It's Dry!

Our area is experiencing drought conditions.  It is actually early in the year to be seeing things this dry, but we deal with what we get.  There have been some burn bans put in place for some of the counties around us.  The last rain we received amounted to about a half-inch.  It's all welcome, but we sure could use some more.


The garden is well mulched and that is helping to hold moisture, but I'm keeping an eye on that.  The pole beans are really vining and blooming and the tomatoes are starting to turn.  We should have some fresh beans and 'maters really soon.

Below is a shot of the first few blackberries of the season.  I hope to get enough off the young plants to make a cobbler or two, or maybe a batch of wine.  I had a handful with breakfast this morning.

The first berries...and lots more to come!

Some Wild Weather!

Had one hail of a storm here yesterday evening!  This was, of course, just after I'd set out a couple more tomato plants and watered the garden well, since it had been sooo dry.

Soon afterwards, the overcast sky darkened in earnest.  I heard the sirens sounding in town, a couple of miles away.  I headed in and turned on my portable police radio.  Sure enough, the local Sheriff Department was broadcasting some meteorological nastiness bearing down on our area.  About that time, the skies opened up and the deluge began.  The wind seemed to be blowing from all four directions at once.  Monitoring the radio transmissions, I gathered up a few items, and prepared to head to the basement.  Then the hail began.  It was really hammering down...with big hammers!  After many minutes, it finally began to ease up, then ceased altogether as the storm tracked off to the east/southeast.

I headed outside to survey for damage.  Several of my fledgling tomato plants were among the casualties.  Some were laid over from the beating, a few were simply broken off.  The mud was pockmarked where the golf ball-sized hail had come down.  Trees lost a lot of leaves, but it looks like my blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries were able to ride the storm out pretty well.

I was pleased to see that a young Robin, that had recently left its nest located above my workshop door, had survived.  It was hopping about with one of its parents close by.  I wondered where it found refuge, but was pleased that it made it.  Any critter caught out in that hail barrage would have took a whoopin'!

In the photos, you can see a couple of the tomato plants that got beat up, as well a shot of just a few of the large hailstones that assaulted us!  The rain total for the storm was about 1.4 inches according to neighbors.  A bunch for a half hour or so!  That's what I get for watering my plants!

You can see some of the 'craters' left by hailstones.

One of the tomato plants broken by the hailstorm.

Some of the hailstones after lying in the yard for 15-20 minutes.