hi all, am new to the site , but have enjoyed reading all the sites. I know i should not complain about all the rain, but enough is enough :-). All of my plants are drooping over, not to mention my poor roses need swimming lessons! ..and I am sure all of you , like myself, that have dogs, are enjoying the aroma of wet dogs! i I hope this weekend will be a dry one.
Happy garden to you all.
rain ,rain go away, come back this sumer :-)
I don't know how much rain you've had, but I'm not exactly used to the high humidity and constant rain in my normally fairly dry area west of San Antonio. Some areas of the yard I can hardly get around in because of large plants & trees that are spread out and bent over (some of whatever the ice storm didn't leave bent over, the rain and high winds bent over) . But I'm afraid we will return to the drought we were having here if I complain, so I won't.
After the 2005-2006 drought we've had I'm not complaining. I'd rather see green pastures. The wildflowers were glorious this year because of all the rain we've received.
The south side of my house is standing in water. I'm in Magnolia, due west of the Woodlands & n of Houston.
My house was built in 1980 & I am having trouble taking a shower. I don't want to say my septic is backing up, just EXTREMELY slow draining.
But all bulbs not eaten by the moles, have bloomed nicely. To make Mother Nature do her thing, we just have to be cool & wait for summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:~)
I too am not going to complain about the rain. We farm and ranch and water is so very vital not to our cattle operation. Not only that but the fire danger has been so hight the last year or two, it will be nice to be able to leave home and not worry about a grass fire.
We just need rain in moderation!
I wish it would spread itself out. An inch a week, every week, all year. How 'bout it Mother Nature?
I second Knolan's request. Half an inch on Tuesdays and Thursdays 4am-6am would be perfect for me.
-Richard
Oooohhh, yes. I like that schedule.
I am happy to see normal rainfall return to our area. Everything looks 100% better this year. I just hope this trend continues thru the summer.
I only wish it would stop raining on the days I have off from work. It's almost like a conspiracy - dry dry dry dry...... Dorie's day off....rain rain.
I'm with Dorie!! It seems to do nothing on the days I work, then massive storms on my day off!!
The good news is that the new flower beds we've done this spring are able to absorb the water well. No standing water in any of them!! Guess the soil ammendments we added are working!
While we are making suggestions, I'll take every Friday morning around 6am. :-P That way with my one allowed to water day (Tuesday), my garden would get watered every three days. :)
We've had a total of five inches of rain the past few weeds. We are not complaining at all this year. I've never seen everything look so pretty and green. I sure hope it will continue through out the summer. Last summer was a killer.
Last summer ... the summer before that ... the summer before that .... honestly, the last "nice" summer I can recall was 2002. Every summer after that has been extremely hot and extremely dry in north Texas. So I'm not complaining about the rain one bit -- bring it on! Rowlett is still in Stage 3 restrictions, but they did recently relax the restrictions so that we can water our lawns twice a week.
Carla
Still only once a week here Carla. Others using Lavon as their source of water have been relaxed, but McKinney is staying firm. Two times a week is really all we need, so it would be nice.
I love the rain, but when we have a wet spring the fire hazard always goes up in the summer because all that grass that grew so nicely in the spring dries out and turns brown. In the pastures where something is grazing and keeping it down it's not so bad. But some fields don't get grazed and along the highways is really dangerous.
Stacey, I'm glad to hear that McKinney is staying firm. I wish/hope that all the cities in the metroplex stay with some sort of water restriction. In Rowlett, we got used to Stage 3 (once a week) last year, so I'm glad we've stayed with it. We should be doing our best to conserve our precious water resources. If last summer, when we very nearly went to Stage 4 restrictions, didn't teach us anything ... well, one wonders what would.
I like that I haven't had to pull out my hose and water either my lawn *or* my foundation so far this spring/summer. This has been a real treat and I hope the rains continue. No flooding, though, just a nice weekly rain. :-)
Carla
Yep, I agree. It bugs the crap out of me when I see people watering when we just got an inch of rain the day before. That's one reason they should not let up quite yet.
Luckily, I have only had to run my sprinkler once this year. Sometime in March I believe, when we went almost 2 weeks without rain and stuff was starting to take off. Once June rolls around, I will probably be hoping for McKinney to at least switch to 2 times a week, but that will take the lake levels at Chapman to get higher than they are.
Is anyone else having problems due to the high humidity? Powdery Mildew on Crepe Myrtles, mold, and stuff? I hate humidity....I know, I know....it's part of the location. But, I still hate it....makes my hair frizz : (
It's really early but, yes, I'm getting powderrry mildew on my baby crepes. The older, more established ones appear to be okay but the babies.....they've been attacked!
PS....my hair is frizzy too.....no point trying to do a thing with it these days.
