Dawn, I feel for you. The drought is really bad in OKC. I may lose a lot of plants, but I just can't water during the winter.

We will see what the damage is in the spring when things are supposed to start growing.

Susan

Susan,

I have been watering, and still I am losing some shrubs. They are junipers on the north side of the house and they've been there six or seven years. It is so frustrating. At least, if I wasn't watering, I could understand their death.

I really dread the spring/summer because that's when we'll see a lot of plant death in the 12 or 13 acres that I cannot/do not water. I have had several very large and mature trees just collapse in the woods and we need to get them cut up and hauled out of there before snake season begins.

Because the coyotes are running out of things to eat, they are lurking right outside the house in the yard. We've lost several guineas this winter, and our 18-month-old Maine Coon Cat disappear last Thursday and we feel like a coyote probably got him.

I think y'all still have decent soil moisture in OKC but that could change if rain doesn't start falling soon.

I do NOT want to be on the drought/fire merry-go-round for another day, week or month, but I fear that is exactly what is happening.....at least here in our part of OK and I am sure it is happening in other parts as well.

I am ready for spring and something green!

Dawn

What a tale of woe. Not being a meteorologist, but having been a frequent visitor to OK throughout my life and currently a resident, I can't help but think that the best adaptations for plant life here can withstand years of drought followed by a few years of plenty. I think we all become accustomed to our technology, which allows us to "go against the grain" of the local weather conditions. While this is merely inconvenient for us gardeners, it creates real problems for agriculture.

This brings me to a grave concern of mine, which is the harvesting of water from the deep aquifers in the Great Plains. In my case my 5 acres is on a water well. I would probably go broke from the electric bill before I would run out of water from my well, which taps into the "Garber-Wellington Aquifer." Carbon-14 dating of the water in this aquifer at Tinker Air Force Base shows the water dates from about 3,100 years ago at the 250 foot level, or about 1000 years ago at the 198 foot level. For agriculture this is simply not sustainable. Sure, we can tap into it for a few decades, maybe even a century, but after that, it's gone. Not very smart move to tap this source in that way.

From experience I know I could probably pull about 100 to 200 gallons per minute from my well without causing troubles with mud and such. I could have a water well on a windmill, but the truth is the months we really need waterJuly and AugustÂthere isn't that much wind.

The frustrating thing is that after about 4 or 5 days of rains everything floods on my property, including my basement. Surface water runs right off because of the clay content, but there isn't enough clay on the ground and the water table goes too low to make my pond stay full the entire summer.

So, a really interesting garden becomes a luxury item quickly....

Probably the only solution if you have property of any size is a cistern...but that's a lot of work.

Dawn, After our 60 inches of rain in 2008, we are beginning to get dry here in Adair County. Our last rainy month was September when 8 or 9 inches fell, (the book is in the garden cabinet; I don't remember exactly) Since then we've had less than 3 inches. And with several warm windy days, the ground is drying out.

I can't help but remember what my grandfather said about the great depression. "It was the drought that hurt us more than the depression. We couldn't raise our usual garden stuff." And now we have the double whammy of economic recession and drought. Coincidence?

There is a chance of rain next week. I hope so, even though possibly freezing rain.

We have had so little rain in Tahlequah this year, and our snow fall has been almost nil. I can only hope that I am watering enough, and I wish that this drought would end.

Dorothy,

I have been watching your county on the drought maps and had noticed your usual waterfall of rain had stopped falling. At least you probably have good, residual soil moisture a few inches down which is great for the trees, although it doesn't do much for the more shallow-rooted plants, does it?

Recession and drought together. Perhaps we are about to relive the 1930s. Doesn't that sound depressing? My dad told me that they lived on what they could grow during those horrible years, and about all they had to eat was red beans and corn....corn bread, corn meal mush, etc. At least they had food though. And, for the rest of his life, one of his favorite meals was red beans and corn bread and he ate it at least once a week.

Jessaka,

Y'all are not supposed to have drought up there is lush and lovely Tahlequah! It isn't fun, is it. I am sure you are watering enough. Your plants ought to be fine on 1 to 2" of irrigation a week. If you want to measure how much moisture you're giving them, and if you are using sprinklers, just set empty, clean cat food or tuna cans around the yard (you only need a couple) and turn on the sprinkler. Once the cans have an inch of water in them, you can turn off the sprinkler, or empty the cans and refill them again.

Most winters, I only water my landscape if we're getting less than 1" of rain per month. However, because our drier than average conditions are in their 18th month here, I am trying to give the landscape area around the house 1" a week to make up for all the moisture that didn't fall in 2008.

Y'all, this drought is starting to worry me. Last time it was this dry, even my native pasture grasses and forbs died and it took a long time for them to make a comback. Some of the pasture land around us where cows actually graze was so overgrazed in 2006 that it really hasn't even recovered well yet--the pastures are thin and patchy and now they're overgrazed again. I'm glad we don't have cows because, if we did, we wouldn't have anything growing for them to eat.

The deepening of the drought really concerns me. Our ponds have never stayed dried through the whole winter before...even in 05-06, there was rain in Sept.-Oct. 2005 that kept water in the ponds for part of the fall and winter. This is the first time they've gone through the whole fall/winter empty. One still has a foot or so of water but it is very stagnant and yucky looking. The wild ducks are swimming on it every day though.

Dawn