Yardening- almost September 2015

I was so sure we were going to get rain earlier--still daylight...@ 6PM?

I piled all the chair cushions on chairs out of rain's way---I felt the breeze
starting to kick up...I even thought I heard a distant rumble.........NOTHING!!!

I did not water any beds today--just some potted plants.... g.

Muddy, I would think part of the reason the rain water is better than hose water is that the water from the hose has been treated with chemicals at the water treatment plants, contains chlorine, and who knows what all else ? I have well water, the outdoor faucets bypass my water softener so it's coming right out of the ground and my lawn and plants seem to not know the difference between it and rain water.

Here's Palmbob's article in case anyone else wants to read it...http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3510

I'm sure you're right...Palmbob agrees too : - )

I guess I was thinking more of how much more quickly plants grow when we get rain.

No rain yet but it looks like we may get some over night. Fingers crossed.

Everyone got some rain overnight ? Hope so !!

Nice, 90 minute soaking shower here this morning. Looks like we are pretty certain to get more rain later today. Good luck to all, hope you get 2" !

I got zero rain last night. The radar doesn't look very promising this morning either. Good thing I haven't stopped watering in anticipation of rain. A younger me would have done that and been wrong.

We finally got some during the night, hopefully more is on tap today.

When you were younger, Jeff ? You were gardening in your teen years ? LOL

Haha, well yes but I was actually referring to only a couple years ago. Technically I was younger then ;-)

Ahhhh, the good ol' days... 2013 !

LOL

Hey, I'll have you know that I've learned a lot in the 5 years I've lived in our house. Two years has been like 5 in garden experience years.

I hear you, Jeff... I've learned a lot in just the past few months since joining this forum. Everyone here is a wealth of information.

Still zero inches here. Still checking out the radar every chance I get.

Yeah it rained enough to get everything wet in Lancaster but not enough to register on the rain gauges.

Oh man, you guys are going to make me feel guilty again. Just had another rain shower, not as good as the earlier one but probably another quarter inch. Jeff, it looks like you have some coming your way soon.

We got a very little bit overnight just enough to make my morning weeding go so very easy and the cooler cloudy weather was much nicer to work in than that hot sunny day we had yesterday.
But the weeding was cut short as the rain has returned a nice steady rain not hard but more than I want to work in.

I'm still not holding my breath. We're at .04" at home. There's a lot of banding going on where some areas have gotten 1-3" but others barely .25".

Jeff, your area is getting a beautiful, soaking rain right now. You should be able to go outside and sign the praises to the Rain Gods. Take an umbrella though.

We are getting decent rain at work but at home we are not. We are now up to .08" at home, which is pathetic. We are on the east side of the good rain. If this blob could move 5 miles to the east, that'd be great.

I have to brush up on my PA geography. I thought you live very near Lancaster.

Yeah, we are about 3/4 mile due south of Lancaster airport. Western Lanc county is getting awesome rain right now though. That's what's been killing me because they must average what different areas in the county get for the NWS departure from average #s.

Got it. There's a lot in central PA moving NE so, hopefully, you will get a fair amount.

Yeah, Darcy went home for lunch and just told me we had .18"

Okay, that's a start... I think more is coming for you. Appears we may be done for a while here, more chance this evening tho. Cool.

The skies have just parted here--and we are getting a serious rain right now.

It has been rumbling for a long time--skies are dark---radio is crackling non-stop
with static..

Yep! This will be a good shower. I do not have any rain gage --don't need to--
so I will just listen to the radio in case they announce this important fact.

g.

Well I'm at 1.24" now so that's much better than I thought. Poor SSG, I see down there they've barely gotten anything. It doesn't look very promising for them either.

Typical picture when there is a lot of rain.

--There is a bog where the water runs out of the drain (behind the patio pole)
--There is a "river" flowing under and all around my raised bed
--Everything in this area is sitting 3" under water....
--My gutter is overflowing--the lawn is all squishy
It is not just the water of the patio roof that flows into the gutter--
it is also all the water from that part of the roof on the house.
I think it all is just too much for one drain to handle--so it overflows.

