We're quite saturated, as well... and this week, temps are in the 90s and muggy! The tree frogs are happy... I am not! Powdery mildew and black spot are beginning to show up on some roses and perennials, but I've been feeding with a systemic, so that should help. I'm so glad you got your much needed rain, Kristi! If I'd known you needed it earlier, I'd have sent everything we're getting! ;-) Imagine... aside from container plants, I haven't had to water once! The weeds are gaining ground, however, and are impossible to keep up with! Yes... Happy Father's Day, belated, to everyone it applies to... and Happy Pre-Father's Day to Ryan! :-)

Heather, It is amazing, and over the years as the soil gets better and better and better, so does the drainage. We have heavy red clay where puddles can remain standing for up to a month after a heavy rainfall. You cannot plant anything in that clay except plants adapted to poorly draining areas. In the veggie garden, flower beds and shrub beds, depending on how well-amended they are, I can plant almost anything, especially in the veggie beds. The amending never ends, though, since heat eats compost. That's where some inexperienced gardeners err. They improve the soil once and think that's it. If they don't add more compost, in a couple of years in our climate, the beds revert back to whatever they were like before they were amended. That doesn't mean we have to rototill compost into established shrub or perennial beds, because simply by adding mulch, the rainfall, insect action, digging or weeding, etc. helps work that mulch down into the soil over the years. You can see the "top down" approach in our woodland, which is probably at least 70 years old. The top 6 to 8 to 10" of soil is fluffy, loamy, humusy, compost-rich soil that is just divine. Underneath that is crappy red clay. The soil has literally built itself over the years as leaves, twigs, tree limbs, etc. have fallen to the woodland floor and decomposed. Since we moved here in 1999, we've had two single-day rainfalls that were incredible. Both occurred in late April. One was 9.25" in one 24-hour period and the other was 12.89" in a 24-hour period. Logic would tell you that my entire garden died. It didn't. I no longer remember if I lost a lot to the 9.25" storm, but I don't think I did. A few plants did die after the 12.89" storm, but we're talking maybe 6 tomato plants total out of well over 100. They likely wouldn't have died but we had several more inches of rain over the next six weeks and the soil just couldn't dry up. I am still amazed to this day that over a foot of rain fell in one day and my garden survived it. Never underestimate the power of compost (and raised beds help too). Dawn

It's an unfortunate feedback of the extreme drought. Evaporation of liquid water takes heat out of the air and has a cooling effect. We know this because of how misters work and how we sweat to stay cool. It's the same idea for soil moisture and transpiration from plants. When the soil is as dry as it is out west, the heat radiated from dry ground and dormant vegetation makes the air temperature even warmer instead of cooling it. It doesn't seem fair that those who need rain the most also bake the worst, but that's how it works. :( I think the people on the eastern side of the exceptional drought area have it the worst, because they also have just relative humidity to have a heat index on top of the insane temperatures.

We went to 35 degrees here in the Red River valley, but didn't have a heavy frost so I am still a happy camper and my garden still lives. I do have light frost damage on tomatoes and peppers, but only on the uppermost parts of the plants. I did harvest a lot late yesterday afternoon so I wouldn't lose it if we frosted. I put up 8 quarts of beans and today I have to do cucumbers and peppers. It seems like I do a "last chance" harvest once every week, and then we don't frost or we have only a light frost, and the garden gets to produce a few more days. I'm excited about the warmer, sunnier weather because the green beans are producing like gangbusters and another week will give me another big bean harvest (big for fall, any way). Tim is a car wash maniac and our driveway is still a muddy oozey mess, but he washes the car once or twice a week and then drives up the muddy driveway and gets it dirty again. It is going to be a long, muddy winter if this weather keeps up. Dawn