Thursday, July 23, 2020

Dry dry dry

Remember when I was complaining about our soggy spring? Now I can complain about our parched summer. It's not particularly hot, just dry. It's normal. Every summer our "lawn" goes from spring green to summer brown. It reminds me of California summers. At least I don't have to mow so frequently.

Our brown lawn and green vegetable garden. You can see the pumpkin plants kind of wilting in the afternoon heat. They perk back up again when the sun goes down.

Every morning I'm out in the vegetable garden watering. I don't use a sprinkler because that would only encourage the weeds to form a jungle. I use the hose to fill a watering can and water each plant at its base. A drip system wouldn't really work for me because the garden's configuration changes every season; the drips wouldn't be where they're supposed to be from year to year. Not to mention the expense. I suppose I could use soaker hoses. I could deploy them differently each year. Still, I imagine a lot of water might go where it isn't needed. Something to ponder.

9 comments:

  1. It looks like your watering is just right.

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  2. No, I haven't looked out to see the comet, either!
    Keep up the good work, watering the garden. Yikes.

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  3. What if you used one of those very long spray nozzles with a shut off valve. You could water at the root of the plant and you wouldn’t have to continually refill the watering can. Just a thought.

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  4. We’ve been trying to see the comet but we are having continuously cloudy skies.

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  5. Speaking of hoses, have you tried one of those expanding hoses? They are great! Extremely light weight, very easy to move around. I have three 75 foot hoses which shrink to about 10 feet each and I can carry them all in one hand if I needed to.

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  6. I've started watering by hand as well, filling a bucket a certain number of times for each tomato and squash. It works so much better than drip, for all the reasons you mention.

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  7. We’ve got high fire risk warnings here. Oh for a good soaking rain.

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  8. remind me what sort of pumpkins you are growing

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  9. evelyn, I hope so, you never know.

    judy, pictures will have to do!

    bettyann, but then there's the dragging the hose up and down the rows. With my luck I'd destroy several plants with it.

    chris, labor intensive, but effective.

    mitch, wow! Hope you get some rain soon.

    michael, two varieties: "muscade" and "rouge vif d'Etampes."

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Tell me what you think!