The weekend's torrents of rain may have been too much for beachgoers, but Island farmers were grateful for it. Yesterday morning, Jim Norton of Norton Farm in Vineyard Haven was out under the warm sun planting young tomato seedlings. His assistants, Julie Roza and Lisa Schoonover, were quick to put each one of the dozens of plants into the wet soil.

"I'd say we are two weeks behind," Mr. Norton said. The weather of the past month has been unseasonably cool, and for three weeks drier than years past.

Over the weekend the Vineyard received more than two inches of rain from a storm that began Saturday night and continued well into Sunday morning. Last week was the wettest in what has been, for the most part, a dry spring.

The first tomatoes at the Norton family farm was planted a week ago. Yesterday, Mr. Norton was establishing the fifth double row. "We started them from seeds in our living room back in February," Mr. Norton said. Each plant was three to five inches tall.

To help accelerate the growing season, Mr. Norton put down a layer of black plastic on each row to act as a mulch. With the dark covering, the sun heats the soil faster. Plastic also helps the soil retain moisture and cuts down on crawling creatures and weeds. On top of the black plastic, the three put a red sheet of plastic. Mr. Norton said growers know the red causes the plants to grow better and faster.

Mr. Norton recalled years ago when he started using plastic as mulch. The late Fred Fisher, a farmer from West Tisbury, came by to inspect Mr. Norton's work. Mr. Norton said he explained to the senior farmer how this was a proven way to cut down on weeds, improve the soil and help the plants.

"He told me: ‘But it ain't farming,' " Mr. Norton recalled.

The first of the corn is up. Mr. Norton said the first crop of 57-day corn was planted in mid-April. Mr. Norton said the corn is so named because it takes 57 days from germination to harvest. The plantings are staggered so that by mid-summer there is always corn to pick.

While many might complain about the weather of this spring, Mr. Norton said his peas are doing fine. "Peas love cool weather," he said.

It won't be long before harvest. Mr. Norton said that in no time at all, they'll be putting out the sign that declares, "Peas are in." That sign has a history with the family going back at least 25 years. It was made by Mr. Norton's daughter, Heather, when she was in high school.

Jim Athearn at Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown said he would have preferred less than the two inches of rain that fell last weekend. "But it looks like it came over a long enough time that we didn't get any washout," Mr. Athearn said.

If the warming of the season starts today, this promises to be a good season.

At Allen Farm in Chilmark, the sheep were shorn over the weekend. Clarissa Allen said they have 70 corriedale sheep. Looking ahead, her thoughts were about the weather. "I just hope this isn't the last of the rain for the whole season," she said. "In the last few years we have had very dry summers."

At FARM Institute in Edgartown, the first belted galloway calf of the season was born Saturday, May 10. John Curelli, director of the institute, said the farm had more than 30 sheep shorn earlier in May. They have Tunis, Navajo-Shurro and Icelandic sheep.

On Sunday draft horses plowed the fields at Katama Farm. "They disked the soil," Mr. Curelli said.

The institute runs farms at Herring Creek Farm and Katama Farm. While Mr. Norton said the season is two weeks late in Vineyard Haven, Mr. Curelli said he thinks the season is more like three weeks behind down at Katama. "The rain has been great. The hay grasses are looking really good," Mr. Curelli said.

This week, 50 lambs are arriving from New Hampshire for Katama Farm. On Friday, 50 beef cows are arriving from the town of Heath. "The big rush is now," Mr. Curelli said.

In the days ahead, they'll be planting seedlings from the new hoop greenhouse, Mr. Curelli said. "We've got tomatoes, lettuce, beets and nice garlic already in the garden."

Arnie Fischer at Flat Point Farm in West Tisbury has had a busy season when it comes to animals. Since April 1, he and his family have been raising a calf named Delly. "We are weaning her off the bottle now," Mr. Fischer said. The little Hereford cow got the short end of the stick from the start.

Mr. Fischer said the mother lost interest in the calf five days after birth, so the farmer stepped in with a baby bottle. Delly is doing fine.

"We had one complicated calf birth on the day of the Kentucky Derby [May 3]," Mr. Fischer said. "Mother and child are doing fine."

The hay season looks healthy enough, said Mr. Fischer. "It is looking good for a good cut of hay after this rain," he said. "We had three weeks without a drop of rain earlier in the month and I was going nuts," he said.

"Thank goodness we got this soaking rain. You need the rain at the right time for a hay crop," said Mr. Fischer, who is president of the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society.

Last fall, Mr. Fischer reseeded four acres and the effort is already looking like it was worth his while. "It won't be a prime crop this year, but next year it will be great," he said.