I think I have something like that on a key lime tree.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets frustrated when people waste water! Watering in the middle of the day and watering right after a nice rain is such a waste. I grew up in San Antonio and remember when water restrictions first started. I pretty much stick to that philosophy now that I'm out on my own and living in the DFW area.
Most of my plants are waterlogged. While I don't have a problem with powdery mildew, my rose is pretty much a goner. I've neglected it since we moved in 3 yrs ago and had started nursing it earlier in the spring. My lemon thyme is almost gone as well as a couple of my new pigeonberries. Grrrrr!!
hi all, last few days here have been great. i think i will wack my roses all down, they are looking really bad. yes, i too, am getting powdery mildew on my crapes. need to mix a small sprayer with h2o and dawn dish soap, it really works wonderfullly to kill it... just need a little squirt on em. i have been fighting the snails and slugs here. ohh.., they are nasty. got my chronicle this am and placed on kitchen table,,,, well you can guess what other surprise i had! worse yet i had not even had my coffee :-). any thoughts on killing em would be appreciated.
happy days to all....
Move to a snail/slug free area! Seriously, I fought them for 22 years without making much headway against them. Only temporary reprieves. Sluggo, an organic pet friendly bait is among the better baits. Surrounding tree bases with wide strips of copper works as long as the snails and slugs don't have another access to the them. Beer. (Protect from your pets or the snails won't get enough to drown in.) Provide places for snails/slugs to hide under. During the day, dispose of the little buggers. Don't use salt because it can damage plants and soil.
I just learned a method for slug removal tonight from a speaker from the county extension office. He says this works better than any snail bait or other product out there.
Take a cup of brewed coffee (not instant and not decaf). Mix with a gallon of water in a sprayer. Water your yard very well or wait for a god rain (makes the snails come out). In the early evening, spray all your foliage with the coffee mix and they will be dead the next morning. Interesting, huh?
Thanks Knolan. I just put that in my journal under snails. I'm going to try that. Does it also work on pill bugs? If not, what does besides DE?
Once again rain is forcasted this weekend for my area. It'd be funny if it weren't so important that I get into that garden (during the week I'm at work pretty much all daylight hours).
Hi Silverfluter. I don't know if it works on pill bugs or not but I'll ask next week. If not, I'll try to find out what they recommend.
I went to Gardenville in San Antonio and found something made from cedar shavings or something. It's supposed to repel lots of things. I used it yesterday and today I didn't see a single bug in my hosta pots. But if it rains alot it will have to be replaced often I think.
I'm going to knock on wood before I say this. Knock, knock, knock.
Fortunately, for myself, I haven't really ever had a pill bug or slug problem. I don't know why...don't use any pesticides at all....I've just been lucky. Maybe it's the different critters I have that get them. I've seen a few snails but not many. And I've been here 15 years.
Okay, throwing salt over my shoulder now. LOL.
What's the name of the cedar shaving product? Just curious.
Well on the bag it says Cedar Cide, Yard Safe, and formulated by Eco Granule. So I guess the name of this product is Yard Safe and it's made by Cedar Cide. There is also a Green Light logo on the bag.
That is strange that you don't have pill bugs. I grew up in Bellaire, but I was definitely not a gardener then and paid no attention whatsoever to anything green especially if it was outside. But others I know have a big problem with snails and stuff.
hi all, thanks for all the suggestions, i like the coffee one, will give it a try. will need to run to walmart and get a coffee pot, but that sounds cheaper than the snail bait. i do not use pestacides but love the amdro for the red ants. mostly i dont use stuff cause of my dogs, am afraid they will eat it. yes, have tried the beer thing, but the next morning i was totally grossed out. i love to work in the garden, but really do not why god invented the slugs. :-).
i hope you all have a great mothers day..... hopefully it will sunny and dry. i loved the sun today, just a beautiful day!
take care, stay safe
Let us know how the coffee does Nystx. It was a beautiful day. I got lots done outside. Lots of RU stuff planted finally. I'm trying to clear my patio so I can sit out there and enjoy myself without looking at my patio half covered with stuff that should be in the ground. Makes me feel guilty.:)
It was 93 degrees here today. Very hot!
It thundered and rumbled and looked like rain but it went all around us. My friend, only 2 miles away, got a horrible storm with hail. I'm happy it missed us and so are my caterpillars.
Hope everyone has had a wonderful mother's day. I've been pampered to the hilt with breakfast in bed (I won't say how it tasted but I ate every last bite). Then I was made a lovely salad for lunch. My daughter made a delicious berry parfait for dessert and DH smoked ribs. It's been a wonderful, wonderful day. I've been out enjoying the yard and everything in bloom. And the caterpillars. They're making me feel like I have 15 children. LOL.
Yay - didn't rain yesterday, but it was hot! I mowed 1/2 acre with my little 18" electric mower and about died from heat exhaustion (my riding mower is broke .... again).