A glance at the garden

last year

Recently I decided that if I wanted them to survive I needed to water some of the roses planted last fall, and set DH to assembling the hoses required. This morning I was down to look at hoses and beds, and, while the hoses still don't reach, the state of the roses is reassuring. They're all still alive. There's a nasty colony of Bermuda grass in the area which, before I broke my arm, I had been pulling and cutting, along with a host of other weeds. This mulch has helped retain a bit of moisture and keep the ground softer, making it easier to pull resprouting grass: a fine case of seething the kid in its mother's milk.

We haven't had any significant rain since around early July, if I remember correctly, and there's none in the week's forecast; after that, maybe, though I've learned not to believe in a forecast of rain until it's actually coming down. Temperatures are forecast to start falling from their current high in the high nineties around this weekend, though still pretty warm. The house is reasonably comfortable, and I believe groundwater supplies are all right, owing to heavy rains in spring, and summer showers up in the mountains, though they didn't reach us. But they feed the reservoir.

I'm counting the days until my cast comes off--less than two weeks!--and slowly giving up on my gardener. I hope he's okay. I need to find someone to continue his work: he did a lot while he was on the job.

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Comments (8)

jerijen
last year
I can't remember when we had SIGNIFICANT rain, but I think we had SOME rain back in March.
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
last year
I am so glad the roses are still alive, Melissa. I cut my Clementina Carbonieri down to one cane as it was dying. I repaired a plugged emitter and am hoping for new basals. I'm not sure if it was the heat or a failure of irrigation that afflicted the plant.

Where there is life, there is hope. Rain comes again here in October probably. We have not had rain since April.
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Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
Original Author
last year
Sheila, I know your annual rainfall is far lower than ours, so no irrigation is likely not an option. Don't know about where Jeri lives. My CC has come unwatered and undamaged through temps of around a hundred, possibly higher: my guess is it's not heat (but I'd be glad to hear others on the subject). It was a mature plant, over a decade old. I hope yours comes back.

I must confess that I'm glad that I'm likely to see rain before October. I'm no fan of endless summer. Thanks for the good wishes: it was a pleasure to see even the youngest and smallest roses still hanging on. Possibly they were helped by the protection offered by the vigorous hedge at their back.
jerijen
last year
Melissa -- I'm in coastal Southern California. We are quite used to doing without rain after April, but we are in worse shape than normally. Worse, groundwater levels are falling, and the Colorado River (a source of water for us) is diminishing.
Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
Original Author
last year
Jeri, ouch. We've been through prolonged droughts, too: you have my sympathies, and best wishes for abundant rains when they do begin.
User
last year
Mine, too, Jeri. I can't "like" your post,because it's so upsetting,but I wish you the best-also to you, Sheila, and Melissa..
jerijen
last year
last modified: last year
We pray for rain, really do.

And of course, right now, we have fires all over the map. :-(
Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
Original Author
last year
No fires here. Yet. They're my great nightmare.

Temperatures are forecas to start dropping on Monday. Rain, I don't know.

The last couple of days, I've worked a bit in the garden, including watering yesterday, thank goodness! I'm still sparing my broken arm, of course, but I think it's a sign of healing that I want to be out doing among the plants. My arm feels a lot better when I'm physically occupied than when I'm standing still; the cast is less uncomfortable, or I just don't think about it.