Yep.

yep here too - as I noted on a post a day or so ago, we've only had 25mm of rain - plus 1 mm. overnight, which brings our total this month to at least an inch! That is the lowest rainfall we've had in September since we got the rain gauge and started keeping records in 2003. Even last year, which we thought was dry, had more rain than that! The tiny bit we had overnight did not even dampen the soil in places where there was leaf cover. Definitely not good planting conditions :-)

as I noted on a post a day or so ago,

Oh 'woody', sorry if you had already started a similar thread...I had done a quick glance but I didnt notice any thread re low rainfall this September.

For the second straight year we've had late summer/early fall drought here in central Kentucky, eased somewhat by an inch of rain in the last couple of days. Just added three rugosa roses and a couple of purple-leafed sedums in time to benefit from the moisture.

By an amazing coincidence I just posted an article on why fall isn't necessarily the best time to plant, regardless of rainfall.

https://rustyblackhaw.substack.com/p/fall-is-not-for-planting

Rouge - I commented on the rain in the ’reproduce before you die…?’ thread :-)

To be honest, I have been planting all summer despite lack of rain, I am still feverishly putting stuff in the ground - a whole heap of hardy annuals I sowed in modules. It always looks like a modest bunch of stuff, - just 4 trays or so, but the reality of 200+ plants...and imminent bulbs is actually quite horrifying as the little plantlets have already been pushed to the limit of survival space. Plus, a lot of other stuff...from full size large potted perennials and all the seeds from this time last year. This has actually been a good gardening year for me - no huge disasters, a temperate summer, a bit more time to spend and at least a couple of new beds revived. The allotment always has areas which are less than stellar and is generally forgiving, whereas the tiny house garden is all visible, all the time, but this is the first year where I have not had a period of despair.

Yes. the rain shut off the end of August, 7b North Alabama. We have movved into a drought and who knows when it will rain again. It rained so much in the spring and early summer that we were flooding and everything molded and rotted.

September is typically one of our best and driest months. Not this year!! It has been substantially cooler and wetter than normal, although we are still well below annual average precipitation for the year.

Excessively wet weather can also put the kibosh on gardening activities as well. It is wreaking havoc on organizing my upcoming garden move!!

Here in the northeast, it's a great fall (and was a great summer) for planting. We are getting many inches of rain almost every week, and I've barely had to supplement. Terrible for everything else, but wonderful for planting!

Four weeks, last summer no rain for me for three months, was awful ... though, this year flipped to the total opposite ugly wet, humid and thick with vile mosquitoes. The bone dry definitely has its disadvantages, BUT constant WET steals all enjoyment that one can't be out there at all to maintain the gardens nor sit on the deck for being eaten alive! Had spoken with garden buddy and she said she could hardly wait for the summer to be behind us!

Hot & dry all season here. We had a bit in July and nothing since. The worst part is hearing storms that just bypass me completely. I have been madly digging and got part of one bed planted. Another area is close to being ready and hopefully it will get planted today. These are old gardens getting a redo. When you have been gardening as long as I have you look at certain sections that have gotten overgrown and know it is time for that redo. In this case I have no problem bringing water to these areas since I never normally water at all.

I am quickly running out of time since I can only plant perennials for another 2 weeks max unless the ground freezes before that. I have already had a couple of nights near freezing.

use your hose..

the key to fall planting is cool or cold nights.. no matter how hot the day gets.. the soil is trending cool or cold.. not building heat and drying to depth ...

plant.. and water.. and odds are... if you water deeply.. you wont have to water again until spring.. in our z5 .. or colder ...

just make sure to give the whole garden a good soaking before you put the hoses away for winter ...

ken

We have had SO much rain this year, that I never had to use any of the water in my rainbarrels. And if I had emptied them every time they filled up, I probably could have filled them about 30 times this summer. I have barely had to use a watering can and never had the sprinkler on.

But with all that rain, came cloudy, gray days and not enough sun for Tomatoes and peppers and they were very late. And too much rain for a number of Tomato plants that ended up with blight that I've never had and I had to pull them early. I still have one cherry tomato that is healthy and producing. The peppers are tiny and no chance they will have time to ripen to red. And marigolds I planted in early May didn't produce a flower bud until the end of August! I bought a coreopsis in July and in 3 weeks it was covered with powdery mildew.

So as much as I've had many dry summers where I was dragging the hose around, having too much or too little both have their disadvantages. STILL - I am VERY happy to have had all this rain to make up for a few of those very dry summers we've had in the past. All the trees and shrubs are going to go into the winter in good shape and think of all the money I saved on my water bill! So a few problems w the tomatoes and annuals are a small price to pay. And I suppose next year, who knows what we will get. You can't seem to depend on anything any more. But I hope all of you get a rainy summer like we had - next year!

Peren.all - I've had years like that where one town over would get 3 inches of rain and I barely get a 1/4 of an inch. Maddening!

use your hose..

You are joking...right?

My point is that one doesnt expect to have to use the hose much this time of year. Beyond that first watering one does after putting a plant in the ground I have the expectation that Mother Nature will do (most of) the rest this time of year (rain or rain barrel). This hasnt been the case for September 2023.

