Ten feet ? Geez, I would love to know how they're going to fix that problem !
Yeah, you were getting a lot of rain up there, I saw that. More is coming tonight so maybe the ground is soft enough now to really absorb the stuff that is coming later.
Yardening August 2015
At this moment, radar shows an intense band of yellow and orange crossing the Blue Ridge and sweeping east, strengthening as it goes.Everyone in Maryland east of the mountains, Northern Virginia, and DC will be getting hammered shortly, CAM momentarily if not already.
Not quite... you're right. Momentarily ! Dark out and wind is cranking.
....starting to get hammered right now...but that's okay, we need it! We only got about 1/8" last night.
Holly and Ric--
look at this post on keeping your pond water clear.
It was on one of the "custom Box" posts at the bottom.
Maybe this will help with your Pond--or is yours perfect?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1403582/
It rained 0.55 inch overnight Wednesday night, and we received another 0.75 inch this afternoon, a VERY welcome rainfall. Finally!
Gita thanks for the link I will check it out. Most of our ponds are pretty clear only problem we have seems to be string algae. It doesn't cloud up the water but it needs to be removed from time to time. I just reach in and scoop it out.
I'm glad to hear you got your fair share of rain this time, greenthumb! We only got about 3/8" this evening.
We got shafted on the rain, BIG TIME! My location only got 0.82" of rain. Areas to the west ~25 miles got upwards to 3". I ran a hose outside in the one garden under the Dawn Redwood even as it was raining.
We had quite a bit of rain. sometimes really heavy--and then nothing---
them more downpours...weird.
I don't have a rain gage--so I have no idea how much we got.
They will, probably, say how much in the news...
wow- Glen Burnie and Millersville has had scant showers of rain today. For once, we are getting missed.
I've received a grand total of .04 inches of rain this month.
The meteorologists at the Capital Weather Gang call it the DC hole. We've missed out on every small and large thunderstorm in the past few weeks. My containers are looking crispy. That's what I get for waiting for the forecasted rain.
Oh my gosh SSG, you just can't wait for forecasted rain during a drought. It's a tough lesson but don't forget it ;-) That's why I was watering even during the storms last night. I know it will only be a few days before I have to start watering again. The piddly rain we got will not last us until the next rain. I looked at the 10 day forecast this morning and it's nothing but sun. An excellent forecast if you're not a gardener.
Yep, even before a good rainfall, I water. If the ground is too hard, the rain runs along the surface and end up in the drainage gutters. Soften it up with a good watering and the rain water can seep in. SSG, I'm betting your crispy plants can be saved... good luck !
Got a total of nearly two inches with the rain Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon.
Seriously. I missed a few days due to some late nights/early mornings and that was all it took. I think I'm going to plant cute, decorative sedums/semps in some of the hanging containers next year. Petunias don't recover well at all from being dried out.
I'm about done with petunias anyway. They hit their peak after about a month then they start getting leggy. I cut them back, they look good briefly then start getting leggy again.
SSG, You really are having a hard summer.
Such a beautiful morning! No humidity--temps in the high 60's!
Got a lot of my windows open! So nice! Fresh air!
Will try to get some gardening tasks done. Like--getting out the hedge
trimmer and trimming some of the shrubs--which have all grown straggly new
stems as of late. All that rain kicking in.
Shrubs like my Jap. Holly behind thee grill-- my my Hemlocks--and my Junipers.
Hope i hold to my resolve......many other put off chores beckon.......:o)
G.
Took advantage of the cool morning to edge the two new beds on each side of my driveway. All in all, I would say I edged about 60 feet of beds. Other than hitting some stout roots from the cherry tree, it went smoothly and I have a pretty straight, nice looking edge on both beds. Ready to start planting now. The fun part ! :)
I think I mentioned that Ric entered a drawing last Feb at the local Garden Show. We won this really nice yard cart full of gardening and bird feeding supplies and a $300.00 gift certificate from a local Nursery. The nicest man came yesterday and clipped our hedges. He did the big walk thru yew and did a great job on the swags that Ric has been working into the hedge. He did the Holly Hedge in the back corner and the Holly Pyramid in the front yard. It was a great use of the $$$. really saved Ric a lot of hard work. That big Yew is a beast to clip. No pic now as the camera is packed. Heading out shortly.
Holly, I remember when you and Ric won that gift certificate. I can't wait to see the pictures!
I found evidence of viburnum leaf beetle on two of my new viburnum dentatums....grrr..
I found a live adult beetle and laid waste to that thing. There was a lot of yellow goo in it so maybe it was a female with eggs. I pruned out all the branches that had eggs laid in them. Apparently viburnum dentatums are in the highly susceptible category for VLB attacks.
It's always something...
Going to plant some mustard and kale seeds today, get the fall garden started. Maybe beets.
And probably need to water more.
Nice rain shower this afternoon. Forecast only called for a 20% chance, so YAY !!
Haven't been home to check the gauge yet, seemed like about a half inch to me. Anyone else get some ?
I can't wait to get the fall garden started. I'd love to be able to grow all of my greens.
