Please forgive this self-pitying rant - I just have to get it off my chest. Several weeks ago I posted a topic "No Rain". This is still the case. I just looked online at weather.com and since the beginning of July, Evans has supposedly got about 2-1/2 inches. I know we haven't. I can't remember when we last did get rain - I think I wrote about it. (Although our neighbors said we got 3/8ths on Friday when we were away). We are teased by the wind and hear the thunder but that is all. I have just been watching the radar and once again the rain has been coming strongly from the east and a little "u" of clear has formed around where we live. So it is on three sides of us. We water as we can and watch as more and more plants wither. I'm getting too depressed to walk around the garden. The only explanation I can think of is that the developers of our subdivision have somehow offended the gods and we are being punished.
Feeling low
I am so sorry and a bit incredulous that you have still had little rain. That's terrible. I was getting depressed until our recent bouts of water. Then it didn't rain at all for over a week on the veggies and I started feeling low all over again. The dirt is like dust over concrete. Even when we get a good amount of rain the earth is sucking it right up. I would not blame the developers so much as the development. After we're done blaming whoever we can we can step back and think about years where it rained every day of summer and what didn't mildew flat out rotted. I hope you can get back to your garden soon. A gardener without a garden is like a captain without a ship. Self pity and ranting are okay here...you're among empathetic friends.
Laurel
Don't feel to bad Artgal. I have listened for days to nothign more than more thunder and watched lightening strike after strike and evrybody else getting loaded with rain and like you there I am out with a waterhose while everybody else is getting inches.
Finally did get a few minutes of rain last night and it the first since sometime in what May? Heck it been so long and so many months that even I forget.
I got a phoen call this mornign from a friend about 15 miles away and they wondered if it was stil rainign here. I said what ya mean, they have had rain all day. grrrrrrrrr.
Keep yoru fingers crossed and maybe we will be lucky yet. Sure hope so.
Same here, just wishing old Dolly will make a right turn. If we listen to the weather folks it sounds like rain a plenty., but is very isolated. Our total May to the present is less than 3 inches. One good 1 3/8 rain the first week of July and thats it.
We are getting a little bit of rain this week. I am so thankful for every drop. Maybe God has not forgotten south Ga. after all. We are still short several inches.
I sure wish I could send you guys some of what we have been getting
BB
Thank you for your kind words, Laurel. Yes, please, send some of your excess our way Bronxboy - and to Starlight and Farmerdill too.
I have to admit that it does get discouraging when you hear the sounds of rain, and your place is missed.This happened last night at a friends house, where we were, and a storm ran every body inside.You can almost see my house from theirs in winter, after we are onlt 1/2 mile from them, and we didn't get a drop.Its like MaypopLaurel said about being a gardener, and all the plants are dryed up.I have not mowed my lawn more than four times this year.Still there is Hope.Mike
Well you mowed yours three times more than me Mike. LOL Your right, there is hope. So glad of that word, or I probably would just give up.
Finally got a little light sprinkle after I watered everything. Glad I watered cu it wasn't enough but to wet the tops of things. Thing I really worried about is my trees.
I have oodles of hickories and oaks and they are just about completely bare and I mean bare of nuts. The squirrels are starving it so bad. These are 60 to 100 year old trees and huge heights and hoping that they don't start dying back and fall over.
Well, it is hit and miss for sure. Been dry in Atlanta all week but as we started to approach Cleveland we were excitedly counting puddles and pointing out wet driveways. When we got here we discovered plenty of water in my homemade garden gauges. Squashes, zucchinis, beans, peas etc. that had been picked clean five days ago were laden with produce. Thank goodness I have my secret recipes for overgrown squash!
The big news in our garden is the greens. I don't even know how to explain it, but we have had a garden full of yellow jackets that (I think) are the less aggressive "German" type. They are bountiful and scary, but I just move gingerly and be careful where I step, The upshot is we have had virtually NO worms, aphids, Japanese beetles, etc. in the garden this year. We are picking very excellent collards, beets, kale, chard, cukes and squashes. We did find two squash with the beginnings of holes, but no worms. I'm wondering what I can do to keep this balance in the future because we have not sprayed anything in over a month. Here's a sampling of this morning's harvest before it got to hot to continue.
Laurel
My spirits are revived from the first real rain yesterday since the middle of May. We've had about four "sprinklings" since then but nothing that wet the ground. This was quite a storm that stayed overhead for at least an hour. For once it didn't go north or south.
The local station been predicting heavy rains and storms today starting about 3 this afternoon. I sure hope so. Maybe if I shake a stick at the skies it wil giv eme some rain.
I tryign to get some stuff burned and hope it comes to help douse the fires later tonight.
starlight - you know, of course, the best thing to attract rain is to water heavily and then leave out washing. Good luck with the storms.
Another "sure thing" for a visit from the rain gods is to leave the windows down on your vehicle...Ask my hubby....
Sue
No sure things this year. Glad you got some rain Art, but did you have to take it all? It never got here, but we could see it in the distance and hear the rumble of thunder.
Yes, my hubby is always airing out mildew from the previous open window incident. Another sure fire rain god incentive is to leave the hammock hanging and the dog bedding airing, as we did when the skies let loose at 2 a.m. last night.
L
And leave your car windows open....
BB
Well, I have had my car windows open for weeks now, that hasn't helped. Washed curtains yesterday and hung them up to dry since it way to hot to run the dryer and nothing there. Have even been watering while I hear the thunder runbling every place else and nothing.
Got jeans in the washer this morning and thinking about hanging them up, maybe that wil do the trick. Only problem is that is so parched here that ants and every other insect and critter folks to the clothes to get water off them.
The neighbor brought over a bush hog and cleared a big section of groudn for me to make beds and plant. Got alot of slopes and dips there and after seeing how BB was able to plant on slopes, thought I would give it a try, but still with no rain, am very seriously not considering put in any cool crops right now.
Been thinking about maybe getting the beds ready and if some rain does come then planting late and if need be put some row covers up, but not sure if that wil work yet or not.
found out the secret to finding yellowjackets nest .my friends grandpa passed this down and i saw it work ,not once but twice in a coupla hours . get a nice cool drink of your choice ,sit down in a comfortable chair ,on the lawn ,in shade . watch the area around you paying attention to one area for awhile ,10 min or longer . move your attention over a bit and keep watching . when you see a yellowjacket fly straight up , watch for more to do the same . when they come to the nest , they fly in low , but when they leave the nest , they fly straight up for 6 -8 foot. you have found the nest !before we killed out those nests , i had to spray off on my feet and legs to be able to work outside . those boogers were all around my feet looking for worms .try it , it works . sally