Rain rain rain and more rain!

[applestar]

My area is in midst of a drought. Even the dandelions are starting to wilt in the front yard hardpan. Right now, it's cloudy and getting windy, so a storm is IN THE AREA. OK all you folks with too much rain, ALL TOGETHER NOW -- concentrate and push the rain MY WAY!

[grease monkey]

your not alone. We just had about 3 inchs in 45 min BUT it didn't rain Friday or Saturday so we could use it.

[applestar]

The forecast said 80% chance of rain. Well we did get rain... for about 5 minutes. Does that still count as accurate weather forecasting?

You all have to do better than that! Now CONCENTRATE!

[BrianSkilton]

Same here applestar, it rained for about 2 min here a few days ago...that is all the rain we have gotten for about 3 weeks now. So, we could use some very soon, watering a few times everyday takes forever... I suppose it a little while we will be upset about too much rain...maybe not..

[Spin]

Drowing here too! I knew we were going to pay here for having such a nice April! I'm just hoping all the lettuce/spinach I sowed last week doesn't wash out.

[applestar]

It's been raining ALL AFTERNOON!!!
Good work, everyone!

[Kisal]

The sun just came out!

Oops! There it goes, again.

Actually, beginning Saturday ... and maybe even Friday afternoon ... we're supposed to have day after day of lovely sunshine!

[St. Louis gardener]

It's been so rainy here in Eastern Missouri that my tomato and pepper plants (not planted from seed) have been turning yellow and wilting. Is there something else that could cause this other than too much rain? According to my moisture probe, it hasn't registered anything less than "wet" ever since we planted in late April. The only other thing we planted from seedlings, not seed, were the squash, and they are doing fine, but then again, they are in a different bed. However, all the beds are the same pH and were prepared and fertilized the same way. So I'm not sure why the tomato and pepper plants are wilting and the squash is not. Another weird thing is that even though the leaves (especially the lower ones) are yellowish and some of them are curling, and the whole plant looks less robust (a lighter shade of green, thinner, etc.) than when we planted them, every single one has borne fruit! The plants are only 1 foot high, yet I picked my first ripe cherry tomatoes today. What's up with that? Are all the nutrients going to produce fruit and none left for the plant itself? If they need more fertilizer, how do I feed them without adding more water to the soil? I could spray just the leaves with compost tea (which I did once already, but maybe not enough?) if you think that would help. What else can I do?

[Ozark Lady]

Oh where of where have all the spring showers gone?
It isn't summer just yet, and we are so dry!
It is just playing at raining here, when we get some, it is just enough to tease!

[BrianSkilton]

Its been raining over the night, for a few days now. Yay, we are finally getting a little. More on the way...

[jal_ut]

It has been cool here with thunderstorms often. Today is overcast and the temp 55. We haven't had a lot of rain but showers often. My garden is slow growing because of the cool weather.

[BrianSkilton]

I knew this was coming.... one extreme to the other, garden is completely underwater. Everything is water-logged... I wanted a steady rain one to two times a week. Not a 2 inch down-pour for the whole afternoon. It's nature, what can you do.

[img]https://www.phantom360.com/Gardening/flood1.jpg[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/Gardening/flood2.jpg[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/Gardening/flood3.jpg[/img]

yay and a wind advisory ontop of it all with gusts to 50 yay!

https://www.weather.com/weather/alerts/localalerts/57064?phenomena=WI&significance=Y&areaid=SDZ067&office=KFSD&etn=0012

Well, time to go batten down the hatches with the fences. Good thing I got those...

[Ozark Lady]

I am sorry Brian, seems we are all struggling with no rain, or too much rain, very few are getting the right amount.

[BrianSkilton]

Flash flood watch, and severe thunderstorm warning with a possible chance of hail and winds above 70mph. Wish me luck tonight Lucked out on the last storm, another strong one tonight..hate living in South Dakota. This is where all the fronts move through all summer long, creating strong thunderstorms, lucky we haven't had many until now.

[tomf]

You know ever one complains about the weather but no one ever does any thing about it.

We have this big festival in Oregon every year right now called the Rose Festival and it rains most of the time during it but when it is over the weather gets better. It is getting to the end of it and this week end it is supposed to be sunny.

