I noticed big cracks in the ground under the pots my cherry tomatoes are in. That is the low spot in the yard, the wet spot. Not now. The wind is about to do in my pepper plants.

Ditto everything. I can't keep enough water in my grow bags. Lost a couple tomato branches to the wind. At least they're pollenating...

My tomato root pouches are in kiddie pools. I flood the pools at night. So far it works. My herbs are on shelves though. When it gets hot, they will need the same treatment. They could use some space on the east side of the house. The herbs seem REALLY happy in the root pouches!

Yes. Need rain so bad. Watching the weather now and it doesn't look like we've got much of a chance anytime soon.

We've been dry all along since most of the rain has missed us this year. I think we've had about 12" for the whole year, and about 5" of that was before planting even started. I water once or twice a week and it doesn't matter how long I water or how moist the soil feels several inches beneath the surface when I'm done----by the next morning, it is hot and miserably dry again as if I didn't even water. All this wind certainly isn't helping either.

Here's the year to date rainfall map for the entire state, from the OK Mesonet:

Year To Date Rainfall in Inches

Here's the rainfall for the last 30 days:

Last 30 Days-Rainfall Expressed in Inches

Here's the Year-to-Date rainfall expressed as a percentage of normal (and guess which one of us lives in the area that is orange on this map):

Year To Date Rainfall As A Percentage of Normal

We are so dry down here and a lot of y'all are going to catch up with us quickly if more rain doesn't fall. This wind really is going to dry out soil moisture quickly, and plants will wilt more easily due to the excessive transpiration of moisture. I am dreading the rest of the summer. And, realistically speaking, even for those of you who have had plentiful moisture so far, it only takes 2-3 weeks (depending on soil type) of low to no rainfall to send you towards drought. So, in the garden, what's happened lately means a lot more than what has happened, in terms of rainfall, over the entire course of the calendar year.

Dawn

I'm pretty sure my garden thinks it's being blowtorched.

Amy, what is a root pouch?

Nowyousedum, It's a grow bag like this. I have the herbs in the 3 gal size and some tomatoes in the biggest size.

Rebecca, I'm being blowtotched.

I'm really sorry Dawn and everone are so dry.

Rebecca, And it probably is right---it did feel like a blowtorch out there today. Every June I have the same thought and it goes something like this: "This is it? This? All winter I waited through gray skies, clouds, cold weather and rain for this? This is the summer I wanted? No, no, no."

Why is it that summer sounds deliciously appealing in January but then when it finally arrives, it is hotter and drier than anything we'd ever hope for? Next January I'm not hoping for summer. I'm going to hope for March. Maybe even April. Heck, we hit 100 degrees here on May 26th. That just isn't fair. . That means I probably shouldn't even hope for May weather. I should hope for Febuary and March weather. Maybe April.

Amy, I knew we'd be dry this summer (there was no way we'd have three wet summers in a row) and I dreaded it. Guess what? It is every bit as bad as I remembered. I was standing in my garden looking across the road at the ranch and thinking that their pastures look awful for this early in the summer. Usually they are lush and green. Right now? They look like August. Maybe they do not look as bad as they did in 2011, but they look so bad so early it is scary. Our pastures don't look any better, and the garden only looks better because I've been watering it, but not excessively...so, it looks okay but not really good. It is not that I'm hoping for, or expecting, 79" of rain like we had in 2015. But, I'd kinda like for our rainfall to make it out of the teens before September, and I doubt it will....unless a Gulf Coast hurricane sends us a ton of moisture after it comes ashore in Texas this summer. Is it wrong to start hoping for a hurricane? Not a bad one. Just one that's strong enough to send us 6 or 8" of rain.

Dawn

You can use this map to tell you if you ought to be watering. Of course, it reflects conditions at your local Mesonet station and the conditions at your place might be quite different, but I like to look at it just to keep track of how dry any given area is getting. If the number shown is less than 0.50, you should be watering:

4-Inch Plant Available Water

Has anyone made their own grow bags from weed barrier fabric? I was just messing about and googled DIY grow bags and found all kinds of information and videos. Might be worth looking into for a winter project when we are just wishing for spring to arrive.

