Started this year with a fairly notable drought in Maryland. Caught up and exceeded normal by mid June. Then went bone dry through last week
(Except for a few areas here & there that got lucky with t-storms).Now we flip back to wet. Is it too much to ask to just have a nice 1” a week on a regular basis?
i feel your pain. had near flood stage up till mid may and has been very dry, other than thundershowers, since! up until 4 days ago, the lawns were all crisp and brown, untill we got a bunch of thundershowers again. looks like showers all next week whichis good for growth but isn’t good for my fruit thats just ripening. only thing that saves me from having to water is the 3in. of mulch i put around all my plants. alot of work but saves work and keeps the plants roots cool as well.
I’m from Connecticut and the amount of rain we have gotten so far is about the same as just about every summer in memory for me. June tends to be wet, July and August can be dry with thunderstorms sometimes being the only source of rain. I used to marvel at how the fields of corn at the farm my grandfather lived next to, the farm he grew up on and that cousins still run, got by with only rain water. The way those stalks can collect what little rain does fall and drop the water near the root zone just amazed me.
What you’re getting is normal. I grew up on a farm and then was involved in dryland and irrigated farming for another 30 yrs. An inch a week or whatever defines a really good yr in any climate happens one yr in 10 at best. We had one good yr in 30 in TX. My unirrigated crops yielded like irrigated that yr. Even that wasn’t one inch a week. But enough big rains often enough to make a huge crop.
We average 34” of rain per year but this year we are at 6” of rain. You never hear me complaining about droughts or floods though because both can be useful. During the droughts i do the work i can’t do in the rainy season and during floods I stock pile the water in my pond in anticipation of the next drought. Nothing is ever equal or spread out evenly. I do sympathize with you though.
Most of it is probably my fault. I have a curse. When I leave town for extended periods it will not rain, forcing me to come back to water. Happened three times so far this year. Costing me most of a day and lot’s of gas money. First full day home in 6 days. It didn’t rain a drop while gone. Now that I’m back and ready to do gardening work, it’s raining the next two days…
Actually, there is statistically very little variation from month to month in NY and CT as far as actual precip (3-4" every month of the year, as I recall). It just seems that spring tends to have more misty, light rain days where the sun never comes out. Obviously, under stronger sun with fully leafed out trees, the water in July and Aug can disappear from the soil quickly.
Weather conditions this summer have been as close to perfect as we can hope for. Much of the rain has been in the evening or night and the sun appears soon enough to dry off the leaves. Precip is a bit below normal so brix is much higher than last year (so far- it’s very early) when it was entirely too wet until mid-summer. Of course, mother nature doesn’t want to spoil us, so we are being hammered with a high and hungry squirrel population.
Access to a creek / river, pond, or very good well is an invaluable resource for a gardner. When I was looking for a place to plant my garden, having a pond was one of the biggest advantages of the site I chose.
I have the same problem…
Actually I’m stuck in AA for the next couple days and glad we are seeing some rain. I was 3 miles from my house the other day and it was pouring buckets, got home and not a single drop. LAter, went to Kroger 2 blocks away and when I got it, it was raining. Drove home and yet again, not a single drop.
Scott
Northern VA is experiencing the same thing…
[quote]* Flash Flood Warning for…
The City of Fairfax in northern Virginia…
Fairfax County in northern Virginia…
The City of Manassas Park in northern Virginia…
Southeastern Prince William County in northern Virginia…
Until 1030 PM EDT.
At 722 PM EDT, Doppler radar indicated heavy rain across the area.
Three to four inches of rain has already fallen, and an additional
two to three inches is expected. Flash flooding is expected to
begin shortly.
Some locations that may experience flooding include…
Centreville, Dale City, Reston, Annandale, Springfield, Fairfax,
Vienna, Groveton, Mantua, Fort Belvoir, Woodbridge, Quantico, Lake
Ridge, Burke, Oakton, Chantilly, Lincolnia, Tysons Corner,
Montclair and Lorton.[/quote]
https://www.wunderground.com/severe/us/va/annandale/22003
I have a lake forming in the lowest part of my yard back where my paw paws are…
Got about 2.25” in Howard County, MD. Pouring pretty hard at the moment, but looking at radar it seems like we’re on the tail end of it.
After being bone dry and hot here for almost a month, we’re getting paid back with some heavy rains. Since Friday morn, we’ve had over 2.5", with more due tonight and tomorrow. Since it’s been so dry, the ground seems to be soaking it up for now, but we don’t really need much more.
we need that here!
We are getting your share today and over the next couple days…
woke to a heavy shower. radar shows rain off and on today. nothing severe but its rain thats needed badly.
There is no normal rainfall, just the mean between extremes (sort of). Only people on the west have predictable rain- and that’s just for about 6 months of the year when they get almost none, which doubles their chances of debilitating drought in itself.
I do feel your pain, and have been the dry spot on a dry year here in the past more than once. A little closer to the coast seems to get more thunder storms during dry hot spells.
If you intend to grow fruit in the “humid” (on average) regions, it is a useful asset to savor complaining. I was very pleased to have near drought this season through June well into July- it made my first round of fruit very tasty and I didn’t have to give my Carene nect any June fungicide- but now we are getting a siege of drizzle and showers that is predicted to last most of the week. The remaining Carenes are starting to rot and I fear other nects will begin to crack. If the ground gets really soaked it will start to decrease the quality of all the fruit, as well.
here in the N.E its very rare to have drought. we always have a wet spring followed by a drier summer. we had a very wet early spring followed by a very dry late spring and summer. f i hadn’t given supplemental water till’ now, i would have very little new growth or fruit. i probably would have lost the new plants i added this spring as well.
Everything is homemade from old decking boards
This “drought” might be why I’ve been able to avoid having blight on the tomatoes so far this year. I’ll take that.