CAM, I'm watching the radar right now. The storm is breaking up as it gets closer to DC. Arrgghh.
Darn... that sucks, SSG ! Got home and the gauge only registered a smidge over 1/4 inch. I really think it measures short sometimes.
Aaaaah, now I know why we didn't get any rain down here, Cam hogged it all!! < =P heeheeheee
Nope, nothing but loads of sunshine down this way. DH said there was supposed to be chances of showers this afternoon between 3-9:00PM, but I won't hold my breath. Got out there and watered the livin' daylights out of everything yesterday. Good thing, the pots were getting a bit (well, ok, a bit more than a bit) bedraggled. Thankfully the tomato plants are still fat and happy, though I did have to clean them up a bit. (OK, a bit more than a bit... are we seeing a trend here?) I need to find 10' tall tomato cages for next year, sheeesh!
Man, that is some really scary stuff about what's happening in the valley in Calif. Interestingly enough, we were talking about Cali at work today, and their water situation and how naturally Cali is a desert anyway. Makes me wonder what the good Lord has got in mind for all of us...
Haha... Speedie... trust me, I'm no water hog ! Thank Goodness I'm on well water because otherwise my water bill would be $300 a month. I've been watering like crazy the past 6 weeks or more.
Hope that system gains strength and gives you some rain !
We started getting dribbles of rain about 2 hours ago, but have received less than 1/4" so far and it looks like we might not get more tonight.
Some kind of insects attacked one of my Viburnum dentatums when I planted it in the ground several months ago. I never saw what they were, but they stripped the leaves to the veins.
I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to spray it with insecticide, so I dug it up, stuck it in a pot and moved it to the other side of the yard where it started to recover. I'm still not sure which insects were responsible, but they didn't seem to attack it after I moved it, at least not to the same degree. I'm planning to plant it again in a slightly drier location and see what happens.
After some serious rumbles--and the sky darkening like at night--
we are having a serious downpour right now. Coming down hard!
And--I spent most of my day today running the sprinkler all over
my yard--in every location. Waste of time and $$.
Thank G-d that water is cheap in Baltimore Co. In Baltimore city--they pay dearly.
HIUGE difference! Does not seem fair.
You could live on one side of the street and be in the County
Across the street--someone can be in the City.
g.
Well--to look at the bright side--I don't think I will have to water anything
tomorrow in the HD garden dept.! YEAHHHH!
What a nice break! Sunday I watered non stop from 8:30AM until 6PM.
EVERY table--every tree and shrub--every cart-full of plants.
Watered them all!!! Overkill-that's what it is!
g.
Man--we are having some serious winds too!
*****Look what happened, just now, to my stately Amaranth!!!!
Geesh! ( hope it is just the root-ball out of the soil--NOT that it broke!
That would NEVER happen!!! That stem is as hard as a baseball bat.
Lots of lightning.....lots of thunder---lots ans lots of rain.
PS--i LOVE to smell rain.........
Oh no, your poor Amaranth!!! Let us know how she fared the night, please! I hope she's just resting and not broken!! :(
Not one single drop of rain down here last night. Oh well, the temps are expected to be lower today, so that'll be nice. :)
Muddy, do you have a pic of the insect damage to your V. dentatum? They are highly susceptible to viburnum leaf beetle (VLB). I found evidence of VLB on a couple of my dentatums this past weekend. I found an adult VLB and destroyed it. Then I cut out all the stems where I saw the eggs laid.
We got totally shafted by the storms. It rained really good at work but at home we received 0.05", which was just enough to encourage leaf fungus IMO. It's so weird, we've been in a dead zone for rain the last few storms. They just go right around us. Last week our area got 2-3" but we only got 0.82". Yesterday it's the same story.
CAM, I often think it rains more than it does. It's funny how complete pouring rain for 5 minutes only amounts to 0.15". I have a self dumping rain gauge at home that isn't blocked by anything. It's pretty accurate as I compare it against a couple other gauges within a mile from me.
Yeah, Jeff... my gauge is in a pretty good spot but I've only had it a couple months and not sure I trust it yet. :) I live two miles from my work and it rained here pretty hard for a good 45 minutes and the radar showed I was getting even more at my house. Oh well, everything got some rain so that's better than none which is what a lot of people got yesterday. No complaints ! :)
I have the Weather Underground (Wunderground) app for my phone and you can access all the local personal weather stations to see their conditions including rain totals. You should check it out. It's a pretty sweet app. The radar function leaves a little to be desired but I consult another app for that.
I will... sounds very helpful ! Thanks, Jeff.
I don't have photos but I'll take some, Sequoia.
I think rain gauges often don't have large enough openings to collect rain. I have 2, one of which is mostly decorative with only a 1" diameter tube to collect rain. I've noticed that if I've left buckets or other containers outside, the water that collects in them is always deeper than the level in the rain gauges.
I think you're right, although other containers (or wheelbarrows LOL) often have sloping sides that let them collect "extra" rain.
I sometimes think the puddles on the street are more indicative of the rainfall than my rain gauge.