Maybe we all need to get prepared for what may become the "new normal" weather patterns thanks to climate change. More frequent periods of drought, prolonged or heavy rainfall and flooding, more frequent and more powerful storms, atmospheric rivers, polar vortexes, etc. Seems we've all seen some of this up close and personal and we should expect more. Stands to reason common gardening practices are going to be changing as well.

pm I wish we could have split the difference lol!

Yes gg I quit wishing for a "normal" summer probably 12-15 years ago. We just have to take what we get and deal with it. So many new words in our vocabulary these days. When the derecho hit us I had to look it up ...and then hoped we would never experienced one again.

rouge Fri. & Sat. there is a 90% chance of a fair bit of rain, are you seeing that for your area? Of course I will believe it when I see it. A lot can change before then.

rouge Fri. & Sat. there is a 90% chance of a fair bit of rain, are you seeing that for your area?

My weather app says 50% to 60% for our area. (The tables will have turned if you 'peren' get rain and we dont! :))

I agree GG 100%. There is no more normal, but that doesn't stop me from continually comparing what we have now to what we used to have. [g] Like Peren.all, I havent' been expecting normal for years. But we were in a pattern of very dry summers for the past 6 years at least with one summer where I received an ideal amount of rain/sun. So this year, it was the total opposite of anything I've had here since we moved here 45 years ago. I can remember one summer when I was about 10 years old that it was cloudy and raining almost the entire summer. I went to camp that summer and what a disappointment that was, so I remember it well. But nothing like that until this summer.

Because of all the drought, and especially last year was brutal for my garden, I spent the winter trying to plan how to make my garden more drought proof and decided to grow more plants that like hot dry weather, only to get hit w the opposite this year. lol So, sometimes you just can't win.

rouge when I checked this a.m. we are down to 5 mm (0.19 inches) on Sat. It will be interesting to see if either of us gets any. I am not holding my breath.

peren.all and rouge - only 40% chance of rain here for next Fri./Sat. - which usually means we get none-to-minimal... *sigh* Like pm2 - I've given up on the old 'normal' and the garden generally copes but still one hopes for better.... :-) It's going to be interesting to see how Fall and Winter weather goes....

Agreed with all said above about the new normal due to climate change. We have been drier and warmer this summer I would say, but a week ago we had three good days of rain that soaked everything. 👏🏽

debra

peren.all and rouge - only 40% chance of rain here for next Fri./Sat. -

During a dry spell I purposely avoid watching or listening to any weather forecasts as I am a glass half full person so any "unexpected" rain makes me extra happy. BUT today I did look at the forecast. On the Weather Network app I see this:

So of course that looks very promising BUT just to check I look at Google Weather that is built into my phone and it shows much lower probabilities for the Sat and Sun and lower rainfall amounts also :(. I have my fingers crossed as I refuse to plant bulbs into dry hard ground. I will wait until November if I have to.

I'm waiting for the sales on bulbs. I've planted quite a few late season bulbs with no issues. And the sales can be 50% off.

Forget that screenshot! 10 minutes later it now shows minimal rain ie 1 mm :(.

Maddening rouge!!! I hope it changes back the way it did for me. It was good then bad then back to good.

First, Baltimore had rain, rain, rain. For the past 2 weeks, it's been DRY. Tonight I set the sprinkler on the 2 halves of my backyard, to keep the grass, perennials, and remaining growing veggies going. We might get some rain near the end of the week.

I hope it changes back the way it did for me. It was good then bad then back to good.

I actually went out for breakfast this morning to celebrate the end of the "dry spell" as last night and into early this morning we got 25 mm (1") of rain. Both rain barrels are over flowing. I have even put away the hoses and turned off the water to the outside.

'woody' and 'peren' how did you two do for rain accumulation?

Oh rouge that is wonderful! woody I hope you are getting the same or close to that amount. Looks like I will not benefit much yet again. We were supposed to be inundated for 3 days now I will be getting around 5 mm. It is raining now and on the up side at least I am getting some and it will help prep the ground if we ever get any real amounts. Overall, curses foiled again!

Oh 'peren', that is disappointing. It is maddening to see a very promising forecast for rain and then be let down :(.

We only got 11mm. but there is still the possibilty of rain in the next few days. When i look at the satellite image, there are clouds moving in from the east of the US which look like they could be remnants of the tropical storm, so my fingers are crossed but I’m not too hopeful….

11 mm isn't too bad :)

11mm. isn’t too bad as long as we get more rain this month! I would much prefer to have got your 25mm. since last month was so dry and last year both Sept. and Oct.. were abnormally dry.

"Anyone else experiencing a similar lack of rainfall this Fall?"

Nope.

We are now at the end of the month and I see on line that our area has received 50% of the usual rainfall for the month of October...yikes!

Our daily rain gauge records here go back to 2004. I just added up our current October records - in comparison to our average October rain from 2004-2023 our 2023 rain in October was 50% of the avarage. BUT September was only 38% of average Sept. rain. April (122%) and July (178%) were above average and the other months were near-normal. The plants seem to be doing OK so far, so we'll see how they do this winter....

September was wetter than normal but October as been significantly drier. We are still 5+ inches below our usual level of total precip for the year. As of the end of September, we had recorded 17.73 inches compared to a typical year-to-date total of 23.25 inches.

And everyone thinks it rains here all the time. So not true!!

It's been a summer of rain and misery in MA this summer.

We had over 20 inches for just three months - June/July/Aug - and last year over the same period we had less than 5 inches! Unpredictable now.