The gardeners at Sunrise Garden Center don’t need experts to tell them northeast Kansas is still in a drought.

“We have had heavy rain, and we’re still able to go out the next day and work,” said Greg McDonald, managing partner of the store at 15th and New York streets. While the ground is wet on the surface, the subsoil is still fairly dry.

And that’s why Douglas County and big chunks of the rest of the state still need rainfall, despite recent showers that have gone a long way toward relieving the drought.

Rain fell periodically Monday, and by 10 p.m. downtown Lawrence had received an unofficial 0.7 of an inch, according to the rain gauge at the 6News studios, 644 N.H.

It was exactly the kind of rain the long-parched area needs, said Bruce Chladny, horticultural agent with K-State Research and Extension-Douglas County.

“It was a nice, slow, steady rain and not too hard,” Chladny said. “That allows it to percolate into the ground.”

Yards, gardens, shrubs and other plants are all doing well so far, thanks to spring rains, Chladny said.

The rain should also benefit wheat and soybean crops, said Bill Wood, agriculture agent with the extension office.

Despite the recent string of showers, Lawrence is still 2.53 inches short of normal precipitation for this time of year, said 6News forecaster Ross Janssen. Until Monday, the city had received 9.26 inches of precipitation in 2003, he said.

Of that total, 2.27 inches of rain fell in May. In April, rainfall totaled 4.34 inches, Janssen said.

But it hasn’t been enough to lift the area out of drought conditions. Drought still covers northern and northeast Kansas, extends into Nebraska and west into the Rocky Mountains, said Scott Whitmore, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka.

Mary Bulat of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, uses her coat to protect herself from the rain while walking along Massachusetts Street. She was in Lawrence Monday visiting her daughter, Andrea Patricia Bulat, who graduated from Kansas University.

Southeast Kansas is not included in the area because it received more snow and other precipitation than the rest of Kansas earlier this year, Whitmore said.

Northeast Kansas remains in drought because the subsoil is drier than it should be, Whitmore said.

“We’ve been dry for an awfully long time,” he said.

Precipitation that sinks into the subsoil is key to getting crops and plants through the hot summer days of July and August, Wood said.

“The subsoil still needs moisture,” he said of the Douglas County area. “The ponds have more water than they did during the winter, but many of them are not yet full.”

¢ See the latest forecast¢ U.S. Drought Monitor¢ Palmer Drought Index¢ Bill Snead’s Parched Prairie — the 2002 Drought

John Pendleton, owner of Pendleton’s Country Market, 1446 E. 1850 Road, said the spring’s rains created a “phenomenal” year for growing asparagus. The growing and harvesting season runs from the middle of April to the end of May.

“It has truly been one of the best asparagus seasons I can remember,” he said.

It’s still to early to say whether the summer will bring a return of hot and dry weather, Whitmore said.

But Pendleton was optimistic.

“If we get a couple of timely rains in June and July — something we didn’t have last year — it will make all the difference in the world,” he said.

This week’s forecast calls for dry conditions through Saturday.