Lessons learned while gardening in a drought...

guess a person just has to adapt to the surroundings I much as i cuss teh hated Sweet Gum Balls in the fall they are proving to be a useful mulch

Speaking of rocks, one of my brothers placed flat rocks on top of the mulch in his veggie bed. He said that it cut down the need to water by about 1/2. I had been thinking of placing flat rocks in one of my flower beds to prevent free roaming cats from digging the soil all of the time; however, I was afraid that the rocks would radiate too much heat. Any thoughts about this?

Just my experience. We have an area of about 200 sq ft of sandstone patio. Used to have a gazebo/canopy over it. The snowstorm of 2010 took it down. The last two summers everything surrounding the rocks has suffered greatly. They are not cemented and there is some vegetation growing between them. Started with the small lariope planted between but it looks like it has been hit with a torch. Currently we have a metal frame with wires laced over it and growing passeflora, black eyed susan, lady banksia roses to cover it with green. If your is in some shade I think it would work very well. The sun's rays make like the old commercial showing someone frying an egg on the sidewalk.

Thanks for the information, Lou C. The area that I was thinking about placing rocks on the mulch unfortunately is iin full sun for a large part of the day. My husband bought a Bell & Howell Solar Animal Repeller that emits a high frequency ultrasonic sound when motion is detected. It is unpleasant to animals. It is successfully keeping the cats out of most of the large bed that I have placed it in. The cats are now digging in the area right at the perimeter of the range of the animal repeller. I really need another one to cover this part of the flowerbed as well. At least I don't have to worry about most of my plants being dug up, mulch being thrown on the plants and/or having to smooth the soil throughout the bed everyday like before.

Neighbors who have since moved, had 2 cats. They chose my soft amended beds for their business. Oh, how I hated those cats.

Good info.
Podster, how often do you change the garlic in the water? How much garlic do you put in? and do you crush it first?

Bannana ~ you might think in terms of branches rather than logs. The smaller pieces would rot more quickly. Let me see if I can find some of the links for Hugelkultur.

On the garlic, one bulb will do two beds on a weekly basis. I cut the cloves in half. Crushing it would work also. When the temperature is hot, the fragrance of the garlic makes me think dinner will be ready shortly. lol

HTop ~ I will agree with LouC on the rocks. In full sun they seem to burn the surrounding plants. I don't believe it would hurt the roots, only the foliage.

I used small light colored pebbles to mulch the succulents and it hasn't been a problem. I used iron ore rock which is common here to build the wall of the bed and when I plunge my finger in the dirt near the wall, it does not feel too hot in the soil. This bed is in full afternoon sun and we have been enjoying 105° ~ 106° lately.

Grits ~ I despise sweet gum balls. They become missiles if mowed over. They hurt to walk on and they seed freely. How do you keep them from sprouting when used as a mulch?

Here are a few links on Hugelkultur ~ how to, why and what if anyone is interested.

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/17_0/permaculture...

http://nenmpermies.wetpaint.com/page/Hugelkultur

On using available mulches, I know a gardener that uses paper from the papershredder at work. It will rot and help improve the soil. She covers it with a thin layer of attractive mulch for appearance sake.

Hope you don't mind a "foreigner" lurking on your thread. I have been looking for any information I can find on dealing with this drought and have found such wonderful ideas here that I wanted to be sure to say thank you. While some of Kansas has had rain, our area has only had about 3/4 inch total since some snow in February, and things are just burning up. I knew you'd been experiencing these problems for much longer, so checked here for advice.

sharondippity, I have Sweet Autumn Clematis, and am always weeding out starts all around the yard. Although this year hasn't been one for anything to grow well, if you would remind me once things cool off, I would be glad to dig some and send it to you.

htop, I wonder if the Sweet Gum ball mulch that grits mentioned using, would keep the cats away. I know I sure hate to step on them barefoot and I imagine that cats wouldn't be any fonder of them. I don't know if Sweet Gum grows that far south though, so maybe that wouldn't work.

Anyway, thank you all very much for such valuable information. You have been a world of help. I will pray for rain for all of us!

Willowwind ~ I am glad to have you join in. I wouldn't consider any gardener a foreigner and know you will have experience that I can learn from also.

