Today was rained out. Too wet to do fieldwork. A few hours of heavy clouds and on-and-off rain followed by brief periods of semi-blue skies, followed by more clouds and rain. The free irrigation is excellent, as I’ve already started to water in new seedings in the field. But—there’s almost always a “but”—a lot of cloudy weather, not enough sunlight, slows things down. A week of mainly clouds, which is what the forecast predicts right now, means noticeably slower germination and growth. It’s not complaining, it’s just observing the balance between sunlight, water and temperature, hoping for the right mix for the vegetables that’s pretty hard to come by!
rain
Wetness warning
Pretty sure today’s was the first heavy rainfall alert of the year. It’s still early March! Is it worth asking what happened to April showers bring May flowers, and in March you can still go…skiing? The weather warning isn’t all that dramatic: chance of 25-40 mm of rain (about 1-1½”), with uncertainty about where exactly that might happen in the greater region. It started raining here earlier, light nd steady. Not worrisome, but still weird…
Water from the barrel
Rainwater upgrade: We only turned over this rain barrel yesterday, set bottom up for winter to keep empty in order to avoid frozen water expansion cracking the plastic, and it rained overnight. A little rain, a fair-sized collection area (roof with eavestrough), the law of gravity, and presto, the first seedling water of the season from just outside the door, a lot handier than having to haul it over in 50 lb jugs from the well pump in the barn, a bit of a hike away. Modern conveniences!
Tiny Farm vs Elton John
Tiny Farm vs Elton John: Senior rock star has decided to take his tour to smaller towns. It’s 7 a.m. in the on and off pouring rain, and we’re set up a few feet from a half dozen semis and a few tour buses that make up the Sir Elton tour caravan, loading into the local arena. Several of the buses are idling indefinitely, sending a low rumble under the rain. Around half of the farmers’ market area of the parking lot got appropriated for tour parking, forcing us to shove together in the remaining space. Lotsa grumbling…but that’s rock’n’roll, right?! (Update: That night, voice lost, he canceled. Oh well.)
Rain barrel runneth over
The Weather recently: three weeks of hot-no-rain, followed by a couple of days of intense rain, 2″ each, then, three days of sweltering heat wave, a couple more days of intense 2″ rain, now, three days of perfect balmy summer, with the forecast for the next few days calling for cool to cold and cloudy. The rain barrels filled up several times over (the pic is from the last bout of heavy rain, three days ago). Interesting!
Pea vs drought
Pea vs drought: Sad and scary when plants die from lack of water. Seems way worse to me than being ravaged by pests. Kinda makes you realize how vulnerable we are. This isn’t a full-on drought, just an extended dry spell with no rain for a couple of weeks and counting. Most crops are doing fine, and only a few shallowly buried peas are getting toasted, so really, it’s all good!
Rain watch begins
The season’s weekly rain watch begins. Weeks start on Monday. The big 25 on the rain gauge is the magic 25mm/1″ mark, the rule-of-thumb ideal for a week—an inch of slow and steady rain over a few hours, and of course all the rest, sunshine, that’s just…beautiful. A 1/2″ is an OK minimum for a bit. More than an inch a week ongoing for a while can be troublesome, depending on the crop and stage its—disease, small seed washed out, bigger seed rotting, whatnot, it is all possible :)—and it does occasionally happen. So far this week, 18mm here and 20mm total, so, doing fine!