Another week with no rain (or very little...)

We still have been missing all of the good rainstorms here.  10 miles south they got soaked the other day.  And farther north the rain has been regular.  But the Appleton Gap has persisted, perhaps even expanded.  All of the big weather systems seem to split at about this latitude.  And we are still very dry. 

The creek is still running, and I do remember summers when it was dry by this time.  It is difficult to know if this is unusual or if dry summers are the norm for these parts.  Must consult the record, I guess.  One thing I've noticed is that there really is a "microclimate" effect.  Our yard has about a one or two week shorter growing season than the yard we had in the city.  We are low here, and we get the first and the last frosts of the season.  And there is not as much thermal mass (streets, sidewalks, roofs, etc.) to keep the heat on a close to frost night.  It's better since we have more trees.  

This week the daisies and blanket flowers are declinin g, the coneflowers are at their peak.  The hydrangeas are coming into bloom, and the hardy Hibiscus is making nice looking buds -- I hope for something spectacular in another week or so.  The Monarda are lovely, the Gooseneck Loosetrife is blooming.  The Ligularia are beginning to bloom nicely.  Dahlias all over are blooming.   The Butterfly Weed is perfect as usual, and the Joe-Pye Weed as well.  Cannas are gorgeous, though I have to water them daily and they haven't begun to flower.   Annuals are coming into full bloom and giving the yard color. 

We had the first couple of tomatoes from the garden last weekend, and we've had jalapeno  peppers for a few weeks. Raspberries are coming in strong, we've had at least a pint a day and sometimes more for the last week or so.  There is a nice looking zucchini out there, and the onions and leeks and potatoes are maturing.  We pick broccoli once or twice a week.  Summer is good.  Even though we love to ride down to the farmer's market every Saturday, there isn't much we need to buy.

Desert Dry

There has been no measurable rain here in over 7 weeks.  It is very dry.  The grass is totally brown, with a few specks of green here and there.  Most of the rest of the perennials have dried up terribly.  I water the vegetable garden, and some of the pots and gardens around the deck and front porch.  But, most things are just going down.  They will not likely die, or at least most of them won't.  But it will not be a good year for any.

The Bufo americanus tadpoles are growing, some faster than others.  They grow legs and emerge as young toads only a few at a time.  I wonder if there is some sort of pheromone or hormone in the water that the mature ones exude to keep the others immature.  In any case, they really emerged in the small rain we had this evening.  I found them all over the leaves of the floating plants in the pond.  They've been hiding in the crevices, and sometimes getting caught in a low moisture situation that is deadly to them.  There are more than a few tadpole shapes dried up on leaves of the water lily.  But tonight they are happy.  That is nice.

Plants of the (dry) Week

Just a few photos. I has been dry. Waiting for rain to release everything. The heat comes in the day, but it is still cold at night. What kind of summer is this?

 

 

 

 

It has been way too long...

I've just not gotten around to writing in the blog in the last month or so.  Here it is, July 5th, and I haven't updated since June 9th.  The likely most explosive and changing month in the year, and I haven't written anything about what's happening.  This has been the time when things have solidified, become relaxed, opened up into summer.  The spring was tenuous this year, and we never really got to the point where things grew like they trusted that it would last.  Then the heat came.  Big heat.  and no rain for a couple of weeks.  It is now high summer, and we are almost in drought conditions.  We need to water every day, and every two or three out in the vegetable garden to protect the investment in plants and to preserve the hope that we'll have fresh tomatoes in August. 

This was the 4th of July weekend, and we had three days of both of us home to really work out the neglected parts that had been ignored as we prepared for the Torch Convention.  I had ordered 8 cubic yards of bark mulch last week, and so there was that to disperse.  And the watering, and the weeding, and the edging, and the creation of a completely new chipped area behind the apple trees.

The raspberries needed to be weeded, preparing for the harvest in the next couple of weeks.  And the area around the pond needed weeding and tending, to make it pretty for the rest of the summer season.  The lilac was totally overgrown, creating a problem for both Lee and me when we mowed the space between our yards.  And there were spent spring blossoms everywhere, as well as yellowed tulip and daffodil foliage.  Lots of sprouted tree seedlings, and other weeds everywhere.  And it was time to do a major weeding in the vege garden and then lay down the straw mulch for summer.  Had to water first, then weed, then remove the walking boards that kept me from tramping down the roto-tilled earth, then finally, spreading the straw.  Again this year I believe I have been careful about not letting too many sunflowers grow, but time will tell.

The deck has finally been cleared of all of the nursery functions, and the only non-ornamental plant left there is a single remaining Christmas Amaryllis.  The leaves keep living on, and I keep watering it.  Soon I must stop, let them die, and hope for a beautiful show next Christmas when I start watering again in October.  Most of the plants around the deck are doing OK, but progress is slow this year.  A nice surprise jumped up in the last week or so, I planted them years ago, and never know where they will come, never can count on them, but there they are.