My cats don't seem to mind the sweet gum balls but after I had built the lasagna bed and before I had got it planted, I wanted to keep the cats out of it. I laid a piece of cattle panel fencing on the surface to deter them. After the plants got established, I was able to remove it and they have not bothered the bed at all. Of course that wouldn't be very attractive.

I think the weather is skewed all around the country. We went north to visit family in June and it was so cool and wet the farmers and gardeners hadn't been able to plant. Other areas have had serious flooding and yet a large portion of the country is wanting for rain. It makes no sense ~ prayers for all.

Willowwind, welcome! :o) I don't know where I could find any Sweet Gum ball mulch. Thanks for the suggestion.

podster. due having to pull nut grass constantly, I'm not able to lay anything down in these areas. I have used Liquid Fence Dog and Cat Repellent. It does work for the cat problem; however, it has to be reapplied quite often during high heat and is very expensive. It also keeps squirrels out of my hanging baskets and containers. I have placed metal shelving (ones with small bars) behind my plants in one flowerbed to keep the cats from hiding there to prey on birds. This has worked.

I don't know if most people know this .... the earth has been shifting on its axis more than normal for quite a few years now. I first noticed it when sunlight was hitting on plants in the summer that had been in the shade in years past as well as shining into a window that it had never done before.. The sun's position is farther to the north in the summer than it used to be. I mentioned that I thought the earth was shifting on its axis to my family and they thought that I was crazy. A few years ago, I found verification that it was on the internet. After the latest tsunamis, scientists stated that the earth has shifted even more. It has always been shifting, but the rate of the shift has accelerated. Perhaps, this is what is causing the climate changes.

The one thing mankind has absolutely no control over is: THE WEATHER. Sometimes it seems God decides to break Man's arrogance by showing him who is still all powerful. Certainly gets my attention. I don't go along with all the gab about man changing the climate. Only God, The Father, can do that. Now having said that, mankind can certainly mess up the surface of this planet big time.
htop, I have also read about the earth's axis changing. We have the tools to know what is happening but will never be able to change it.

Enough preaching for this morning. Another hot day ahead.

Thank you so much for the Hugelkulture links. I got them bookmarked now!
I have been putting annuals between veggies and sowing them in areas I can't sow till fall. I pulled all the onions recently and won't have anything in that spot till Sept. So I put in fast growing, drought zinnias, cosmos and celosia. They don't take any more water to get started then what I'm already giving the veggies and will provide shade. I tried Dill as well, but found it needed more moisture to germinate, not my goal. Earlier when I planted cantaloup on the trellis, I was left with too small an area to place another food crop, celosia went there. I hope they'll also regulate the moisture and prevent the melons from cracking if they get too much water.

Htop, The rocks made me wonder if you could put some flower pot in the beds. The pots would conserve moisture and the bedding plants would get the run off. Not sure if most potted plants can go in full sun tho? And it would defeat the purpose if they had to be watered more.

Here are they EM links. First link is a 40 page discussion! The rest are links that I pulled from the discussion.

http://www.wildlifegardeners.org/forum/fertilizing-soil-amen...

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20040401/Hamilton

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/BIO-9.pdf

http://www.reap-canada.com/online_library/IntDev/id_bokashi/...
(includes homemade fish emulsion and carbonizer stove)

Thanks for the info, all! I'm taking notes....

Although walking accross our yard is like walking accross a field of potato chips the plant beds have some winners. Oddly, my vitex is starting to suffer =(. But the rosemary is really doing well. Another odd winner during the drought at my house has been my Buttercup rose. Not much water has got to that bed and the other roses are looking sickly right about now. But not Buttercup! You'd think at Austin rose would really be sucking up the water right about now (many of my other Austins are). Strange.

A neighbor told me what she does to conserve water that I'm going to try since it is so logical. When I turn on the shower, I must let it run for 2 or 3 minutes until it gets hot. From now on I will put a 5 gallon bucket on the shower floor under the shower head so it fills up and then I use it in my garden. Makes so much more sense rather than just letting perfectly good water to go down the drain. Does anyone have other ways of conserving water?

