Indeed. Fat hen, dock, mallows, bindweed, wild oats seem to have no problem whatsoever with the bone dry beds. They do pull up fairly easily though cos they are basically growing in sand.

Melissa - during this past one + years of drought in your area, can you let us know how much total rain fell during that period? We are also in drought here, but we did get 20 inches of rain (mostly last Oct/Nov) from 10/21 to 10/22. So, ours was a "relative drought", as our historic "normal" is 40 inches. Just wondering, as the info will make your observations more useful.

Jackie

Jackie, for this year, I don't know. Last year annual rainfall was about 25% below average for the region Emilia-Romagna, of which Piacenza is part, though I noticed the drought particularly in early-mid fall. This year I don't know. My sense is that it has rarely if ever gotten really wet, sodden wet all this year, and, as I said, the reservoir, which supplies water to our valley, is the lowest I've ever seen (though 2017 may have been even worse: possibly my memory fails me here).

Added: a little more searching brought up monthly precipitation compared with earlier years, for the western Po Plain, probably not diverging too much from what we experience. Rainfall drastically below average for every month of 2022.

For 2021, our rain total was 9.43 ins., but I know we didn't get that much where our house is located.

Ours is a very real drought, and indications are that the coming rain year will be even worse.

Melissa, I think you get some rain in the summer, from what you say about your rain being below average for every month - we have always (even in definitely NON drought years) gotten exactly 0 rain for 6-7 months a year. All of our rain, if any, tends to come Oct - May. I do remember one year in 1967 when it continued to rain a lot and hard, all through June, but it has not done so since then. Now it sounds to me as if you do get some rain in the Summer, which of course will affect how the old roses do. We got a bit (.5 inches) last month in one storm, but nothing since. It is beautiful weather here - cool & crisp in the mornings, and the afternoons sunny and warm, blue skies, temps in the low 80s F. Too much "perfect" weather!

Jackie

Jackie, that's right. Given the drought, I wish it would bring some perfect weather here. Instead it's muggy, warm, and the mosquitos are buzzing and biting. The only good thing is that we don't need to light a fire for heating. In fact, we've once more turned off our hot water. I don't know if this will work for long, or at all, but I'm thinking of turning on the water heater once a week to wash my hair, and so DH can have a warm shower, and then turning it off again. Everybody in Europe is concerned about fuel supplies for this winter.

Here in Tuscany it's bad as well-far too hot and dry,and what I've just read about the forecast is distressing indeed-now they are saying that this awful weather is going to continue into November, that there's no sign of it ending. Truly horrible. I've been putting out plants into the garden, foolishly trusting that the earlier long-term forecast of a normal autumn would be correct-not that I want to keep them in pots; pots need SO much water.

Anymore it seems like whenever they forecast rain, things turn around at the last minute and we're once again stuck in the same sterile rut of heat and drought. Why can't it EVER be the other way around???

Bart, I don't know why it isn't ever the other way around, but we're in exactly the same situation. At least the muggy weather, unlovely in itself, keeps things from drying out too fast. I'm REALLY looking forward to fall, if ever it arrives. Sorry to hear that things are just as bad where you are. We've been planting, too, and are in the same bind. Thank goodness for all the plants put in the ground in previous years, that are now able to fend for themselves without watering.

Sorry to hear about your fuel costs, rosaprimula. I subscribe to The Guardian and have been getting an earful there about UK politics and the fuel situation (crisis) lately. Here I'm hopeful that our household will escape the worst of fuel cost increases, between warm weather, early stocking up, and thrift. It sounds like it's going to be a rough winter for a lot of British, though.

Your bulbs sound lovely. I have a sort of mental embargo on thinking about spring: just can't do it until we have some convincing signs of winter, or fall at least.