August 13, 2015

Good morning, hot tired and close to exhausted would come close describing me. I thank my lucky stars for the drip system. I would be road kill at this point. How I would like just to have some cloud cover.

Just a few miles west of me there has been some wonderful deep soaking rains in the recent past, they just never made it to my doorstep.

In some respects this is a little harsher than 2011, at least my plants then were dwarfed (heat and lack of moisture induced) and did not require as many deep soakings to remain hydrated. Today I have 8 foot tall okra and you can see the water stress by the end of the second day before the okra gets a drink the following morning.

What with the heat the garden is beginning to slow. It would be nice to sellout at market instead of having to put unsold food by during the following week. Selling out would be nice.

A gentleman at the market has a rain prediction system that works like this: if the sun sets behind a cloud bank on Sunday, it will rain by Wednesday: likewise if the sun sets behind clouds on Wednesday it will rain by Sunday. Last Wednesday the sun set behind clouds on Wednesday and NOAA was showing zero chances for rain for the foreseeable future. Thursday afternoon NOAA had an upgrade of 20% chance of rain during the night this Saturday. How I hope. A 1 inch rain would relinquish one garden duty for a day or two, oh what joy!! We will see.

Saturday night we did get a trace and thought that was a bit underwhelming. Sunday was a different story we did get measurable rain (1/4 inch) and the sun set behind a cloud bank (Tuesday night rain?) No such luck but we did get some cloud cover and the highs seem to be dropping some. I am beginning to see high predictions in the 80's. Wouldn't that be bliss!!!

I am hoping for a cool down because I will need to start some fall crops at the end of the month. I have been very reluctant to start any new crops because of the heat. Air temps may be in the 90's but the soil surface temps are over 100. Even with fabric and mulch, one cannot miss wetting the seeds during the day less the germination percents decrease exponentially. Just easier to wait. That patience thingy!! This too will pass.