We are currently having a bit of drought here in southern Missouri. We had loads of rain in the spring, but in May it all dried up, and we have not had any rain for over two months. Things are bone dry, the ground is cracked, the grass is burned brown and crispy, and many things are all droopy and dried out. I have been hauling water round my yard and watering my veggie gardening almost daily. Some things are getting water, and others are not because it just is not possible to water all of my yard unless I want to buy a new pump. Missouri's old timers have a saying that we are never more than two weeks from the next drought. That is because we have karst rock formations underground and the rain drains down deep quickly in most places. In 2017, we had nearly a whole year's rain in less than 3 weeks and had major flooding. They called it "historic". Then we had drought until late in the fall. At least my veggie garden is looking good--the parts that I got weeded and planted. I still need to weed a lot of it. I have gotten a few tomatoes this week. And I need to dig my garlic and potatoes. The beans look nice so far. Many of my strawberries keeled over dead though. Bummer. It is so dry, that raspberries and blackberries are dried up green.
No drought here, quite the contrary. I emptied out 37 mm of rain from the gauge, and that's in 24 hours. That's something like 1,5 inches? We had 3-4 nice, warm, dry days a couple of weeks ago. Temps have dropped and it's been raining more or less every day since then.
Even shrubs planted 3 years ago are beginning to die. We have had no real rain for weeks. Even when it did rain it was barely enough to fill the water butts and very little of it got into the soil to any depth. No rain forecast before the end of July either. The soil has great big cracks in it.
No. It has been humid enough though. The heat index (wind chill's evil twin) has been at least 10 higher than ambient and we have been in the mid and upper 90s a great deal.
I'm aware that significant parts of the US are in drought, some of it historic. Whatever stroke of luck that landed me in the Pacific NW, forty years ago, was fortunate for me as a gardener. I'm very grateful for how the climate has been. Our summers are quite dry, Mediterranean type climate, so I do have to water all of the annual kitchen garden and some perennials and trees, especially young ones. I focus a lot on accessible gardening - making it possible to continue despite my aging body. Drip irrigation is quite empowering. There is a learning curve, but once you know how, it's easy and quick to add a few emitters here and there, and easier and faster than hauling hose or bucket even once. All of my tomatoes, peppers, squashes, garlic, onions, and some others are on the drip system now. I still water some areas by hand. We have a one-hundred gallon duck pond that needs regular cleaning. This year, I haul water from that once a week or every other week, to the fig trees.
I'm melting!! We Scots weren't meant to live in heat like this!! Way, way too hot and they say there will be no rain for the next two weeks. I'll just be a greasy blob on the floor by then.
We are on a water meter so we pay for all the water we use from the taps. Makes sprinkler systems a very expensive luxury. I will not replace anything we lose now, too old and tired to redo even this garden. Will leave the spaces and let the weeds grow. They don't seem to mind the lack of water.
We have had no rain, not a drop, since June 1st. The temperatures have been steady in the 90's, but this past week went into the 100's with the same predicted for this week. We are watering the roses weekly, the tomatoes and peppers every three days, the shrubs are on their own and surviving. Now our so-called power grid is asking for conservation between 2 and 8 p.m. Can rolling blackouts be far in our future?
Drought here !! And its bad ! No hay for the horses ! Will have to feed all winter if things do not change ! what hay is here is $60 to $100 a roll or more ! Need 15 large rolls for our 8 horses or we will have to move them to the next pasture !
Mart, I haven't seen the big rolls of hay on trucks going by. I'm afraid some of the herds around here will have to be thinned if we don't get rain this month. We have offered our small pasture to a neighbor with cattle--if they need to thin their herd, they can bring their prime heifers here where there is grazing and a pond. The grazing isn't prime, but it will keep them fed. Things are not looking good around here.
I see that a heat wave may be coming…droughty conditions may come with that. I have begun giving water.
