Re: [gardeners] Rain!!!
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 15 Aug 1999 01:05:52 -0400
Margaret, we Master Gardners also recommend watering lawns
an inch a week all at one time -- or twice a week under the
desparate heat and drought we have had. And yet again and again
we see the sprinkler systems turned on daily, for 15 minutes.
What is worst is if we are out at 6pm, or 7pm, driving somewheres,
so many people have portable lawn sprinklers turned on -- and
that only adds to the fungus problems. Last week I cornered my
neighbor and boxed his ears soundly for having his automatic
sprinkler system come on at 4pm every day. The ridiculous part
is that he has been wasting 70% of the water to evaporation with
this timing. He promised to obey...<g>...
We're now on a severe storm watch with a big front slowly moving
in, so we've done what we could to protect ourselves -- taken all
9 big garbage pails into the garage, and brought in the hanging
plants. Jimmie wanted us to go out and tie back or brace the
naturally weak branches on the redbud tree, but I reminded him that
last month we tried every which way and could not get a rope thru a
hose section to hold at all -- they simply slide up. Too bad.
The one damage which is already obvious is to the 42 inch tall
bright yellow and orange marigolds. The weight of the rain has
fractured every single stem, and the big pompoms all hang down
irretrievably. It has not hurt the cleomes, nor the gladioli, or the
zinnias, salvias or anything else -- just the showy marigolds.
The tall dahlias are well staked up, so they should escape harm.
As a matter of fact, the marigolds are also well staked -- so they
don't fall over, just the individual flower stems get fractured. Pity..
Penny, NY
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