I'll hold ya to that Marie...lol. Where are you? We had l/4" the other night....whoopie. The watering thing is cutting waaay tooo much into what should be my planting time. Trying to finish ???? (OK...it's a process not a project!)landscaping this yard before my guy hides all my shovels and refuses to pick up 5 bags of compost everytime he goes to HD or Lowes.....

That said, I really can't complain after gardening in Denver.....You want a drought? Try FIVE inches of total moisture in l/8" increments over a period of a YEAR....for over 5 yrs. I lost multiple trees, gave up on the lawns and planned on islands with pea gravel paths...even my toughest xeriscape perennials were suffering. IF it started raining, I'd take out my stopwatch...sigh. Of course, the year I moved back home to MA? It started raining again...but it's still droughty.

Prob is here everything is so shallow rooted due to the normally good moisture levels. In Denver, grass rooted down over 6-7" seeking moisture. Quite a job to remove it.

Here's hoping!

Yes, I think this is a drought and I think the media isn't bothering to cover it because it's now routine and doesn't "sell". And, actually, the drought isn't newsworthy because the water level in the ponds isn't terribly low, since we had a wet winter.

I'm watering with abandon, hours at a time in each location, with little effect. Maybe it's time to consider investing in a real irrigation system.

> If we get a solid week of steady rain, I promise not to complain.

Oh,oh. Don't make promises you can't keep!

I am leaving the hose on a bare trickle under big shrubs and trees for 4 - 6 - 8 - 12 hours at a time trying to get some moisture to sink in! I wonder if that's good enough? Am pretty much ignoring perennials, but am happy I mulched (well...in some places) last Spring.

Don't think we classify as a drought here in Mystic. I keep my weather numbers December 1 through November 30 &, so far, Mystic's had 36" of precipitation that's been quite nicely spaced out. That's almost 7.5" above normal. The last ten days have been dry though. The first week in July, we had almost 1.5" of rain (spread out beautifully over three days); but nothing since. The forecast is for .5" tomorrow though...hopefully, it won't come in the form of severe T-storms.

I've not needed to water anything except under the maple trees & new plantings. Even our grass, except by the street where it's virtually 100% sand, is still looking nice & green. I'm a bit surprised to hear others talking about drought...guess I thought New England had been, in general, receiving adequate rainfall this season? Hopefully, those of you who need rain will be seeing some soon.

Tricia

Nope. Not according to this source.

V

Here is a link that might be useful: U.S. Drought Monitor

According to The National Weather Service Boston Climate Summary, the glass is less than half full.

MONTH TO DATE 0.87 inches NORMAL YEAR: 1.59 inches
SINCE JUN 1 2.99 inches NORMAL YEAR: 4.81

Here is a link that might be useful: NWS Boston climate summary

Wow, I didn't realize Boston was so far behind us.

In June, Mystic had 5.94" of rain. May was 3.71". So far, in July, we've had 1.41". Not hardly drought.

Amazing how much we differ over such a small geographic area, huh?

Tricia

In the last two weeks we have had 3 rainfalls that I bothered to measure (or pay attention to the rain gauge anyway); 1 1/4"; 1 1/2", and on Saturday night 3/4". There have also been several minor rains, like whatever we got last night.

I'll try to send some your way!

I too have been getting decent rain with these isolated thunderstorms the past few weeks. Some of it is too fast that it probably doesn't penetrate well, but there is definitely some benefit in some areas.

Now that they put us on "restricted non-essential water use", (for absolutely no reason other than politics... we have oodles of water reserves) I have been more aware of how much I am watering and I am conserving a little bit more. Of course, all MY use is ESSENTIAL, but I am letting the perennials tough it out a bit more than usual.

For those of you who are watering trees and shrubs, this is your best friend. When I first moved back here 3 yrs ago, I wanted to buy another one....NOWHERE to be found! Glad I still had one from Denver. Anyhoos, it's used a lot in xeriscape areas for deep watering and fertilizing.

The best thing about it is it has 4 holes, one on each side of the tube so it waters in 4 different directions. You can adjust the water stream to a drizzle or a hard stream. The top cylinder accomodates a fertilizer "cube" that Ross makes if you use it for that.

But NO runoff and you know it's getting down there....much faster than a hose.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ross waterer feeder

The rain's all going north of us here in Boston. In the past month we've had less than 1" of rain, total. (I've been measuring!)