May have to borrow my neighbor's extension ladder again and see
what is clogging up the gutter drain. Usually, stuff from the trees.

G.

Yeah you should try to clear your gutters a couple times a year. Especially with that silver maple back there raining junk down all the time. I'm on my roof at least once in the spring, sometimes twice depending on when my one neighbor's SM drops seeds and when the other neighbor's Red Maple drops its seeds.

I am wayyy past the age to get on my roof!!! Too old--feet too unstable--bad balance...

I can still climb a ladder--VERY cautiously--and clean out the patio roof gutter,
but every 4 feet or so--I have to get down--move the ladder and climb up again.

Also--I have crappy gutter guards. They don't stay in place. Those little clips just
do not want to clip and stay.

OH, well! I do what I can... G.

Gutter cleaning- hire young insured people!

Threatening clouds all around but storms have missed Millersville so far. It is much cooler though phew.

I'm still at 0 inches for the month of September, and we're not expected to get anymore rain until Saturday.

I'll be watering again tomorrow.

Sigh.

Wow SSG, that really sucks. I think you're on your own now because I got 2.49" today. I can't believe you guys got nothing. I'd be so mad.....


Gita, doesn't Home Depot sell those water nozzles specially made to put on the end of a hose and clean out your gutters? Maybe that'd be something to invest in rather than get on the ladder for the patio roof.

Started digging up a mature azalea bush tonight. Man, azaleas must have a very deep tap root because that dude is a bear to try and dig up. Seems it spawned several tap roots, too. Will finish it Saturday morning when I can get out there when the air is much cooler. Even though it wasn't hot today, I was sweating buckets.

I'm not sure it's a thick taproot per se but rather a huge mass of fine roots that makes it a very very heavy tough root ball. No easy prying it out.
I am running into side roots form last years holly removal.

Keep all the rain up here this weekend! Going to Williamsburg for a triathlon Sunday morning. We are cheering on our son, just his personal fun thing to do.

Azaleas have a very fibrous root system with larger laterals that make it seem difficult to uproot. You should get one of those drain spade shovels if you don't already have one. It makes pulling up shrubs a breeze.

This is the one I just got:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ames-16-in-D-Handle-Drain-Spade-2531700/204476045

It works like a charm for digging stuff out. Almost makes me want to dig out all my shrubs for fun....

This message was edited Sep 10, 2015 10:19 PM

That could well be, Sally. The shrub seems to have three main trunks and under each is a very stubborn root system. But I shall prevail, even if it takes me a week. Or I can wait a week and have about 28 people take turns at it. LOL

Best of luck to your son Sally. God bless anyone who can do triathlons. Makes me want to pass out just thinking of it.

I always have to laugh when people in my area pay big bucks and take of work to vacation at colonial Williamsburg. We have tons of Amish and old order Mennonite around here and they have basically the same lifestyle as these actors from Williamsburg. They could save the money and go down the road to the nearest farm...just doesn't make sense to me being where I live. Anywhere else in the country, I get it and it would be a fun thing to do.

That was a good amount of rain, Sequoia! We didn't get much...maybe 1/4".

CAM, are you going to transplant it or toss it? If you're not trying to save it, you might find it easier to dig up if you saw through as many roots as possible first. Azaleas do have huge root balls, but not very deep as Sally and Sequoia said. I had 2 very large Azaleas moved from bottom of the hill in my back yard to the top. The landscapers who dug them up had a hard time getting them out and up to the top of the hill; it came close to breaking their wheelbarrow and they were sweating it! I gave them good tips : - )

It's a very plain and unattractive azalea, Muddy. Going to get rid of it. So yes, that was my plan for Saturday morning, dig deep around it, cut some roots. Dig deep under it, try to expose some of those roots and cut them and then see if I can't then pry it loose. If nobody hears from me after tomorrow morning, you know the bush won and I lost. :)