Thursday, July 26, 2012

Drought in the Midwest

The apple mint section of the herb garden
We had a few very small episodes of rain go through last week, just enough to help the grass in shady areas.

The picture below is what the grass looks like next to the garden, which is in direct sunlight.


The zinnias continue to flower although they are obviously under great stress.



The tomato plants are alive because I water like crazy each day but the tomatoes are not growing any bigger.  They are mostly golf ball size!

I understand this is because of excessive heat as well as drought.  It's definitely a one-two punch as heat breeds drought which then brings more heat.


The excessive heat is also responsible for crackly kale.


Don't the pole beans look nice from a distance (pictured below)?  It is very deceiving. 

What I understand from reading the newspaper... there are no green beans growing in the area.  Like my pole beans, the plant would flower beautifully and then the flower would wither and die.  It never provided one green bean.

I am only keeping the pole bean alive to hopefully provide shade to the nasturtium plants which have survived so far.  Half of them were fried by the heat and had to be removed.  My hope is that once we have cooler weather, the remaining nasturtiums will flower again.


Normally the picture below would include lots of mature bush beans as well as newly planted seedlings.  The bush beans gave us a few handfuls of green beans and then almost overnight they all died.

I decided against planting more seeds given the circumstances.


While the drought is killing crops everywhere, even flowers on the deck are showing signs of great distress due to the 100+ heat.


Remember when it looked like this?


The Corn Belt is a disaster...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

How awful! I am sorry about your garden. I hope you get some rain soon. the weather is so unusual this year. We have a tornado watch today! Long Islanders are more used to hurricane watches, which usually weaken and become tropical storms.

Dee

Susan Humeston said...

That just about drives me to tears.

mdoe37 said...

We're just getting a bit of rain here too. . . more in about 1-1/2 hours. (Michigan) Zuchinnis are producing some (enough for me anyway). I just picked the first planting of green beans (Contender). I'm not convinced I'll have much of a second picking though. The second planting of beans didn't even come up, the replant is up now about three inches. I'll plant another 1/2 pound this weekend. I won't be able to can much though. Sweet corn looks okay although the ears are not large. I should have known it was going to be an off year -- I actually have a good catch of beets and carrots -- which never grow otherwise!

Anonymous said...

It looks the same here in Iowa. Scorched lawns, gardens,and flowers. We keep the potted plants going, but lawns & gardens are a bust. Nothing much at farmers market either and generally at this time of year we are stuffing ourselves with fresh produce. I'm sure the farmers are going to loose at harvest. Cornfields are cracked. Troubled times are ahead! Corinne

Marge said...

Brenda, here in Minnesota we are about in the same situation. We have not one green bean. Not one. We planted bush and pole varieties. We have gotten no lettuce. The peppers are done for. Had a couple of meals of snap peas and then they died. I am getting cukes and zucchini. Our tomato plants have a ton of tomatoes, but they get bottom rot as they ripen. What a disaster this gardening season has been.

Vee said...

It is distressing, especially so for all of you affected by this — two-thirds of the country. We'll all be affected by it before it's over. Everything looks pretty well gone, except for the beans, which you explained are like the fig tree Jesus cursed. We are getting more rain...today and for the next four. Seems as though something is very skewed in the atmosphere. Courage... the Lord is not surprised by these circumstances and He is still in charge, especially true for those who put their trust in Him. Is it time to head out and visit New England?

Anonymous said...

What a shame. This summer has been so weird weatherwise. We finally got some badly needed rain last night. Felt like doing the 'rain chant.' :)
The patio plants might do better inside out of the sun for now. Still like the little chickens though.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Brenda, this is beyond sad. And zinnias are so tough. They make me realize how bad it is there. We've been very hot and dry (though not to compare with Indiana) but today we got a fair amount of rain, and some was the longer soaking sort of rain which is so much better. I hope you get rain soon....You don't have any old net curtains, like the ones my mother called "glass curtains" do you? You might use something like that to shade your most important plants.......I am so sorry. Praying for rain for you all!

Anonymous said...

up in northern MN, we finally got some rain this week. its been a rough month or so here as well. from flooding, to near drought conditions. praying for our neighbors around the country suffering from this heat/drought.
in Christs Love...lynne

Judy said...

I am sorry you are dealing with this.This brings my Australian (my home of origin) droughts to mind. So very hard to watch your little plot shrivel. Six years ago when we visited Brisbane, their city reservoirs were dangerously low, and family were saving all vegetable cooking water, bath water, and they kept buckets in the shower to catch the excess, all in an attempt to keep the garden plants alive. The grass looked like yours but is remarkably hardy - after several years of minimal rain, it all came back when the rains eventually did.
Oh that the nations would turn to the Lord and plead His grace.

Front Porch Grace said...

Praying and will continue...

By his Grace,
Michelle