I sure think it is! We are down to the dregs of our rain barrels and on watering restrictions already. Tonight I broke down and ran a hose on a trickle out to our Kousa Dogwood. It's really looking parched and I'd hate to lose it.

We need some rain!

...but at least we don't have to fight with slugs this year :-))

That's looking at the bright side, George. :)
Normally, by this time my 'Patriot' hostas have been shredded to bits. This year they look pristine and lush.

I added a lot of compost/mulch over the winter, from the soiled bedding of my poultry barn. It has been doing a good job of keeping moisture in the soil.

Well, the radar looks as though most of us are going to get a good bit of rain this morning. It's like dinosaur weather here...foggy & 90% humidity...I half expect to see a tyrannosaurus Rex appearing through the mist!

Looks like I won't be doing any weeding today. Hope everybody's gardens get a nice, peaceful drink with no damaging winds or downpours.

Tricia

According to the NOAA, there's a 80% chance of heavy rain later today for Southern New England. The NOAA infrared satellite map is a good way to see what's coming our way. Here's one for Southern New England.

If you're in other regions, type your zipcode into the box on the NOAA weather page, and you'll get a local forcast and map.

Here is a link that might be useful: NOAA Satellite Map

We got a rain, we got a rain, we got a rain!!!!
Nice soft rain, no wind, no T-storm, just a steady rain :-))

It's amazing how localized these weather patterns are. Two co-workers who were on vacation last week, one in New Hampshire and one in Vermont, complained about having rain every day...yet in my part of the Boston area we've been very dry.

I have some newly-planted dwarf fothergilla that wilted badly. Several seem to have recovered with intensive watering, but two are still looking pretty crisp. Am I likely to lose them?

Yes lovesummer here in VT it has been a wet summer--I have only watered the gardens once and they really didn't need it. So far this summer has been remarkably cool too, like right now at 3PM it is 59 degrees and...raining. JK

The current rain is certainly welcome, as I dislike dragging out the hoses. Luckily, we haven't had much in the way of heat, so it could be worse. Funny how watering never seems to do the job as well as a soft soaking rain, which we had today.

Rain brings down nitrogen so it's one of nature's "fertilizers". :)

Looks like we got around 1.5" today...nice!

Tricia

We also got a nice, steady, soft rain today. The kind that soaks in, not torrents that run off and take mulch. Now there is a temporary lull and heavy fog and more rain on the way. Relief.

Marie, they may not call it a drought, but until today, I've been watering at every day and my hydrangeas need it twice a day.

The sun and winds have been so strong that they are drying out everything very quickly.

The thunderstorms, the past few weeks, have missed my town every time. We have gotten just little edges of rain that lasts 30 minutes and doesn't get deep into the ground.

My town is on a voluntary every other day watering ban and they really don't want you to water the lawns.

I laugh at that, as I drive down the roads and see the sprinklers going on the lawns in front of businesses. My favorite was today. Rained all day and those sprinklers where going while it was raining.

Burlington is on water ban, only watering 7-9 PM and there are other towns around me that are total water bans.

My plants are surviving but don't look great. Blooms are small and some annuals are blooming on 2-3 inch stems that are supposed to be 12 inches tall and others are blooming on 12 inch stems and they are supposed to be 3 feet tall.

Guess this in the new New England weather patterns. Maybe we should be looking to plant more and more real drought tolerant plants. On the other hand, we could be looking at springs like we had a year ago, when I was swimming in 20 inches of rain in May.

Fran

After last nights 0.25" of rain I went out to weed... and all the weeds I pulled up had absolutely dry soil around their roots... even just half an inch deep. Sigh.

Day two and I have not complained yet. What prize do I get for not complaining tomorrow?
marie

Marie, don't know what prize you get, but I'm not complaining either. 2 days and I haven't had to lug out the hose and water anything. Haven't had to make sure I watered when no one else was home in the neighborhood so they didn't see me watering on the wrong day. Got to do it on the odd, even day bit.
And more is coming after midnight into the morning.

Yippie, rain, blessed rain. I'm happy, you're happy and the robins are having a field day getting their worms easily from the ground, and oh, yes, the plants are happy too. I even thought I heard some of them cheering and saying thank you for the nice, fairly gentle, soaking rain.

Fran