That sounds good to me. I expect in the far future it will be the norm for everything to be built with the ability to use gray water on the landscape. Homes will be plumbed for that option right from the start. In the 40's my grandmother had her washer in a little detached room (might run over). My grandfather was a plumber and he hooked the drain to a hose outside. The grass was beautiful all around the "wash house". Just think of the strain it will remove from the sewer treatment plants. Only the toilet water would need to be contained and treated. Actually, there is a toilet already made that will incinerate right then and there. The future will be quite different with very little waste of any of our resources.

Well, I can dream, can't I?

We do that a lot around here too. I'm sort of bucket collector anyway. I love old buckets, galvanized, enameled, etc. It's rare I come home from a flea market without another bucket.lol I use them all around the house and garden. They hold the kids toys by the tub...I can throw tub water out window. When I'm taking a compost bucket out. I'll rinse or do some quick chore and collect the water to go out with compost scraps. The compost is so dry this time of year, I water it from the hose. Other instances are just as Podster spoke of...like cleaning the pet dishes. Or a lot of times I have to clean my buckets outside and I collect as much as I can while rinsing and dump it on a needy plant.

I planted okra with field peas and sweet potatoes, which was a mistake. The okra need so much more water. So when I go out to pick peas, I fill my picking bucket with water first, for the okra. I won't be doing that next year!

Christi, that's my dream home! My bro and sis-in-law were married in this gorgeous old (early 1900s) home in downtown Dallas. We were touring it and I fell in love with the 2nd story bathroom. The bath tub had an elaborate chrome faucet with lots of knobs. When I asked why it looked so complicated, she said that the knobs controlled where the waste water went. She then showed me, out the window, where pipes took the water down to the parking lot that was once the resident garden. The future, the past? As long as works :0)

It seems like a simple solution for a huge problem to me. On a new build there would very little additional cost. Of course, first have to convince "city hall". My grandmother always told me there is nothing new under the sun. It has all been said or done before. She died in 1972 so she would be aghast at today's technology. The Roman's were very sophisticated with their water supply. Wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have a system for recycling grey water in their time. Sadly, the U.S.A. is one of the most wasteful countries on the planet. Our life of plenty may come back to bite us sooner than later.

Ahhhh, quite the philosopher today......hahahahaha

I recently attended a seminar on water conservation put on by the Dallas Organic Gardening Club. The statistic given was that nationally, Americans average using 65 gallons of water per person, per day. Even sadder is that the residents of my city, Carrollton, average using 115 gallons of water per person, per day. Worst still, the residents of Highland Park, a ritzy part of Dallas that has huge homes with huge beautiful green yards that they have to water, average using 525 gallons of water per person, per day.

Now I’m no tree hugger but it doesn’t take an idiot to realize that if we keep this up we will eventually run out of water. Thank goodness that many cities like Dallas realize this and have started water conservation programs and are making the public more aware of the water shortage problem we face.

And now I see why folks here in NE Texas don't want to give up more land for another resevoir! 525 gals a day! What! They have really nice fake green grass now, you know! ;~)

About the sweet gum balls my cat will not use a bed for her bathroom that is covered with the SGB s ,I use a lot of newspaper for mulch and cover it with the SGB ..Now for the bad news When I started using the raised beds ,I first made the beds from whatever lumber I could get the cheapest and they were designed to drain well ..This was about 8 years ago and watering was basically unheard of here in SE Oklahoma as we got way more rain than needed so the best part of the beds for me was a way of keeping my coneflowers from rotting during cool weather so now that we are in a drought my wooden flowers beds are a real pain (hindsight don't you know) as they rot and fall apart am replacing them with planters made from plastic barrels cut either long ways are short ways and I also collect our wash water for use on non sensitive plants wyhich I am pretty sure that is against some dumb a** law..

HTop ~ I had heard the earth was shifting on its' axis in the past and most recently after the tsunami. Understandable when you think of the plates that shift. It could very likely contribute to the odd weather phenomenon we are enjoying!

Cocoa ~ thanks for the EM links. I will peruse them later this evening. Another durable bloomer is Gomphrena. It is a totally durable drought bloomer. I am not going to call it an annual as it has come back for me three years in a row from roots. The rose campion is hanging on but the blooms have been meager without moisture.

Grits ~ I used landscape timbers when I framed the beds and worried about the wood wicking moisture away from the soil. Did you find that to be a problem?

Terri_emory ~ I like the potato chip analogy. My rosemarys are doing well also with no moisture what so ever. Also soapwort, licorice and bay. I find quite a selection of herbals are drought tolerant but can't help but wonder what they would do under great conditions .

