Wednesday, May 7, 2014

I Know this Tune Well





I know this tune. Yep I remember it well from 2012. That hot, dry Southern Wind that can suck the moisture out of everything and the dried, cracked ground while the weather people constantly predict "Scattered Thunderstorms" that never seem to happen.

For one thing it is entirely too early in the year for Scattered Thunderstorms. Those come in June and July. This time of year should be Rain, Rain, Cloudy, Rain, Sunny, Rain, Rain... and the rain should be made up of a front spanning from Arkansas to the top of Iowa. Not these little red spots you see wandering around the map.

With that hot, dry wind I was talking about the seedlings have taken a severe beating, especially yesterday when I was gone all day. Simply put just like in 2012 you cannot water seedlings enough to counteract that wind unless you stand out there the entire day pouring water on them.

As I said that wind is literally sucking the very moisture right out of everything.

So the rush was on today to at least get my precious tomato seedlings in the ground before any more damage is done.

I can only hope that this is just a short term repeat of the 2012 drought and our normal weather will kick back in soon.

I tilled the tomato section up and put in 36 T-posts, strung my first two lower support lines and got 56 tomato seedlings in the ground and watered. I swear I drank at least five gallons of liquid today working in that sun and merciless wind.

I was also able to get the squash and zucchini beds planted which included transferring six volunteers of some type yet to be revealed of squash/zucchini along with another half dozen sunflower volunteers for end row markers as well.

As bad as the top couple of inches are I was pleased with the moisture and consistency of the soil underneath. As I said all is not lost yet we are only just a bit dry and there is still time for things to bounce back. Getting the tomatoes and all the support posts and line run is the most labor intensive and time consuming part of the garden each year. It just takes hours to get it all complete but the rest of the garden should go together much faster now.

We still have the melons, corn, peppers and my little green shoots of tobacco to plant along with some purple potatoes the wife picked up for some reason.

At least the grass has already started slowing down from the lack of water but if it kills off the Dutch Clover once again my bees are going to be in trouble.

I am going to go out and do a rain dance now.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!


18 comments:

  1. Whatever you do don't post a video of your rain dance:)
    My head hurts enough already.Good luck on the garden.

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    1. Never Fear my Friend... Unlike some Blogs I will never show pictures of men....

      Hint hint...

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  2. Good luck with the rain dance. We could use some here, too.

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    1. Apparently it worked a little. It's been spitting rain off and on this morning.

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  3. PP,

    Getting rain now as I type. Also been advised to expect up to 70 mph winds. I really don't know how the vegetables are surviving the constant wind and after tonight if the winds are 70, forget it.....they will be all dried out and ripped apart.
    I don't mind the rain as long as it's not all at once.
    Good luck, I hope you get a nice steady flow of rain to help with the dry soil.

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    1. Sandy - Getting some sprinkles here off and on all morning. Looks like they are past us now but they say more is on the way.

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  4. I live in So Central Wi(I can see the Illinois border from my drive) the soil here is bone dry. In 2012 we lost 2 45ft pines and 3 30ft ones. Last winter we would get about 6 inches or less snow at time, mostly wind and below zero temp. We have never made up for the loss of water from 2012. The rain goes north or south but not here. If your rain dance works let me know.

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    1. VG - Near Beloit? I didn't realize Wisconsin was dry as well but since my relatives up there passed on I don't keep in as much contact with the goings on up there. I love Wisconsin spent a lot of time up there when I was younger.

      The dance appears to have worked a little bit so far this morning.

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  5. Yeah. We had some rain. Some. North, South, East and West of us. I swear that there's a vortex of aridity surrounding our homestead. I watch the radar longingly as the Green, Yellow, Orange and Red moisture indicators literally split in order to totally avoid our general area. I could hear thunder for an hour & a half, but got not of the moisture. Do that damned rain dance already.

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    1. Carolyn - We got a big rain right before that cold front moved in last week which moved a lot of the Eastern counties out of the abnormally dry zone but that warm front and dry wind took that moisture out pretty fast.

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  6. You might want to put some old hay down and let some of your tomato plants lay on the ground as they may dry out faster tied up. I let mine all lay on the hay but have not done a test. Leave a couple out of the wind to see if it makes a difference maybe.
    I planted squash and did tilling in preparation for setting out tomatoes. Still too damp here for good tilling but it is my own fault for putting so much material in the ground I guess.

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    1. Sf - Well the tomatoes are all now in the ground and hopefully won't get wind damaged before I can begin tying em off to the bottom support line. The ground here is just about perfect for tilling right now but that means it is at the point of being just too dry all around though.

      I swear I am never satisfied with the ground or weather lol.

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  7. That looks and sounds awful. I wish I could send some rain your way.

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    1. Izzy - If it keeps up it will be awful. I despise droughts.

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  8. buddy - i will do some naked rain dancing for you....your welcome! Sunnybrook is right about the hay, it will help. also, have you seen our tomatoe cages? we have cages around the tomatoes and when we know it's going to be really windy, we wrap the cages in plastic. and lastly, i know that you hate them, but tires hold heat and moisture. just sayin'....

    your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber - The rain dancing appears to have worked somewhat anyway. It's been spitting rain off and on all day and now we are getting a little light soaker which is exactly what I was hoping for...

      And you're right I hate tires lol.

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  9. I use 16' cattle panels one foot apart for tomatoes. Last forever. They must run north south to work right.
    Dennis

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    1. Dennis - I started out using panels. With the 56 plants I would need about 6 of them or so I figure. I had three I believe they are now being used in one of the Ram's paddocks.... The trouble with panels isn't using them, it's the six months or so I don't use em when they always disappear so I gave up on buying new ones each year and just started running support lines. It's much much cheaper overall but I have to hide my t-posts at the end of the season.

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