Well, the easy answer to the weather of late is that if the weather in Anchorage was better, like we dream it should be, there would be too many people living here. I don't know, though, once the word gets out that we haven't had to water our gardens or lawns this summer, we could see a migration of gardeners for next year.

Not having to water your gardens in the summer is, indeed, an advantage to a wet summer. But all the rain and the cloudy days have also resulted in lots of things that simply have not done as well as they have in previous years. From delphiniums to squash, things seem smaller, even smaller than Lower 48 size. In fact, some things are downright Rhode Island-size, to carry the analogy, if anyone is measuring. It will be interesting to see how things present themselves at the fair this year. There won't be many corn entries.

Things are just too wet. Days are just too cloudy. There are fewer insect flights out to flowers to collect the nectar and spread the pollen. Alas, thrips can't do the job. It takes the bees and certain flies -- and they don't like to take to the air when it is wet.

Always trying to look at the bright side, I don't see leaf miners in the leaves, but it may be a little too early to conclude they won't show up. It just feels like we are in the late August rains. What has been such an obvious pest in past years may not like this weather any more than you and I do. They have a few more weeks to go before we know if the wet and the cool have helped reduce the miners numbers.

Wasps? Haven't seen many of them so far this year. Again, it could be early, but there just are not the numbers of aphids out and about, and those are a real staple in the wasp diet. They are there, but not like last year.

And, if you look at them as a sign things are healthy in your yard, this is starting out as a killer couple of weeks for mushrooms. Most of them are simply fruit of mycorrhizal fungi that are feeding your trees and shrubs in return for carbon. Actually, it turns out that your trees and shrubs are using fungi to mine the soil in your yard. The mushrooms happen to be little blowouts that occur in the process whenever it gets wet enough and the fungi can multiply.

These, as well as decaying mushrooms usually found in the woods and on bark landscape chips, indicate that all is well with the soil food web. No mushrooms in your yard, especially when we have had so much rain, means something is wrong. Start the list of missteps with compacted soil and use of chemicals.

While on the subject of soil food web creatures, which fungi are, how about some amoeboid life forms right out a sci-fi movie? Some folks are complaining about the appearance of quarter-size, pink blotches of foamy, pancake batter-like gook on wood and mulches. These are slime molds. Millions and millions of individual amoeboid organisms somehow all get it in their orders to come from all over to form these blobs that act like single, live organisms that eventually throw off some spores. They don't do much, but they are another indication that things in your yard are fine. (And you thought it was dog vomit.)

Rain or not, this is raspberry season, though this year's rain has made a pretty good crop, albeit not as sweet as it would be if there had been more sun. In fact, you need to get out there and get them before the birds, dogs (yours doesn't eat raspberries?), insects and fungi get them. They are ripe when you can pull them off their cap, which stays affixed to the plant.

Finally, if you are thinking of planting a new lawn, who could ask for anything better than rain all the time? Not only are we going into raining season -- not "rainy" -- but if you don't get yours in before the middle of August, you may be risking your efforts. An early frost or shortage of snow cover can keep your new lawn's roots from having time to establish the plants. You want to use the best soil or compost-soil mix you can. If you want to add organic fertilizers, fine, but chemical fertilizers are a no-no.