Probably your two weeks without rain hurts your garden more than west coast rainless summers hurt us. We are adapted to it. Native vegetation here doesn't need summer rain; it goes dormant. Some is even harmed by summer water. For the food plants we grow we put in irrigation for the most part, though I don't irrigate my orange and kumquat trees and still get more fruit than we can possibly eat. As for droughts, there have always been cycles of rainy years and dry years. Some of the changes we get alarmed about are well within normal variation. It may be that climate is changing. I don't deny the possibility. No one knows yet how that will turn out. I understand that some regions may actually end up getting more rainfall. In any case, good luck with your orchard. One slow, deep watering may be what you need. Can you get to your trees with a hose? I wish you the blessings of a nice rain shower. Rosefolly

Thanks Canna for matching us up. Now I'll have to drive clear to Texas or somewhere just to find something Jo doesn't have!!! I think we need to know a couple of months in advance who we'll have so we can check out their lists and see what we can find. lol Canna, thanks for bringing us along on your trip today. I love to be the fly on the wall and I feel as though I was watching everything. You tell it good girl! I'm still laughing, read it aloud to DH and he was laughing too. Jo, you need to hush about Joanne's. If I go there I'd be divorced because I'd have to buy fabric AND garden goodies. I can't even afford to feed one hobby/habit at a time much less two. Pretty daffs Marea! I want more varieties every year. Jo, I'm waiting on those pics so hurry the bulbs along. Where's Anita? Haven't seen her lately! I went outside yesterday and poked around and found that I'm going to have lots more iris blooms than I first thought! Thank you Anita!!! I really didn't expect them to bloom this year so I'm tickled pink! Sharon, everybody needs a pink flamingo! lol It was always a big joke in my hometown and when my boss there built a huge new home on the lake one of his friends bought him some for house warming. Really funny! That makes me think of his female friend he was raised with who got married and sent out invitations to the wedding. Two years later she got a divorce, took the extra wedding invitations to the printer and had them print a divorce party announcement on the reverse side! Now who would have thought of that? oops, sorry that isn't about gardening! TTYL, Nancy

I'd like to add a picture of my tomatoes too... I have 12 tomatoes in the ground: opalka, yellow pear, chocolate cherry, sweet 100, cherokee chocolate, kbx, cowlick's brandywine, big zac, box car willie, dr wyche's yellow, omar's lebanese and nar. as you can see, i've placed them in cages... do i still have to provide stakes for them or is the cage enough as a support? if i do have to provide a stake, which variety should i stake, or do i have to stake all of them? it'd be nice to know this early so i could provide the necessary stake support before they become bigger. also, which ones usually goes higher than 5'? i know yellow pear, chocolate cherry and sweet 100 does... how about the others? i only have a 5' cage, do i have to top them off when the time comes? thanks for any advice you can give, i'd greatly appreciate it.

Today they started to put the forms up for the basement walls. They'll finish tomorrow and pour the concrete Wednesday. We will have 9 foot walls, 8 inches thick. We were surprised to see that they had already dug the hole for the septic tank and put it in! Loessismore.... your driveway looks alot like ours, what area of the country are you in?