Dude, Where’s My Rain?
September 30, 2010
Matt in the garden wondering 'dude, where's my rain?'
I just finished my third summer in Virginia, and I can safely say that this was by far the hottest of the three. Even more of an issue for our garden, it was also extremely dry.
How dry? According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration*, from June 1 to September 23, Charlottesville (10 miles from the farm) received 6.17 inches of rainfall…total. On average, it receives about 17 inches during roughly the same time period. Contrast this with the several feet of snow we received from December to February.
The dry summer has yielded brown, crunchy grass, and young trees showing signs of stress (just like grad students). (more…)