Hrp50 ~ I am so glad to hear that your area is attempting to educate about water conservation. I would guess the high volume users have pools, etc. In our house I would be surprised if both of us together used 65 gallons in a day.

I am always trying to conserve water. I hand wash dishes and when it gets really dry, I wash and rinse dishes in a pan so I can use the dishwater for plants. DH always asks what is wrong with the drain when he sees me do that. He'd croak if I put a bucket in the shower... lol

The coolest use of greywater was a collection system from the bathroom sink to the commode reservoir, using greywater to flush. But the plumbing set up was not cheap.

Sadly, I am one of those folks that hates to see land given up for more reservoirs. I would not protest as much if there were uniform water consumption restrictions.

I think you have the magic touch with the gomphrena. I can't get it to reseed and it dies in winter here. Hmmm, perhaps next, time I'll try a southern slope.

Would ya'll take pity on me and explain the earth's axis thing? It seems like over the years, that the sun is coming up farther to the left of a tree during the peak of summer. I know that the sun goes higher during the sumer season. What I mean is say, for instance, If the sun *were at a fix point every morning in the east mid-summer...now (compared to ten years ago, when we moved here) it seems to be coming up farther to the left (north) Is that an example of the axis shifting? Does that mean it will take longer for the sun to return back to it winter/southern position? Trying to wrap my brain around this:0)

cocoa_lulu,

For a couple of years, I mulched two of my flowerbeds with about 8 inches of cedar bark mulch (pulled the mulch away from the in-ground plant bases) . I sunk flower pots into the mulch. I had to do this because of a heavy invasion of nutgrass which I could not kill. Nutgrass needs light and the mulch smothered it. The mulch eventually disintegrated and I didn't replace it in one bed. One small bed in the hottest part of my yard by the street still has the containers in it and I added compost as the mulch disintegrated. The pots do conserve moisture and the other plants get the run off. I have Jerusalem sage(a perennial) in one container. Its roots have grown through the bottom of the pot. Another container is planted with dwarf gomphrena and the third with zinnias. These plants take the full sun well. Plants that are in the ground around the containers are portulaca, four-nerve daisy, (Hymenoxys scaposa), Red Spider Lily, (Lycoris radiata) several types of rain lilies and dwarf germander. The run off from the containers keep the rain lilies blooming quite a lot and has caused the red spider lily bulbs to increase in size a lot more than the red spider lily bulbs that I have planted elsewhere. you have the general idea about the shifting of the earth's axis position. The sun's position in relation to the earth now indeed is farther to the north than it used to be. The shift has been gradually occurring for a long, long time; however, the rate of the shift began to accelerate over the past 10 to 15 years. Then, other factor's such as the earthquake in Japan, have accelerated the shifting.

I can't remember when I first noticed that the sun's position was more north than it had been when we first moved in this house in the early 80s. When I first researched it, there was nothing on the internet about it except for discussions by Native Indians at a tribal meeting. They had noticed it too and discussed the environmental changes that they had been experiencing. Having a native American Indian heritage, I thought that maybe I'm particularly attuned to Mother Earth and am very aware of environmental changes. I found it odd that there were no scientific reports available at that time. "Global warming" was the topic of the day. I haven't paid particular attention to the position of the sun in the winter. I will have to remember to do that this winter.

Living deep in the woods, I can't honestly say I can see the movement but that single thing would make more sense as to the climate changes we are seeing than all the damage we are doing to this earth like water pollution, consumption.

I had been considering a shallow well for flushing, washing and watering. When I spoke to a local well driller, I was astounded to find that the state no longer allows shallow wells drilled due to groundwater contamination. Man has contaminated by fertilizers, sewage and other chemicals. The effect of that will be long reaching but isn't (IMO) causing the climate to change.

Cocoa ~ you must baby the gomphrena. This plant I am referring to is in hard packed clay and I have NOT watered it at all, period. It has pitiful looking blooms on it. I haven't planted any gomphrena in four years and am astounded to see it return. I keep thinking I should dig it up but better soil would probably do it in.

