Ok, who hogges all the rain yesterday, send it back up and send it here. Heard on the news this mornign that some folks got as much as five inches yesterday. All I got was thunder, thunder and more thunder.
They said parts of us are like even 30% down from even the drought from last year. Getting worse everyday. Farmer Dill I really feel sorry for you with all them big crops. That a whole lot of work ya got going on to not have rain.
No Rain!
Work about ended with drought, Have not even cranked the tractor in over a month. No weeds and the ground is like powder. No planting, no cultivation, no mowing.
Farmerdill:
That sounds pretty serious. Have you ever seen anything like this before?
BB
This is the worst spring I have seen. I have seen it this dry in August and September, but not often. I left the farm in 1955 to find a better way to make a living, That was a bad drought but nothing like this. The realy wierd part is that 10 miles away ( downtown Augusta) they have had better than 4 inches of rain in this same time period.
We are about 15 miles west of Augusta and the rain has been so localized. As I've indicated, places just 5 miles either side of us have had rain when we haven't. Last year was bad, but nothing like this has been - so hot, so dry, so early.
That is weird! Sending some rain vibes your way
BB
Thank you BB. Vibes and dances welcomed!
I'll keep praying for rain for y'all. Nice, steady but gentle, no wind, no hail, not much thunder and lightening.
We got a big middle-of-the-night rain along with yesterday afternoon's storm. I just heard from a Cleveland, GA friend and she says it poured there yesterday. Chances are good that we will be having more over the week. I am momentarily relieved.
I agree with Farmerdill. After living here for thirty six years, I have never seen anything like this. It can get pretty parched in August and September, but gardens are usually beautiful and bountiful in June and July.
Farmerdill.. That such a shame. They had a coupel weeks ago on the Ga. Farm Burea program where Ga folks that losing their crops can apply for some sort of grants and funding and such.
I get up early on th eweekends to try and catch that show. I don't know all what it said cuz I in Al and not eligible for that program but ya might check out the link I sent above for BB and somewhere it may have what the Ga farmers that lost and losing crops do to apply for it.
We had rain last night but some of my friends in Lawrenceville said they didn't get any rain. It's thundering and lightning now, so may be we will get some more.
We had a bunch where I'm at
BB
Here too. TONS of rain!!! Smells great now. Hope everybody else in this area got rain too?
Nothing here. Jiggle those clouds when they pass over. Just need a slight change of course.
I was thinking of you Farmerdill while the skies were letting loose here. Gosh, can't believe you are getting nothing. There must have been an inch here yesterday. Oh well, maybe you will have more time to help the rest of us with our garden questions.
Laurel
Farmerdill, we'll do a little rain dance for you while it's raining. May be it will blow your way. You're East of us, if nothing else, you should be getting some rain from that Hurricane Bertha.
We are due for more rain tonight. I just hope thunder and all would hold off until later tonight here in Norcross as my kids have their very last swim meet tonight.
But right now, it's nice and sunny outside.
There was nothing here yesterday either. Please add me to your rain dance!
I wonder if I wring my clothes out from the heat today, if I could try and use them for rain.
Didn't they like used to salt the clouds or somethign in the old days. Can't they kinda do that now a days to try and get us parched worse than a desert folks some rain?
Ok. It's been thundering and lightning since 7:00pm. Swim meet is delayed until tomorrow. It rained a little bit, probably just enough to wet the pavement! I can still hear thunder - where's the rain?? I hear more rain in the forecast for tomorrow night.
It poured here last night in Lawrenceville. Supposed to get some more today
BB
Lili, thought the season is over. Do you have a swimmer at state? DD is head coach for a Sandy Springs team and trials were last week. She had ten of her fourteen kids qualify. She came home beaming.
When DD was in middle school the kids made rain sticks out of long cardboard tubes pierced with nails and filled with beans. I told DH how some of you have not had any rain and were wanting a rain dance. He suddenly appeared with the stick and started doing a little dance. The next thing we know...thunder, lightening and the heavens let loose all night long. We got well over two inches! I've been looking for an excuse to send him on the road. He's for hire. :)
Laurel
We got so much rain yesterday - twice - that my tomatoes and peppers got beaten down. DH was out on the front porch and a small tree limb came sailing in on the wind and almost hit him! Love the rain, but not the wind that came with it. We did get our barrels filled up again and also all open containers we could find. Power was out for about an hour.
I passed a subdivision over on New Hope Road and a hardwood literally cut a home in half. Doesn't appear to have hurt anyone.
The front door to our greenhouse got torn up pretty badly
BB
That's funny Laurel - I remember those rain sticks. I'll make one to see if it works (no rain here since Sunday). If not, I'll have to hire your husband.
Laurel, we swim for Gwinnett Swim League. It is my understanding it's the largest independent recreation summer swim league in the country, with about 7,000 swimmers. Our swim team alone consist of approx 185 swimmers and the swim team we swam against last night had about 200 swimmers.
Anyway, last night was supposed to be our last meet. Then we have a County Swim meet at Georgia Tech. One of my daughters ranked 52 in breast stroke and will probably qualify to go to the County meet.
