I for one could deal alot better in high heat without this darn humidity ! Seems like it's getting close to drought status, thought it was going to rain the other day and then the sun came out, seems to be teasing rain alot this week!

Trying to figure out new plantings and if they have enough water in this weather has been a huge challenge for this newbie.

Beausgrrl, try to keep your new plantings shaded if you can.

Thanks mehearty, I've been trying to keep window screens around them but yesterday was windy and they kept falling over! I'll keep at it though. :) The leaves on the poor peony aren't looking too good, kinda leathery and haggard.

Yay ! It's raining here now! :)

It depends on what you mean by drought. A true drought--months without rain--is something we just don't see in New England, thank heavens. Weeks without meaningful rain, like what we're having now, is as close as we come and that's close enough.

It also depends on your town/city. We have good water availability where I am and have never had serious water restrictions. Other towns are not so fortunate. I for one am sick of dragging hoses and watering cans, tho very grateful for the ability to do so.

It's cloudy here now. Fingers crossed.

As Tip O'Neil said "All droughts is local"

(You'd have to have lived a pretty long time in MA to get it)

Yes, I can see 'drought' being specific to locale and weather history. No water restrictions here, but a lot of hose dragging.

I just had a lot of very expensive trees and shrubs installed as part of a big landscaping project. They are under warranty, but it seemed foolish to put them in this week. At least the guys knew how to plant and grade to hold the water and did water very well before taking off for the weekend.

I can't believe I haven't been giving you a blow by blow account of the project. It actually is going well....

good soaking but not long enough

No rain here yesterday. So yes, it is a drought in my location.

Some measly rain here yesterday, but nothing significant. Heavy rain reported in the heart of Plymouth, twelve miles away, but the edge of the rain brushed by.

Claire

I only got about a half-inch yesterday. I'll be happy with that I guess. At least it saved some hose-dragging for a couple of days.

Interesting to see where the crispiest parts of the garden are. My woodland (usually damp rich soil) area has a section of mayapples yellowing. (the patch is so big, that if some of it dies, that's a good thing!) And some astilbes crisping up as mentioned in another thread. They are also in "moist" shady area so that is quite surprising. Some are ok. Some not.

And today the humidity was supposed to let up, but I don't think so. not yet anyhow.

I dread mowing the lawn in this heat&humidity, although its not grown very much in 10 days, so maybe I can wait even longer. Another good reason to limit watering!

A true drought--months without rain--is something we just don't see in New England

Yes we do. 3 summers ago we officially had mild-moderate drought in most of southern New England, and remember watching Matt Noyes reporting it on NECN news. I thought to myself, gee finally the meteorologist acknowledges how dry it is, why does it have to take an official drought to do so? I figured most people don't even notice - their summer vacation and outdoor fun/work don't get interrupted. But as a gardener, I love the rain and wilt along with the plants.

I don't know if this is a drought or not, probably not dry enough. However, my gardens are suffering, the corn in the field across the street is turning brown and petrifying, and a neighboring town is in a total outdoor water ban. So it's pretty freakin' dry.

It was nice to get a little yesterday, but it's not nearly enough.

An 'official drought' is precipitation 20% lower than normal. So for us, being on pace to only get about 32" of rain is a drought.

What amazes me about weather like what happened last week is that in heavy soil, plants that aren't watered regularly usually come through fine.

Well I don't if it is a drought but I know I have given up trying to keep my hydrangeas watered. Limp leaves, crunchy blooms. What grass? Aquarion did put B'port on a off day schedule even numbers can water 1 day odd the next. But who is watching? /Abi

If water collected in various containers that were lying around, we may have gotten 2 or 3 inches in an hour. I was watching the new soil and new plantings and new driveway carefully. The driveway is perfectly graded, not puddling anywhere but the rain was "sheeting" down it. Since there's sand and gravel in the joints it is somewhat permeable. However we did replace gravel with pavers so we definetly added to the surface water problems.
All the land surrounding the driveway had been stripped of its groundcovers in the process of constructing the driveway. The torrential rain just picked up that loose, dry and dusty soil and sent it downhill and into the street. Possibly to our neighbor's below grade driveway and where it collects at the garage door.

The 'wells' around all the new trees and shrubs filled up and I kept a close look at how fast they drained. They drained within 10-15 minutes or less, so I was relieved. The soil was still wet enough to forego watering. I hope they can go one more day because I cannot water 15 new trees and shrubs before I go to work.

What a project! It is not as inconvenient as a kitchen remodel but has its own set of problems. The main one is that I know a lot more about plants than I do kitchen design. I bite my tongue not to say "do you know about root flares? Are they in too deep? Why are you putting "fertiloam?" when you plant? "I thought you were't supposed to improve the soil?"

I didn't ask a single one of these....but I may tomorrow.

Marie