If you are going to plant new plants from a nursery right now in the ground and their roots are not established well or they are root bound, they may not make it in the heat. I made the mistake of planting some rudbeckia that were root bound. I separated the roots as best I could before I planted them. I had to water them a lot because they wilted in the heat. They developed a fungus and died. I bought more, re-potted them this time, waited for them to put on new growth and then planted them in the ground. They are doing great.

Plants that are doing great in the heat:
Coneflower
Damianita daisy (Chrysactinia mexicana), little water, has bloomed more this summer than it ever has
'Serena' (Angelonia angustifolia) - white, pink, purple - just keeps on blooming, little water once established
Cleome - the plant seems to love the heat and is huge now and keeps on blooming, little water once established
Cosmos - have to water a lot, wilts
Pyramid plant (Pyramid Bush, Wooly Pyramid Bush, Tea Bush, Raichie, Broom Weed
Melochia tomentosa) - loves the heat, hard to find, blooms and blooms and blooms, little water; one of the most heat and drought tolerant plants that I have, have 3 and need to buy more next spring when my favorite nursery has a few available, expensive
Vinca
Dwarf celosia - takes extra water
Jerusalum sage
Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata) 'John Fanick' - AM sun, PM filtered shade, thriving, no fungus; 'Victoria' is struggling and has fungus on bottom leaves, native pink garden phlox newly planted needs watered frequently and has fungus on bottom leaves
Zinnia Linearis (Augustfolia) - Narrow Leaf Zinnia
Dwarf gomphrena - purple
Esperanza, 'Gold Star', 'Sunrise", 'Orange Jubilee'
Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora)
Baby sunrose, red blooms, orange blooms
'Tidal Wave' petunia (purple) - doing better in the heat than I thought it would, shades soil around other plants and is thriving
Desert petunia 'Blue Shade' (Ruellia squarros)
Wild Petunia, Brazilian Petunia (Ruellia elegans)
Mountain Sage, Red-Sage Salvia (Salvia regla) - tall shrub, has been blooming all summer for some reason (usually blooms briefly inn spring with main bloom period in late summer and fall, hummingbird draw
Mealy Cup Sage, Duelberg Sage 'Henry Duelberg' (Salvia farinacea), hummingbird draw
Malabar spinach (Basella rubra) - vine, not real spinach, thriving in the heat in AM sun afternoon filtered shadefiltered shade
Mexican Flame Vine, Orange Glow Vine (Senecio confusus), butterfly draw
Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus), bee draw
moon flower vine
Firecracker Plant, Mexican Honeysuckle, Orange Plume Flower (Justicia spicigera) - shrub, one of the most heat and drought tolerant plants that I have, hummingbird draw
Lantana
pentas - pink, light red,dark red, light pink, excellent heat tolerance, huge butterfly and hummingbird draw
Dwarf Mexican petunias
Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lucida)
Shrimp plant
Wishbone Flower, Bluewings 'Summer Wave Blue' (Torenia fournieri
Plumbago, Cape Leadwort (Plumbago auriculata)
Hardy Blue Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) - low grounding groundcover
Spicy Jatropha (Jatropha integerrima)
Bougainvilla
Duranta 'Sweet Memories'
Batface cuphea

Lots of very helpful info here, thanks everybody! The one thing that does not seem affected by the heat and drought here is the mesquite trees. I'm making the best of the situation (no peppers or tomatoes this year because it's too hot to set fruit) by harvesting (picking up) the mesquite bean pods, grinding them, and adding the flour to our homemade trail mix and a little to homemade bread - desperate times LOL!
And like some of you, I collect the rinse water from kitchen (washing dishes) and take it out to the bushes and trees in five gallon buckets to conserve water.

Yep, seems like the sun has shifted some and its rays are more intense. It's burning the leaves of plants that usually take the summer heat in stride.

Podster, I am wondering how much shade your Hugelkultur and lasagna beds get during the day? Do you have any that are in full sun?

I've always been amazed that a mesquite tree casts no shade whatever. Same with a desert willow.
'
The mesquite does drain the water from everything all around it. If you cut one down, twenty more will take it's place. When the trunk is cut in circles it makes a beautiful floor and will last for all eternity. Takes a skilled craftsman to lay the floor.

