I left my laundry on the line on friday and we got rain that night, part of saturday and on sunday morning - and lots of heavy sporatic downpours during that 3 day period, so the clothes never did dry fully until monday around noon, so we're doing ok here at the central part of York Region.

I'll try again with the laundry thing on Thursday to will the rains again...

Laundry thing doesn't work for me.I dried four lines of bedding today and not a drop of rain.
I've let the lawn fend for itself,but I'll be darned if I'm going to let all my containers die.
I've been hand watering using a slow soak,so that I'm not using any more than I should.I try to water really early in the morning,or after dusk so that I don't lose most of it to evaporation.I also wisely used water holding crystals in most of my containers,so that they don't dry out quite as quickly as they normally would.
A friend suggested the other day that we should dance nekid under a full moon to bring on the rain.....it's tempting.....it's tempting....LOL

Eliza Ann

Rain? Who needs rain when you can practically swim in the air!! Laundry is taking forever to dry this past week, and then when it's almost dry, the sky turns black and pours down on it! Then it stops just when your clothes are wet enough to start the whole process over! Grumble, grumble, grumble...

A good day or two of rain sure would break this heat and humidity though.

BP
/off to do that rain dance, since I don't have any dry clothes anyway!

I live near Guelph. We got rain starting last Thursday and continuing off and on until Sunday. (My Thursday laundry didn't dry until Monday either.) At times it came down so hard that I heard it blew the covers of storm sewers in town.

It was the first in over a month. We are over 40 feet of gravel, so our drainage is good, but it sure makes for dry lawns and fields! Our hay crop was about 2/3 normal. I stacked over 3,000 bales in all that heat and humidity. This year we hired a couple of kids to help me with some of the loads. I think next year my oldest grandaughter should be able to be of real help. She's growing fast.

We can water because we have our own well, so the flower and vegetable gardens got well watered once a week. Fortunately the ground water supply has held up well.

The humidity seems to have left the air as of Monday evening.

I will second the use of water crystals in containers. They have really saved the life of mine this year.

I really really wish we could send you some of our rain. It's Manitoba's fault you guys have got none this summer I'm sure, we have been hogging it all.

Everything's under water, the mosquitoes are nuts and it's been sitting around so long everything's starting to STINK!

Hope you get the rain you need soon!

We have been short on the wet stuff out this way as well. It has been calling for 80% chance of showers, rain for the last few days and nary a drop. Sure would like to see some. Being on a well, its pretty hard to do the watering that you need. My (4) 45 gal plastic drums on the downspouts are almost all empty. Too muggy, too hot. I suppose we can be thankful that we are not in Arizona (temps around 120F)

I'm in the York region as well. This is the first time I heard of the ban and so i guess I have to follow the advise. However, I always water minimally but my place still looks lush. Now that i know about this I shall try to find ways to keep watering a minimum. I too have large containers which can be filled with water. It only takes a few minutes of watering to keep the plants happy. My front yard requires far less watering. In fact, I've left it for a week and it still looks vibrant. It's filled with plants that do not require as much watering - like shasta daisies, lavenders, yarrow, day lilies, thyme, etc.

I don't understand people who leave a sprinkler on their lawns for hours at a time. Watering lawns should only take a few minutes. Many times, when my neighbors ask me to check their dried up lawns, the problem is not in the watering, but in the soil - or lack of it. Almost always, there's no topsoil left to help retain moisture and sustain grass growth. Because of the occasional waterban, I've taken steps over the years to help my back garden survive and remain green despite minimal watering. In my area, it's quite clayish so I took care to top dress my lawn each spring with triple mixes and course sand. It helped in creating a thicker layer of top soil for the grass and the clay layer beneath helped with water retention. It helps grass grow and periodical holes made with a pitchfork provides much needed oxygen to the roots. I leave the grass clippings ungathered. That too helps with minimizing evaporation. A form of mulching if you will. I've also created enough shade conditions which helps a lot. As for containered plants - I have several and I group this close together creating a humid condition and watering less. Each planter has a catch plate to keep excess water. Small wall planters are filled with succulents like hens and chicks and under sedums. They hardly need any watering. I also filled the borders with plants that have large foliage. It creates shade and shade hinders rapid evaporation. One large leaf plant is enough to sustain the surrounding plants. For instance hosta, coral bells, heucheras.

Like Gene says, we're getting the crampy weather here on the Atlantic coast too. Being on an artesian well makes things a bit easier, but the rain would be most welcome.
The hoses were on the full sun gardens last night, and tonight they are on the shade gardens. Dappled shade will be done tomorrow night. Since we work during the day, watering has to be done at night.
Our Black Lab, Raven thinks we put the hoses out for her and she will lay in the pathways of the gardens and enjoy a good soak... even though the waters of Shad Bay are but 30 seconds away... I don't think she has noticed the hummingbirds coming over for a shower right above her head!

The PNW has, until recently, been experiencing spring since February. Nice temps, even amounts of rain but much less sun than usual. The results of this extended spring has produced superb growth in all gardens. Now the heat is on and the plants are sucking that up too. My lawn is finally starting to die off 6 weeks later than usual.

Cheers, Barrie (Vancouver Island)