We're in a drought now. 97-100 degrees for a high today. Seven to ten degrees above normal. Plus a huge forest fire about 25 miles from us. We can't keep up with watering. We usually push the envelope and have great success growing tomatoes,etc. well beyond the normal growing period here. It doesn't look good for us this year. I hope the weather calms down for you soon!

Yep. This will be the year of learning what you can and cannot do when there are no dry days to be had. Like, can you weed? harvest things like cole crops that are not prone to mildews? Harvest peas anyway using sterile gloves? And as has already been discussed on this board -- harvest garlic in sog? (sounds like "yes") hill potatoes in sog? (sounds like "no")

I want to do a "send the rain someplace else" dance, since there are so many places that need what we have too much of.

zzackey, I should send you some of my cool weather, too! In the low to mid 60's today. And pouring rain.

It has been raining a fair amount around here...raining right now.

I have fair to good natural drainage for the gardens. By adding about 3 inches of coarse/medium sand to my silty clay loam and adding 3-4 inches of local sphagnum peat moss and working it all into the top existing top soil, it has made nice raised beds with good soil to work...even soon after rains.

Yes, I walk on my beds some!!!!

Wayne, I did this to many of my beds this year and I am so glad I did! I built some of them up mounded beds about 8". I used more home compost and sand with a mix of my own soil (clay and home compost), added some purchased topsoil. My peppers and the tomatoes in these new beds are loving all the rain since they do not have wet feet! I've never been successful with bell peppers. So far; this seems the way to go for them in my garden. (Fingers crossed!)

We had another huge down pour this morning. And more storms predicted for the afternoon. At least it is warm today. But there is a lot of standing water everywhere. Was picking slugs in evening yesterday and getting eaten by mosquitoes. Have to try to make due with what we get. And hope there is no drought to come. I wish I had a way to save this rain water but I only have two rain barrels and I go through those fast if I need to water everything.

this is nature reminding you that early settlers of the Midwest grew cabbage, greens, roots, and other vegetables best suited for cool climates.

I have several different types of heirloom cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. They are getting over watered and asking for sunshine as well.

It is about to rain some more!!

I doubt that they are really asking for sunshine. They usually make it in very cloudy areas, such as Scotland on the North CA coast.

The rain has been a disaster for me in Chicagoland - ended up with a community garden plot that is a little below grade!

My saga...

I wish you could send me some 60 degree weather Elisa and some rain!! It thundered here alot today and we got a tiny bit of rain, not enough to do anything.

we will send you the rain, Zack. All you need is a cubic mile mailbox.

That's too bad zzackey. It's been really hot up here, too, but we finally got rain on Wednesday night and last night. Might get some more t-storms today. All the while, the day temps are still 95-100 and the forecast is 98 for the next 7 days. This reminds me of a few years ago when we set a record for 100-degree days in July. Only there was no rain, and it got up to 105 for several days on end. Don't really want a repeat of that!

It's only 53 here now! What kind of summer is that? This is why my garden will only grow so much. Don't get me wrong I love rain so much, but dang do we need so much in such a short period of time? And the cold just isn't helping at all.

Last year the excessive rain hit the tomatoes and potatoes pretty hard and there was widespread blight in my province. I'm hoping it's not another year like that. I think I'm going to do some back ups in containers so I can just move them indoors if I need to since I do have a room I can use for that. I feel like the seemingly bad weather everywhere with excessive wet and drought in other areas is going to mean some much higher food prices this fall if it keeps up.

My peppers are a mess and we don't even have standing water since we have well draining soil. Tomatoes are ok, quinoa didn't even come up. Squashes are doing alright, cucumbers are toast, Kale, lettuce, broccoli and cabbage are all doing well, onions are alright. I have loads and loads that I haven't even had a chance to plant so there is very little that will actually have time to grow. Third year in a row with bad weather here.

Oh good -- they've predicted one day and night of no rain in the middle of next week!

I had lots I didn't get to plant yet too. It actually didn't rain here yesterday it was a nice day but got cold last nite. It is 58 rite now. This is almost July. Potatoes look the best. Cabbage and broccoli are making okay heads I guess, but I feel they are growing so slow but that is due to late frosts and not enough sunshine. I can only get a handful of carrots to come up I'm sure the seed got washed away. Beans grow ing slow. Tomatoes growing slow. Peppers I only have one kind doing anything, that is Hungarian black they have beautiful purple flowers. Other peppers are same size as when I transplanted them. Eggplants too. I planted lots of dwarf tomatoes in strategies and they look okay. Okra are tiny not gonna do nothing. Strawberry are good but now I'm discovering I have some Asian spotted fly and I think it is in my raspberries too. My blueberries look good have unripe berries. Everything is late. Usually by now id have a ton of squash and zukes and cukes. These plants are tiny. Fingers crossed for good warm weather with normal rain fall, destructive winds, hail, and storms to stop. Anyone know a good recipe for grass cuz that's mostly all that's growing. I guess I'll cook it on my compost pile.

In Chicago area, the only thing I have been able to harvest this season is Swiss Chard. The zucchini also looks promising, but has some time to go. Everything (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, kohlrabi, okra, basil, kale) else seems super stunted.

I'm in the same boat illiveggies! Today they said that this was the third rainiest June ever for us (Syracuse area, NY). They're still predicting more rain for tomorrow too. So eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes are stunted. The summer squashes are trying. The stuff I have in containers as opposed to being in the ground looks happy. Add to that, I have a pesky critter that keeps invaiding the garden at night despite the fence. So far the season has not been promising.

You know the old adage though, "The secret to a beautiful garden is to keep buying new plants!"

Next year, more cabbage and peas, less tomatoes. My peppers are the best ever though, the reason being that I placed them in containers. My northern clay soil warms about as fast as Ice Age glaciers.

I just picked a huge head of cabbage and had to cut off half of the head cuz each layer had ear wigs and slugs in it.

Next year I don't want many things in the ground. Probably only tomatoes because they aren't bothered too much by pests. I have one tiny little baby tomatoe only. Guess what it is about to rain some more! I got my sweet potato slips yesterday, from sandhill don't look great darn near nothing I ordered. I planted them in the 25 and 30 root pouches. The soil in the pots wasn't even very warm. Chicago isn't my favorite place for gardening.I am ready to move to a warmer zone. One that has seasons besides just winter and spring. So many gardening challenges.