Okay, I think that is what the trouble is for us - there's no real shade in the garden. When we have had rain in the past, castor bean plants would get big and help provide some shade, but not this year. Think we'll try shade cloth next year (and hopefully, prayerfully, we'll all have rain next year.)
The nice thing about mesquites is that they survive our crazy weather,and bloom/ provide for bees in the spring. But you are right LouC, they are hard to get rid of and their thorns are down right dangerous. I'll keep the floor idea in mind (We have enough of them that we actually could have a floor made if could find somebody to hire to do it.)

Cocoa, I loved your links about concoctions you can make at home to encourage microbes. I have been trying to introduce them to my soil for years now, but it's been a slow process. Those articles made me want to run in the kitchen and steam up some rice.

One of the things I do in the kitchen is save ALL leftover liquids in glasses. I just pour them all into empty o.j. jugs--juice, soda pop, lemonade, milk, coffee, beer--whatever I find. Then I just let it sit there and ferment till I'm ready to use it. (This can get very smelly. Would probably work better without lids, but because of the odor and the fruitflies, they have to be covered.) Sometimes I add a few drops of cider vinegar. Then, when I make my homemade liquid fertilizer, I pour in a gallon.

I've been asked why. All these things are food products. The idea is to "feed the soil," or more accurately, the microorganisms in the soil. So, if you do this, say, once a month, you're actually growing your own cultures directly in the soil. You may not know exactly what kind of cultures (LOL), but they are indigenous microorganisms, so nature will bring them into balance.

Taken individually, reasons to add all these things: milk has great anti-fungal properties probably due to lacti b. I'm not sure about the beer, except that somewhere in my past I learned about benefits that I can't recall well enough to articulate--just know the fermentation and resulting sugars are beneficial--probably because of the grains. Soda/lemonade/juice also obviously bring sugar.

I seldom see this mix bubble while I still have it in the house, probably because of the lid. (It does foam sometimes.) When I make the fertilizer, though, it ferments outside for a couple of days, and THAT sure bubbles. (Other fertilizer ingredients: alfalfa, cottonseed meal, seaweed, baking soda, molasses, sometimes epsom salts, sometimes vinegar, sometimes more milk, maybe some tea tree oil, etc.)

I also add the (diluted) liquids directly to my houseplants. Very cheap fertilizer! I never fertilize them otherwise, and they grow like crazy. They've also learned to live without much other watering. I'd never thought about the leftover mixture contributing to that, but could be. Anyway, that's how I can tell that the leftovers provide some benefit to the plants, even without the alfalfa.

Htop, thank you. I have some rain and spider lilies that will benefit from your observations.
I have some newly built raised beds along my southern tree line, will be watching and interesting to see how the sun plays in this area over winter.
Salvia regla has been blooming all summer here as well. Good thing. I think the hummers are relying on it.

Hey, Pbtx! Happy to see ya posting! That's a great idea about fermenting juices. You right microbes are all around us. I've been reading up on cattle nutrition. Basically, cows (Rumen-fementation vats) They pick up microbes with every bit of grass they eat to ferment and digest cellulose. They wouldn't be able to live without them. I'm sure this freaks out more then a few germaphobes.lol

Saturday I went to visit a friend that lives in Whiteboro Ok just 10 miles away ,he and his wife have about 1/4 acre in garden ,his tomatos are in full production and his cukes are at that "can't keep them picked stage"the only thing that looked like it was stressed at all was some tomatos that are next to his tractor shed which is galvanized metal (reflected heat)..Not one weed anywhere other than in the watermelons which he leaves for protection from wind and sun..He waters from a large pond and other than that not much diferent conditions than my garden only he does not have shade..I kinda think the shade is no help at all from heat as far as plants go except who knows how much water a full grown tree can use everyday...

Is it really being suggested that the heat/drought extreme weather conditions is related to a shift in the Earth's axis?

I have read that about the axis shift. Actually makes the most sense of any of the "theories" floating about out there. Dallas Morning News reported this is the worst drought in recorded history.

I am thinking over population, overuse of resources and climate change myself.

My answer is D, all of the above.
:0)
Look hard enough and everything is connected.

Doesn't seem like we have to look too hard these days, its getting pretty obvious, unforunately.

newtonsthirdlaw
If you're smart enough to figure out that "the mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear", can't you figure out whether or not "the heat/drought extreme weather conditions is related to a shift in the Earth's axis"? (Sorry, I just couldn't pass that one up!)