Wow… I have had 22 days in a row at or above 100%. 1.44 inches of rain in the past 48 days.
Poor old garden has died, dried up and is a fire hazard. Squash, cucumbers and beans stopped producing about the middle of June. Okra has hung on but with the high temps has stopped producing.
Pond has dried up, yesterday I saw a bull frog holding a tiny sign that said “Will work for water.” Last week I spied 2 crawdads in the bottom of the dry pond digging a well.
It has been 103 to 112 for the past 18 days and my weather guy said I can expect the next 7 day to be the same.
Spending a lot of time slow, deep watering grape vines and fruit trees. I have to much invested in them to let our regular scheduled dry spell kill them.
I know an old Comanche Indian that says he’s 193 years old, well he said that’s how old he feels.
I complained about the drought and high temperatures and he told me son you live in Southwest Oklahoma, it gets hot, it gets dry, quit your damn whining.
O-Well there’s always next year.
Happy Gardening
Town & Country Gardening 
So sorry that so many have had a difficult (and even horrendous) year in the garden. It makes me more grateful for what we had this year. It turned out to be a great year for green beans and tomatoes. Last year was a great year for PA crookneck squash, but a total bust for tomatoes. It was so humid here this year that I could always water a few things with the water from the dehumidifier.
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I love that “Quit your damn whining”.
Also, is it true? Is a garden ever actually [Finished]
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It seems that there is always something needing doing in the garden area.
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I love the feeling of the Earth/earth needing me to potter around making this little piece of land somewhat enjoyable.
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I’m bummed for you. At least you tried. My seed are in a drawer still. Maybe next year will be a good planting season for the both of us.
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Good luck and Happy Gardening
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I saw a hysterical segment on the news last night, where they were talking about the heat with high drama. “151 million people dealing with temperatures above 90 degrees!” I was like, yeah, we like to call that “summer.” Sorry about your garden though. Here in South Florida, we are pretty much limited to planting vegetables in the fall and winter. Even with the summer squalls coming in off the ocean every day, the sun will absolutely nuke any tender growth. Some folks use shades, but I imagine they’d be like giant sails during the storms, lol.
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LOL, 2 PM and it’s 109 degrees, I’d love to suffer with 90 degrees.
Grin, yes on the sails. We often have breezy weather, winds 35-50 MPH are common and 70+ is not unheard of.
Happy Gardening
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Oh, wow. I will stop complaining now about the little bit of heat we have in New England. Can you plant things in cold frames in the fall/winter so that at least you have some home grown vegetables? Last year my cold frames did well for winter romaine and vit mache (corn salad) even under some snow and ice. Hope you can cool off a bit soon.
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Thanks. But don’t let my whining fool you, this heat and dry weather is not uncommon nor unusual for our little part of southwest Oklahoma.
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We started shading our gardens (built partial covers to block intense afternoon heat) a couple years ago, but this year has been the worst I can remember. We bought our farm in 2000 which happened to be the 1st of the worst 3 yrs drought in Colorado’s history – UNTIL NOW. The monsoons have at least been bringing in afternoon/late day showers – heavy showers, which were sorely needed here. Our highs have (so far) not been any highter than yesterday of 105. I feel your pain and your loss. It’s just been a hard growing year all the way around.
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Hang in there, wet and cool weather is on it’s way….. May be September, but it will arrive.
Happy gardening
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That must be so disheartening! We have had unusually hot dry weather too and it makes everything harder.
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Thanks and I hope your growing conditions improve soon.
Happy Gardening
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Oh bother! Can you do a fall garden? We were really in the heat zone earlier but the last week it’s back down to mid to upper 90’s. We were happy to have some thunderstorms move through to cool things down a bit.
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Grin, just haft to wait and see what August/September brings us.
Happy gardening
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Doing good where I am. I just fight off the animals from eating everything.
last year the drought killed everything. it’s been much cooler and wetter this year (not holding breath though).
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I’m sorry to hear all this. It must be so rough trying to crow crops in that area!
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Us folks that choose to live in this area are a hardy bunch and know how tough it can be gardening.
The only 2 crops that do fairly well here are Winter wheat(Planted in late September, harvested the following June) and Cotton, cotton is much more drought tolerant than most people think.
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I had no idea.
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Oh that is so disappointing. I just had a cow jump a fence into my garden and do a panic dance up and down every where. Fortunately it’s winter here so not much damage but dirt everywhere. Our rain water tank overflows nearly every day. I’d send you some rain water if postage wasn’t so expensive! You have every right to whine. It helps!
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Cousin to the cow that jumped over the moon?
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Oh, that’s a shame! So much work! I think a lot of people had poor gardens this year. Mine is terrible this year too, but not because of the heat. The opposite reason, actually. It was another long, cold, wet spring, and the black flies came out of nowhere and stayed until they had completely discouraged anyone trying to work in the garden. I have a few tiny lettuces and skinny peas. The spinach was slow to get started and when it got hot for a couple of days last week it went to seed. Very discouraging. But your excessive heat and lack of rain would be difficult to work around.
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Grin… the up side is I don’t have black flies.
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They like cooler, damp weather. Well, at least you have one good thing going for you – no bites.
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My daughter recorded 108f on her s facing terrace, but that was enhanced by white wall and stone floor.
Unheard of! Her raised beds doing well so far. chard excellent.
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LOL.. good for her … and her garden.
It’s 2 AM, I just checked my soil temp at 4 inches deep my gauge reads 97 degrees. Not many plants like their roots that warm.
Available soil moisture at 4 inches is 19 percent. Most plants experience water stress when less than 50% of the maximum plant available water remains in the active root zone.
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Gardening has been a frustration this year. I bought 1 Celebrity tomato plant and have it in a pot on my patio. It has 2 green tomatoes. I also had a cherry tomato volunteer in a house plant pot and it is producing little green tomatoes. I did see a couple volunteer tomatoes in the garden and that is the extent of my garden except for my raised beds which went to weeds and my herbs are lost in that mess. I am so glad I canned last season. The price of gas is ridiculous and we have yet to mow the entire premise and much of it is hayed out so the animals will eat this winter, but it is just so depressing how things have gone. My flower beds are weed patches too. So sad.
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Grin, at least with my dry hot spell weeds aren’t a real problem..
Good luck and Happy Gardening
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Sarah Darwin did a survey of native tomatoes, swimming to each small Galápagos Islands a few years back. The results were interesting, but also the usual worry that humans are idiots, because tourists were throwing their tomato sarnies onto the ground and the hybrids were playing havoc with the natives.
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Better luck next year. Very frustrating I am sure.
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Thanks, but, we that choose to live in the almost always hot summers and the sometimes dry southwest know that you only make a great garden crop about 1 in every 3 or 4 years.
Happy Gardening
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