The Cracks of Doom

 The Drought Monitor has our area down as "excessively dry".  This is as dry as I have ever had to deal with in the garden.  I cleared the strawberry bed in preparation for transplanting the new plants next month.  Since the bed receives no water it is a good indicator of how dry our soil is.

Strawberry Bed

But some crops do very well with constant moderately warm temperatures, sunshine and carefully monitored watering.  Here are some comparison photos from the blog last July.  Last July was our wettest July on record and it rained 14 out of 16 days in a row in mid-July.  My July rainfall total was 10.1 inches.

Cucumbers July 2021

Cucumbers 2022

Pole Beans July 2021

Pole Beans 2022

Sweet Potatoes July 2021

Sweet Potatoes 2022

Cantaloupes July 2021
Container experiment outcome: Fail

Cantaloupes 2022
I remove this row cover every morning and replace it mid-afternoon
to retain heat over night

But not everything has been watered.  I can see some fatigue in the perennials but my in-the-ground annuals have not had any supplemental water at all.  As they say... "Marigolds (and Geraniums etc.) are popular for a reason."    The Dahlias are also soldiering on and budding.  Being tubers they are more prone to rot anyway so the dry conditions are OK for them too.

Dinnerplate Dahlias bordered by Marigolds and Celosia

Marigolds, Snapdragons, Celosia

Naturally I cannot expect my container plantings to deal with no rainfall.  I water them about once a week.  The planters are large, the plants are drought tolerant and I used Moisture Control soil in them so they are doing well with normal maintenance.  

Geraniums, Papyrus, Ivy and Euphorbia

Some of my perennials do not look as lush as they might with more water, but they are still doing outstanding.  One thing I was looking forward to is the Rudbeckia Sahara that I mail-ordered last fall.  These need to be reseeded so some people grow them as annuals but I am hoping to get these clumps established as self maintaining perennials.  I an quite pleased with the variety of colors I received.

Rudbeckia Sahara

Rudbeckia Sahara

Rudbeckia Sahara

Rudbeckia Sahara and Happy Returns Daylily

Coral Bells

Celosia

Peachy Keen Verbena

We have a weather forecast of a front of passing thunderstorms passing through tonight into tomorrow.  I only have inches of water in my rain tank.  I am hoping the lawns and trees get a good soaking and I get some free water in my tank.