BTW, we will need some new swim coaches for our team next summer.
3" of rain last night in 30 minutes, continuous lightning- yeah!! Ended with 3.5" after two hours.
Finally. Lots of that rain went into Lake Lanier, thank goodness!
It's just hit of miss, with a whole lot of misses with the rain- I feel for all of us and our gardens. It has been a ver frustrating summer so far!
Brenda
Poured again here this afternoon!
Just got home from work and need to go secure some things uprooted by the storm
Looks like more on the way
BB
Our corn got laid down by the storms last week. DH was able to prop some of it back up. By the time there is any left to eat we will be fighting with the squirrels to get it.............. those critters!!
Well I filled a cardboard tube with a few pinto beans and danced around the kitchen to the amusement of my husband. Didn't sound much like the rainsticks I remember, but oh well. And then we watched the rain go north of us and there was a severe weather warning over the river in Aiken ... and then suddenly, a pop-up thunderstorm just overhead. So maybe the rainsticks worked!
Woo hoo Artgal, glad you got some rain.
Haha Artgal. There's magic there. I went to put the rainstick away and DH warned me that I was not handling it delicately enough. Next thing I know, tons more rain from 4 pm until 6 p.m.! We have safely stored the rain stick for the week as powdery mildew is appearing on the squash. The upside is I spent hours working outside and have no chiggers! That's down from the 66 bites we counted last week. Got to be a record.
L
Glad most of you got rain. We got the usual ration of 7 drops, not enough to run off the roof. Sunday we got 0.1 inch , which was our entire ration for June. Hopefully, we will get more than that sometime in July. Does not look promising now. But rain will be necessary to get the fall garden started.
Ours wasn't a very big storm but anything helps. Perhaps if I can make a more sophisticated rainstick? Try it Farmerdill ...
Farmerdill. Looks like you and me gonan be the unlucky folks this year. I stil waiting and even a few drops would remind me that there is such a thing as rain.
I worried and tryign to figure out if and what to even try and plant for fall. wondering if the fall gonan be abnormally dry too. Somewhere I got one of them tiny farmers Almanacs little booket for Ga and Al. Need to see fiI cna fidn it and see if it says anythign about rain in it.
Artgal.. Maybe ya need to pass that rain stick around. better start with Farmerdill first. : )
I rememebr from old memories of history class, somethign about how ya can use a stick of some sort to find water. Forget what they called it if it has a special name. Wondering about tryign to make or find one of them and going around the yard with it to maybe see if there some water and to start digging.
As the old folks would say during a drought, all signs fail in dry weather. The sure fire one was killing a snake and hanging it in a persimmon tree. This is a streaky thing, but we must be stting a record. The good thing is with the TV weathermen constantly talking about the rainstorms, the water police have been very relaxed. It is expensive, but we still have outside water hours.
Farmerdill:
Is your spring planting a goner?
BB
Yes. The early crops, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, English peas, Irish potatoes did well with just a bit of supplimentary water. Could not get enough water on beets and carrots for a good crop, but got enought to eat. Later crops like snapbeans and summer squash were ok with supplimental water. Am keeping the cantaloupes, Crenshaws and Honeydew going. I have enough tomatoes in the kitchen garden to supply me. Field crops corn, watermelon, winter squash, Cushaw pumpkin, southern peas, butterbeans are goners. I have a small patch of okra that I can water which is doing so so. I have have a couple of dozen cukes in the kitchen garden and they have done well until the pickle worms arrived. Eggplant are also in the kitchen garden and are producing. I am not going to starve by any means, but there is not much to distribute this year.
Farmerdill - I have to ride downtown tonight - I'll take the rain stick with me and give it a little shake - but then you say that you are far enough from downtown for it not to reach you.
Starlight, that stick is called a dowsing rod or divining rod. The old timers used it to locate springs and point out places to dig wells. That's how the spring on our property was found in the early seventies. They called in a "diviner".
The drought took a toll on much of the garden. I could not water long enough or deep enough to keep things their best. The plants are not as resilient to bug attacks because they are so dried out. Although the difference in the garden is terrific after all the rain this week, plants, such as peppers and tomatoes grown from seed, are very behind and stunted. Last year the Italian eggplants were too bitter to eat. That was a first. The Japanese ones did okay. I'm hoping there isn't a problem this year after battling flea beetles these last months. Our first planting of pole beans are making a come back with lots of new leaves and flowers. It's been scanty pickings until now. Christmas beans and butterpeas are filling. Zucchini and straight neck have been bountiful. New tomatoes setting are good size, but older ones are stunted and misshapen. Same for some of the cukes. Green cabbage looks and tastes good, but the red heads are small. Ive got long pie pumpkin, Waltham butternuts, Uncle David's Dakota buttercups, French round zucchinis and dark green all looking good. I have been looking forward to hand pollinating and seed saving some of these heirlooms. Our beets are puny but the greens are still looking and tasting good. Especially chard and kale. I'm reluctant to plan a Fall garden without a positive long range forecast.
Sorry for the losses Guys
I remember your watermelon haul last year Farmerdill. Was looking forward to seeing some pics this year
BB