Yes, watering the garden is at the top of my list every other day. I try to keep watering a few areas every other day, so I don't have to do the whole garden at once. I'm not enjoying all the watering. Definitely finding the garden parched and needing to be vigilant to keep making the effort. Like you said, especially with the larger specimens in the garden. And then there's trying to work around the water restrictions by the town. I've been hand watering a lot too. The lawn is getting the least amount of water. I consider a lush green lawn a demerit in a drought any way. The Arborvitaes get the most attention. We installed soaker hoses under those a few years back. Forget the Hydrangeas. I can't keep them watered enough. I noticed yesterday that the berries on Viburnum 'Red Wings' are looking very small and dry. Not quite shriveled up but almost.

Right now, I'm trying to pay attention to which plants are tolerating the dry conditions the best. Sunflowers, tomatoes and peppers, basil, lavender, sedums, grasses seem to sail through. Baptisia never seems to be suffering either. The ferns in the garden have gone into wilts a few times. The pansies in pots, finally have bit the dust from the heat. I'm going to try to replace those this week. They lasted a long time this year though with some deadheading.

I hope we at least get some solid rain in the fall.

Yes, the early part of my day is devoted to emptying the dehumidifier and hand watering with that. On really humid days I can get two watering sessions in, the second one in the evening. Like Prairiemoon I try to hit every valued plant or patch every other day at least.

The lawn has fallen by the wayside (so dry and weedy!), and I worry about our few tall established trees but have to let them fend for themselves. I'm away looking after aging parents for a week every month, and I never know what will have died or almost-died if there's no rainfall while I'm gone. Horrible....

I am trying to deep-water thirsty trees and shrubs 1x/week -- using 5-gallon buckets with a few holes drilled in the bottom. Monday is the stewartia (gets 6 bucketsl!), Tuesday is 6 other front yard shrubs (each gets 1 bucket), Wednesday is for the pots on the deck, Thursday is for 6 thirsty backyard shrubs, Friday is for the cercis (which looks like this will be its last year...), and Saturday is for the drip hose under the Japanese maple, hydrangeas, blueberries, etc. Perennials are getting next to nothing, unless I find myself with time on my hands, but they are doing OK so far.

It is amazing how localized the rain has been. Here in Vermont we have had a good soaking rain nearly every day for about a week, while apparently MA is in the throes of a severe drought. I hope that rain will come your way soon.

Thanks, Sped, I hope the rain comes our way, too.

Yes, I have a watering schedule. Like many other posters, I've had to give preference to some favorite plants that I don't want to lose. I go outside in the early morning, dragging the hose instead of using the sprinkler system which waters the whole yard, including the lawn. I also travel with sheers, scissors and poker to deadhead and clean up what is crispy.

Then I may do another pass around dinnertime, depending on the mosquitos.

It's become a fulltime J-O-B.

If the mature trees have withstood previous droughts then let them fight on. However some trees are drought sensitive even when they are well established, for instance, my katsura.

Those should be deeply watered NOW .

A ten or 15 year old tree cannot be easily replaced. Perennials usually can be, no matter how rare. A 10 or 15 year old specimen tree costs hundreds of dollars, the most expensive perennial is rarely more than $15 or $20 (usually $12.99)

I'm making the case (based largely on Tree Forum conversations), to assess your tree inventory and make sure your triage plan actually makes sense.

That is good, sensible advice, Marie. Thank you!

I've been watering for about 3 hours a day. I'm afraid to see my water bill.

When we planted grass 10 or 15 years ago and watered 4 times a day our summer water bill was over $1,000! That's one of several reasons I'll never plant a lawn again. I have over 30 trees and shrubs that are between 5 and 20 years old. I figure if I can get the ground deeply watered, then I can cut back to once every two or three weeks. The bill will be what it is.

I would welcome a 1000.00 water bill! My summer water last year was 1800.00 and I wasn't watering like I am now...the 3 hours doesn't include my husbands lawn watering time so we do use a lot of water. It would be double if we had town sewer!!

Well, 1000 was 10 years ago. I'm betting it may be double that. I didn't want to voice the possiblity. Geeze, I'm not sure we have that in our checking account.

Has Massachusetts now officially declared the state is in drought? I thought I heard that on this morning's news....

In these increasingly dry days, I have really come to appreciate those plants that don't die even when not watered much! In my yard this includes some of the herbs in my garden--parsley, tarragon, sage, mint, rosemary, thyme. (Oddly, my almost-invasive lemon balm recently died out completely--& I thought it was one of the drought resistors....) Also some bare-root natives I bought for great low prices from our agricultural extension program this past spring--some bearberry, pagoda dogwood, summersweet, & beach plum. And most of my Montaulk daisies as well as the little rose of Sharon & forsythia trees are doing just fine even when I tend to almost ignore them.

I'm not sure if the state has declared a drought, but our town has adjusted their water ban this week. From every other day, odds/evens for watering, to once a week watering. I was relieved to see that vegetable gardens can be watered any time. And you can do watering by hand. But sprinklers unattended and automatic sprinklers can only go on once a week between the hours of 5pm and 9am the next morning.

I just saw that one of my ferns in an area I don't walk by often is dead from dryness. I keep trying to water the most important things and not water the entire yard as I normally would. Guess that plan needs adjusting. Today I'm going to water every inch of the property since I have to wait another week to do it again and I'm adding more mulch tomorrow to the raised vegetable beds.

Barrett - my parsley has had a lot of yellowing in my raised beds, which I haven't had before and I've actually been watering them pretty consistently too, but I can't keep them moist enough without daily deep watering. Thyme and Rosemary have been bullet proof for me too. Chervil I am surprised to see really suffering, just as it's coming into bloom too. Our bearberry has been great every year, no matter what I do.