I was just mowing the lawn, well actually leaves, and it was so dry that my whole yard was filling with dust clouds!! I was holding me breath while emptying the bag to not inhale dust particles and now I am covered in dust!
This whole month in Chicago suburbs it has rained .23" while our average is 2.73" for the month. So far this year we have accumulated 23.12" and our average for this date on a normal year is 27.65".

Next to nothing in terms of rain forecasted for the rest of the month. Maybe october can help us out but most everything will be done growing and already on winter mode. Especially our poor trees that seem to be just dying and not even turning colors!!

I guess it's time to get out the hose!

Wishing for rain, Pat

we have gotten no rain either - its absolutley bone dry -
i am a person who rarely almost never waters the lawn... and i am about to set up the sprinklers... because there is no rain forecasted in the near future and my dog pee ridden lawn really needs to be diluted terrible. i rely on the rain more to wash in the urine rather than water the grass - i really am working on a turf free lawn - but i do save some space for the doggies to go ... perhaps we could all schedule a simultaneous rain dance - to try and make something happen...

joe pye,

Unless it smells, ignore the lawn and water your trees and shrubs. Those are the plants that will suffer long term from this lack of water.

We've had a couple of dry falls in a row and the stress will be adding up on the trees and shrubs.

V.

I feel everyones pain. I live in the SW suburbs of Chicago and we've had one good day of rain all month. I went ahead and did a bunch of transplanting/dividing because this is the best time of year for it. Bad move, huh? Now I'm all worried and checking everything everyday.
My son and I(3 1/2, and loves to "help" daddy in the garden) will be out there again tonight watering everything that needs it.
Seems kinda irrational to get frustrated over something that we are powerless to change, but we all do it.

Yay!! Lovely rain. We had rain most of last evening and last night. Ground was still a bit hard when I tried to put a sign in the ground today, so more rain would be welcome.

Well we got some rain also but only .03", which doesn't really count!! Congrats cantstopgardening, I'm very jealous :). I've been doing a ton of planting also MrMorton, just being careful to make sure everything gets watered. My 3.5 y.o. loves to "help" too! R.e. stress on trees and shrubs V, yes there are a ton of stressed trees, especially, around here. There is a park nearby that is lined w/Maples and they are all wilted terribly. I feel sooo sorry for them :(. If I could drag my hose approx. 1.5 miles I would give them all a good drink. Hope your dog pee ridden lawn is doing o.k. joepyeweed! I'm working on a turf free yard also but going slowly since DH freaks if I remove too much of his precious turf at a time, LOL! I figure if I remove a bit at a time it won't be as noticeable. Pat, have you invested in a dust mask for mowing?!

Hang in there everybody!

Veronicastrum has good advice. The last few years have been very hard on trees. Trees die out from dought from the upper branches down. Lots of smaller, and even a few larger trees have dead tops around here. Plants should not go into the winter with dry roots. Grass is easy to replace, but I give my trees a big drink before the big freeze!

JuicyLucy- I've thought that too- Hauling the hose out to water all the streetside plantings, parks, etcetera.

A little further west - bone dry in SE Nebr. A little rain in September but zero in October. Or least not enough to settle the dust. Usually try and turn over part of the garden but too hard. I agree - water those trees, shrubs, bulbs, and transplants, let the lawn go. Wanted to move around a bunch of plants but just too dry and hard. Tore out tomatoes today, still have some producing, also peppers, only a very light frost hit some more tender plants, but squash and basil are fine. Piegirl

piegirl, I'm sorry to hear it's still bone dry, what a bummer. I tried to plant some Viburnum when it was bone dry here and I might as well have been digging cement. We finally were blessed w/some wonderful rains and have had approx. 3" over the past couple of weeks. Hopefully some is headed your way soon. I'll do a rain dance for you :). Still waiting on Jack Frost.