[BrianSkilton]

I put up two fences today, and that didn't seem to help all that much. I was looking out the window, with rain slamming the window, and wind at 75mph with my power going off and on. That was like a hurricane, no joke. As long as a I have lived here, I have seen nothing like it. Anyway, I had a quick look with a flash light, and the garden is underwater again, and my potatoes and tomato plants are blown to the ground. How well do potato plants recover after being blown flat? Still raining here, pretty bad out there. Anyway, I will survey the damage tomorrow. Trying to keep a positive attitude, it's all I can do at this point. Tough season so far.

So far 3 flash flood warnings, and 1 thunderstorm watch and 2 thunderstorm warnings. All in a couple of hours. Sounds like some damage in our area tonight (morning). Brutal storm.

[applestar]

Wow Brian, I've never seen anything like that. Sounds like something out of stories. (I'm thinking Little House series - I think they WERE in South Dakota for a while ... DeSmet by Silver Lake)

Good luck! Hope everything springs back.

Based on what tomf said, I would infer that you need to hold a Rose Festival: "...but when it is over the weather gets better."

[St. Louis gardener]

Sorry about your weather troubles, Brian. We have had similar storms here in Missouri. It doesn't just rain, but it pours so hard the ground stays saturated for weeks. I'll tell you what my husband says when I complain about this kind of weather and its effect on my gardens .... think greenhouse!

[BrianSkilton]

Well I had a quick drive around the neighborhood and took some pictures of the massive flooding in our area. Luckily our lot is the highest lot, so flooding in our lot is at a minimum. Several downed trees in our area as well. Really bad flooding:

[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood1.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood2.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood3.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood4.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood5.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood6.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood7.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood8.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood9.JPG[/img]
[img]https://www.phantom360.com/storm2010/Flood10.JPG[/img]

[gixxerific]

Not good Brian, sorry to see that. I live close to the Mississippi and Missouri river. So we have seen our share of major floods. 93 was terrible where we had we had huge sections of highways closed down for weeks.

My last house was at the bottom section a street where everything would flow into my yard and sewer 13 houses up to the right and 4 to the left back to back so double that number. You could have dang near floated a canoe down my back yard at times. Ironically my garden was in the middle of the river. I had 2x12's as an embankment between the middle of my garden. That both served as a raised bed and a river channel. I never really had too many garden problems though again ironically.

I'm good here I'm at the top of a hill so it all drains away from me for the most part. We still have week long thunderstorms to deal with though. It seems we are stuck in that trend right now. The other day we had about 3 inches of rain. The ground is still soaked with more coming soon and the next few day's as well.

Good luck to everybody gotta go to the pool before it rains and I'm rambling again.

[St. Louis gardener]

Looks like our neighborhood after the Sept 15, 2009 floods. Our street was basically a river. The fire department had to use a row boat to rescue people from their homes! I think we got 6 inches of rain in about 6 hours that night. Woke up to a foot of wastewater in my basement from stormwater backup. UGH!

[Liska]

Several of my lettuces, including the baby one that was on the mend, was blown over by the horrible storms and heavy rains I've got to go out there this evening and do some trimming/pulling I suppose. does anyone know if I just take the leaves off the lettuces, if they'll resprout after being flattened?

[St. Louis gardener]

I thought I read somewhere (maybe on this forum!) last year that the leaves of some varieties of, if not all, lettuce can be hacked off at ground level and that more will grow from the root/main stem.

On a sadder note, while we are commisserating about too much rain in our gardens, let's not forget the 17 souls who perished in the flash flood in Arkansas this week. I heard the river was 3+ feet at 1 a.m., and just 4 hrs later was over 23 feet. Not sure what the official rainfall was, but must have been 5 or so inches in a very short time. Those people asleep in their tents and trailers at the campsite never had a chance.

[mrsself]

The rainfall was about 8" I believe. My husband and his mother used to camp over at Albert Pike when he was younger, and he has taken me to that exact campground as little as 3 months ago. (I just moved here in September).

As for your potato plants... mine have been blown flat I don't know how many times, and I just went out there the next day and stood them back up, and they were fine . We dug ours up a few days ago, got quite a yield out of them. This is my first garden EVER, and I'm shocked I haven't killed everything yet. I can't keep a flower alive to save my life, but I've got a flourishing garden!

