Mine:
6.00 All tomato plants
12.00 Two leyland cypresses
1.00 all pumpkin seedlings
7.00 coleus
5.00 seedlings that were never able to grow
20.00 fixing grass patches
80.00(about) in extra water usage
And endless amounts of time and effort(not included)
Total cost
131.00
I still have some major grass crunchiness going on in my yard. Its also kind of odd seeing my bermuda with spots and starting to get crunchy. My muscadines, orange tree, nectarine, and figs(pretty much all of my fruit trees) all did not produce fruit this year.
Good things: less bugs and lots of weed killoff.
I'm sure the drought impact wasn't as bad as some other people on here. There are also some people in my area who have lost entire yards.
With our luck it'll rain all winter, as october is usually our driest month.
whats your total dought cost?
Did I also mention that most of the native trees around my home are dead or almost dead? What's scaring me is that there are about five 100 foot dead trees within 100 feet of my house!
i havent added my up yet and scared too. i know my water is over a hundred extra and proably 50 or so in lost plants. i havent thought about the grass yet.
I avoid looking at the water bill, but I know that it is cheaper than psych counseling (LOL).
The only things that I lost were some potted starts that I never put out. Even those would have made if my spouse had not insisted that I move them to a less prominant spot in the yard. Many had rooted through the drainage holes and were very stressed when I moved them.
The drought did severly inhibit the skeeters (not the gnats though).
Daylilies and L radiata did better than usual this year. I think that was due to a change in water pattern. I used an overhead sprinkler more this year, rather than the soaker hoses. My soil is so sandy, that the soaker hoses do not irrigate a broad area along the length of the hose. The water soaks in and down, down, down. Eighteen inches away from the hose the ground remains very dry even after an hour and one half of irrigation.
Beth
My water bill for July was over $300. I didn't know that the irrigation timers were going off 3 times a day on the days we were allowed to water (that is 9 hours 3 days a week for two weeks - 3 timers set for one hour each for 3 cycles). Our front irrigation system doesn't make sense since it was going off daily during our absence. Why can't timers make sense?
I was afraid I was going to get a $500 bill so 300 makes it sound almost nice (yeah, right).
We only noticed a slight increase in our water bill, about 30.00 this month. Can't say as I lost anything to drought, but the grasshoppers sure did a number on my veggie plantings! And Turtle, your skeeters all moved to my house! Egads they have been huge and voracious here this year. Can't wait until that back 'wild' area is planted next year so maybe no one can hide out in there. I must have sent the gnats over your way...
~Sunny
Thank goodness we have a well, but I think there has been more cost to my sanity trying to keep things watered. We did get some really good soaking rains several weeks ago, but not a drop since and things are beginning to show. I am giving up on any more azaleas. The ones that are making it through the drought, this their second year, I am convinced will make it. The rest I have moved, amended, watered, and I give up. I have other, less temperamental babies to tend to. I didn't plant a lot of seeds since this is a new yard and I want a lot of impact now, so I bought mostly blooming size perennials. The only seeds that really did well sowed in the garden were Cosmos. I too, lost a couple of Leyland Cypress that were here when we moved in. Don't really think it was drought related, unless it was from the previous year.
I'm pretty sure your leyland cypresses died from the drought. Its happend to everyone that I know who has one. They are such nice trees though.
I did a little reading on them, and from what I found, it can take a year or more for drought related stress to show up. We lost one last year right after we moved here, so I was extra careful to pay attention to them this year. Still lost one this year, and the ones on either side of it got the same amount of water and are fine. I don't think they were planted properly. I replaced them with purple crape myrtles, as I evergreens are okay, but I'm partial to flowering trees and those babies will grow anywhere! My DH even ran over one with the lawn mower and it's coming back like nothing ever happened.
With water restrictions in place for my state, I find myself watering at odd times of the day (night, actually), like in my pajamas at 11:30 pm. I know that I'm getting some strange looks from my neighbors, but I don't want to lose any of my less-than-one-year-planted azaleas, camellias, roses, etc. Am I the only one whose feels like a nut case sometimes?
Obviously, your neighbors are not gardeners or they would be out there watering their plants as well. No, you are not a nut case. This, coming from the crazy lady that was out digging holes in the rain last week. LOL.
Susan