Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[jvls1942]

well, we got our storm. at about nine PM the power blinked
off and on. thunder and lightning and rain and hail.
no satt tv for about an hour so far.
the strange thing is the constant lightning and constant rolling thunder.
I have never seen anything like this.

 

[Callender Girl]

There was a severe thunderstorm watch here until 10 p.m. last night. Predictions of wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour and hail as big as 2.5 inches. What happened? Nothing! A little lightning off to the east, but not even a drop of rain.

Good work on the rain barrel project, Jim. MAYBE this year, I'll get the rain barrel I bought five years ago installed.

Guess I won't be sharing any eggplant recipes with you or Lisa! I will keep my vile veggie dishes to myself .

My sister, who's pretty good with a chain saw, came up yesterday. After dinner last night, we took down the dead parts of the arborvitae by the deck. Truth be told, it kind of looks like a bonsai now. But, it was here when I bought the place, and I hate to remove the entire thing.

It's hard for me to give up on plants or animals. Lots of stubborn Irish ancestry, at least that's what my mom always blamed.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Like always everything went around us. We got a few dribbles. We are getting so dry here. So frustrating.

 

[jvls1942]

sorry to hear that, makes me feel ashaamed to
report how much we got.
I had a 55 gal barrel setting on the lawn, there
was three inches of water in it.
we had more rain after midnight.
your day will come\

bro Dave came today and we finished up in about an hour.
went to menard's for a down spout. sold out.. I bought
the elbows anyhow. don't want them sold out when I go
get the downspout later on.
I can work on the two 55 gallon barrels in the mean time.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Looks great Jim. That's an impressive total for rain. At least some people are getting some. Hate for all the crops in the state to have problems. Certainly don't need another reason for the price of corn and feeds to go up again.

Husband said there was a coyote standing in our yard this morning. Don't need that hanging around.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We finally got a small amount of rain today. It's something. Like these temperatures too. Getting a few cucumbers and green beans out of the garden now. My first crop of corn is starting to tassel.

 

[Callender Girl]

Rained HARD this morning. Nearby Gowrie got 2.75 inches, my rain gauges showed more than 2 inches.

My green beans aren't as far along as yours, Lisa. But the hard rain washed away some of the dirt near my potatoes. I was thinking the plants look like they're dying back, and sure enough, I could see the tops of some nice-sized potatoes after the rain. I gently recovered them and will probably dig up tomorrow.

Cherry tomatoes are producing well, and the full-sized ones are plentiful, big and green.

 

[jvls1942]

I set a barrel under the downspout. with the drizzle and
some modest rain, I collected a half barrelful.
I had to dump it in order to work on the base for the barrels.
I got the base finished this morning.
went grocery shopping with Annie. while I was waiting for
her to get finished, I figured out a less complicated down
spout route to get water to the barrels. will save me
a few dollars on elbows.
I have tomatoes on the late planted vines already.
So far I have not had to pump water to water them.
Using the warm water from the barrel seems to make a difference.

 

[jvls1942]

it is raining again. not hard, like the weatherman predicted.
I dug out some old rain gutters and down spouts that I should
have tossed out years ago. It is a different style, but after fiddling with
it for about an hour, I think I can make the downspout work.
I will find out tomorrow.

 

[jvls1942]

I finished the rain barrels today, . just about fifteen
minutes before a small thunderstorm came through.
I collected over a half barrel of water.
what good timing for a test run, eh ?