[ihateweeds]

Here in Hawaii, the rainy season comes in the winter time, as it doesn't snow here. If there is a risk or your plants dying you can go to walmart and buy pots. I find pest problems are much easier to deal with in a pot.

[Ozark Lady]

I want some rain!
I am still watering!

[BrianSkilton]

Hey Ihateweeds, what part of Hawaii are your from. I went to Kauai, Hawaii for vacation in 08 and that island is absolutely beautiful! We went during the winter months, and it was raining quite a bit.

[BrianSkilton]

Continues to rain here, like I stated back in the topic it will either be not enough or to much...

[Liska]

My lettuces are managing okay, and I think I have freaky plants that actually like the rain!

Now, we just need a little bit of sunshine to even out our cloudy days!

I do have five baby cherry tomatoes tho

[BrianSkilton]

Here we go again....ugh. More severe storms we still have river flood warnings up from last week. You know when you have 40mph winds that a cold front will be moving through and that severe weather is on the way. I call them line storms because they don't break up.

https://www.weather.com/newscenter/nationalforecast/index.html

[St. Louis gardener]

I feel for you, Brian. I really do. We got one torrential downpour this morning (a little more than 1/2 inch, according to my rain gauge), and more is headed this way this afternoon and evening. The only good thing about heavy rains is they seem to make the Japanese beetles lethargic, and even mid-afternoon, when they're supposed to be the most active, they are easy to catch. The worst thing (besides drowning my sweet peppers) is that it's difficult to judge when to spray. I hit my spinach and broccoli with homemade garlic soap yesterday, but after this morning's rain, it probably isn't doing any good. How do you judge when to reapply (organic sprays like insecticidal soap, garlic oil, etc.) when it rains this much?

[gixxerific]

STL Gardener you lucked out we got ton's of rain here. About every day for a few day's too. My tomatoes are wilting from too much water. I just wish it would dry up a little here.

Do you live in the city or outside of it?

[St. Louis gardener]

I live in U City, just west of the city limits. We did luck out today -- didn't get anymore rain after this morning's 1/2 inch. I know what you mean about the tomatoes wilting. I had that problem as recently as a week ago, but they've started to perk up now that we're only getting an inch of rain a week, instead of 3 or 4! At least my water bill will be minimal this summer!

[gixxerific]

I live in U City, just west of the city limits. We did luck out today -- didn't get anymore rain after this morning's 1/2 inch. I know what you mean about the tomatoes wilting. I had that problem as recently as a week ago, but they've started to perk up now that we're only getting an inch of rain a week, instead of 3 or 4! At least my water bill will be minimal this summer!

Cool very familiar with U-City. Glad your plants are coming around. Out by my place all the corn, bean fields, pumpkin patches, culverts and just everywhere else is like a lake. I feel for the farmers it is so wet out here. I have yet to go check my garden I worked out in the Hell heat all day I don't want to go out again. Maybe later when (if ever ) it cools off.

[St. Louis gardener]

Good luck, gixxerific. I was surprised to learn the rainfall was so much more in Wentzville than here today. And it was only in the high 80s, but tomorrow and the next several days supposed to be 95, maybe higher, with heat indices near 100. Not pleasant weather to garden, for sure! That's why I do most of my yardwork in the early morning. But when it rains during those few hours, there goes my window of opportunity. We are all at the mercy of Mother Nature. Thank goodness it is only a hobby for (most of) us, unlike the poor farmers who make their living at it.

[tomf]

It looks like people are getting to much rain or none. In Oregon we beat the record rain fall for June the other day and we had more rain, plus there are 12 more days left to go.

[BrianSkilton]

I think I am fine without rain for awhile

[tomf]

A man is visiting Oregon and Washington from Arizona and asks a kid if the sun ever comes out around here, the kid says “how would I know I am only six years oldâ€

[applestar]

DEFINITELY Vampire country. Plant a lot of garlic! Oh, wait, they said that doesn't work....

[BrianSkilton]

Well, we have a tornado warning, and more flash flood warnings for tonight. Wish me luck again guys...this isn't going to be pretty.