We had a very hot, dry summer. Around here, some swamps are dry and even rivers are showing more rocks than water. Yep, we got rain. But only about 1/10 of an inch or less at a time; not enough to counteract the hot temperatures. Finally it is cooling down and we are getting some real rain. Luckily, we’re about done haying, with a good crop in, too.
This summer our poultry has been running crazy, nesting, hatching eggs, and raising chicks! We just had a White Laced Red Cornish hen come off a nest with a big batch of chicks. Our momma turkey must have been sharing her nest with a chicken because she just hatched nine baby chicks. She has her own turkey eggs in her nest too, so Will grabbed the turkey eggs (at great bodily risk!) and brought them in to put in our little incubator. As turkey eggs take about a week longer to hatch, they would have never hatched left outside in the cold as the mom abandoned the nest after hatching the chicks. So we’ll see if we can finish the job she started.
Our tomatoes are going crazy. Due to our cold, wet spring, all of them are late this year as are most of our neighbors’ tomatoes. But boy, do we have tomatoes! We just discovered the Farthest North plants are totally covered with tomatoes. We’ve never seen that many tomatoes on any plant before. It’s so productive. They are a cherry tomato but I use them in sauce and they do very well. Such a pretty plant, too!
Today it’s cloudy and rainy so we get a break. Our Subaru has been in for wheel bearings and other expensive repairs. And I ran over some broken glass on the road and ruined a tire recently, so this afternoon, I have to pick up a pair of tires for it. Oh well, we can’t complain as it’s been a very dependable vehicle and our rough, bumpy mile-long driveway is hard on vehicles. — Jackie
I think this is the first year that the beaver prediction matched your area but not mine. We’ve had a very wet summer so far, but not wet enough to flood.
Actually, it’s been perfect. I didn’t even have to water the trees I planted. Although I can’t say I’m fond of the fungal problems some of my plants are having. Powdery mildew took out the peas, and some of my sunflowers have mold growing on the seedheads before the petals have even dropped.
We had a 1/2 inch of rain yesterday–the first since the end of June. Not one drop in July. We had some rain in June and a whole month of rain in May so still have a lot of stored water in ponds and lakes, but the soil was crying for water. Our garden is mulched deeply but still had to be watered (soaker hoses) more often than we wanted to. The heat of 100+ for three weeks left everything struggling. We planted chard in early July and watered it deeply and sprayed it frequently to cool it. Now it is going great to give us a lot of fall greens before the kale (not planted yet) comes off. Fall garden goes in next week. We’ll have to be careful to protect from rabbits–they think we are planting crops just for them. They ate an entire 15 foot row zinnias when they were 4 inches tall.
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