, she said. Many peach trees in the valley suffered winter kill. “But cherries and apples are looking good.”

Shade trees and shrubs may need some extra attention later this summer, she said. Because of all the water, trees and shrubs have put out extra foliage. When the heat and dry weather hit later this summer, those trees will need more water to feed all that extra foliage, she said.

On the bright side, McGlynn said grasshopper nymphs died in all the rain. Grasshoppers like it hot and dry and wet springs literally put the damper on their hatch.

The weather has slowed growth in noxious weeks this year, according to Jed Fisher, Flathead County Weed Control District director.

The rain has kept Fisher’s crew from spraying as much as it normally would have by this point in the year.

He’s certain those pesky weeds are growing, they just haven’t surfaced in full glory yet. But warmer weather will cause that, Fisher said.

The hidden good news in the weed battle, Fisher said, is the rain is resulting in good, strong grass and other desirable vegetation, which choke out weeds.

Dandelions likely will prove to be a tough weed for people taking care of lawns, McGlynn said.

Because of all the rain, those who did spray for dandelions and other weeds probably wasted their efforts, she said. The rain washed away the spray. Now that the weeds have grown, it takes more chemicals to kill them, and a lot of people don’t want to use additional amounts, McGlynn said.

While lawn fertilizer applied now will help grass, it also will boost weed growth, she said.

People who want specific advice about yard and garden issues may call McGlynn at 758-5554. Master gardeners also are available to answer questions. They have a booth at the Thursday night farmers’ market in Columbia Falls.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.