Replies

Definitely coffee time!

So yesterday was going to be ‘clean up’ the dead cuke vines & some other plants that have succumbed to our latest dry spell (after 4-5 inches of rain in a weeks and a half). It’s been a weather roller coaster. The next part of the plan was to plant some radishes & kale and do general clean-up around the fire pit - last night was cool enough for a fire. I did pick all the ripe Celebrities (still got some green ones) and for late season tomatoes, they’re beautiful - not one case of blossom end rot this season and no ‘monkey face’. I think the new way I staked the tomatoes, that gave them more room and air flow, had a lot to do with some really nice tomatoes this year.

BUT .... my plans were interrupted with a text around 9 am ... my 2nd great-nephew (he’s #4 - 2 great-nieces & 1 great-nephew already) was trying to make his appearance. That sort of took over the day ... couldn’t do a darn thing. I did ferry the folks around on some errands, dad in the am, mom in the afternoon, with my phone close at hand. Somewhere between 5 & 5:30, he arrived! He’s looking good - as my SIL said “he’s long, skinny, loud, with big feet”. Nice weight at 7 lbs 8 oz. He does have very long feet & a fantastic set of lungs! Both parents are tall, so he looks like he’s going to be “a long drink of water” as well. He’ll be going home early this evening, assuming all continues to go well - his parents are exhausted (more of that coming in the future for sure!) so hope they got some sleep last night. My nephew’s MIL is here & will be spending the next week to help out.

Temps have been in the 80’s & still some humidity - the cool, crisp Fall breezes aren’t here yet. Rain supposed to move in today, but maybe before it arrives, I can do some of the things I wanted to do yesterday.

I too lost quite a bit to the dry sandy soil in North Carolina.

So I’m putting together a plan to avoid this in the future.

1. Soaker hoses under mulch to stop evaporation.

2. Increasing the compost and humis in the soil to hold more moisture in our sandy soil.

3. Putting several 300 gallon containers on the hill to collect rainwater. We are on municipal water and the water and sewer combined cost is over $17 per thousand gallons. (Sewer is based upon water meter inflow)

4. Building dams and water flow routes in the garden soil to preserve rainwater runoff.

Any additional ideas are welcome.