Yes, our 3 inches of rain two weeks ago is a far distant memory. Everything is dry. I spent today dragging hoses around.

I watered yesterday and imagine that if I were to go out there now and stick a finger in the ground, it still would be bone dry. I watered deeply and long, but we are so dry here that any moisture you put in/on the ground goes away very quickly.

Amy, the kiddie pool idea is brilliant. I am afraid my grow bag tomatoes may be too far gone; they are truly sick and ugly from dehydration. I am going to try this going foward, Dog won't be happy he is losing his pool, but we all need to make sacrifices right?

Kiddie pools go on clearance the end of the season. The little ones are cheapest and they are easier to work with so you don't have to reach too far. I wish I could say I invented the idea, but I saw it on line.

It is brilliant, but I had to scroll all the way up to find it! LOL.

And oh oh oh it is hot! I can tell how hot it is by how fast I can mow the yard. The hot is right on schedule. In the spring, and on into part of June, and after September, I can zip around and get it done in one go-round, all 3 yards--side, front and back, in 1 1/2-2 hrs. Once THIS stuff hits, takes me 3 half hour breaks just to do the back. AND there's part of the back I can't see, so that can wait til tomorrow. AND I don't look at the front or side yard all that much, so it can wait til tomorrow. hahaha.

Growing in kiddie pools is okay, but you'll be happier in the long run if you empty them of the soil and put them up for the winter. If you leave them outside for 2 or 3 years filled with soil all the time, the weather and UV rays will break them down and you'll notice one fine late Spring morning that your kiddie pools from the previous year have cracked and fallen apart and are lying on the ground in hundreds of pieces. Each time you try to pick up a piece to dispose of it, it will break into many more pieces. I learned all this first-hand. We still have little blue shards of kiddie pool plastic all over the area where we used to have a little Peter Rabbit Garden for our step-granddaughter. Those blue pieces probably will be here long after we're gone.

Dry? BAAAH.

I went down to the river today. I was sitting on the bank in the shade and off in the distance I could see puffs and streams of dust rising up above the tree line heading right for me. Looked like a stampede of cattle coming until it got closer. Then I could see it was just a herd of Catfish swimming upstream.

So I ran to the truck and grabbed my fishing pole and cast out to where the dust was rising up and Bam, Fish On right away. I tussled and tugged and a few minutes later I finally landed a nice one up on the bank next to me. But, when I reached down to grab him, the darn catfish was so covered with seed ticks I had to throw it back. :7)

Credit goes to my dear ole departed grand-dad. It was one of his favorite whoppers to tell along about July. He survived the Dust Bowl so I guess he had the right.

Hold on Gals, we are nowhere near as brutal as this state can get yet and we all know it.

It does look like I need to give the garden a light drink late this evening to limp them through. Late potatoes in bloom, corn starting to silk and tomatoes just getting ready to break. Even a little sprinkle right about here would sure help yield a bunch. It said it rained here today but I never seen a drop. Slight chance tomorrow though, fingers crossed.

DH mowed today, until the mower refused to start. Then he disassembled the greenhouse and some of my shelves. I couldn't do it today. Some magic number heat and humidity wise will do me in, and that was today.

LOL, yep, for old women also. My son is my IT guy when I get into trouble. I suspect he is sorry he ever insisted that I get a computer. ;-)

I googled Dragon's Lingerie beans once. I don't recommend it. BTW Jerry, I liked your catfish story. It is SO Oklahoma.

:), all!

We were having a new roof put on in July here, near Duncan, one July. The two men (whom we knew) would work until about 10:00 AM and then down off that roof. One day the older man said, "I believe it's going to thaw on the North side today". Supposed to be around 100 degrees tomorrow. I think the thaw is early this year.