The summer without

[Smart Red]

This has certainly been a strange summer here in south-est, central-est Wisconsin. It will go down in MY record books as "THE SUMMER WITHOUT".

First, we have been without normal rainfall. Indeed, we are gripped in severe drought conditions with about 2.6 inches all growing season. Except for the veggie garden and the few other things I've watered, all around me is dry, dead, or showing seasonal signs usually reserved until well into mid-October.

Second, the veggie garden has been without pesty bugs of any kind. Except for one tomato horn worm, there have been zero garden pests or the insect variety to be seen. No Colorado Potato Beetles, no cabbage worms, no squash bugs, no root maggots on the beets, radishes, or carrots, no aphids, no nothing! Well, okay, there were a few Japanese Beetles that found favor with the beans early on, but even they were far fewer than in previous years.

Third, despite the fact that the veggie garden was the only flourishing spot of green on 30 acres, there have been no signs of rabbits, gophers, woodchucks, raccoons, or any other varmints getting into the garden and its produce. I would have though it would entice animals from far and wide.

Fourth, this has been a summer of no fruit! No currants, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, mulberries, cherries or grapes survived the late frosts or dry weather. While there are a few apples and even fewer pears still ripening, they are small, stunted fruits. Free from bugs and good looking if crab apples were what was desired.

Fifth, this has been a summer with very few birds. We do see a few of the sparrows crows, and finches that live here year round, but red-winged blackbirds, threshers, grosbeaks,and even robins have been noticeably absent from the yard much of this summer. One bright spot was that the pair of bluebirds actually fledged three sets of young this summer.

Sixth, few of the perennials scattered throughout the yard have flowered this summer. Most dried and died early on. Some tried to flower, but sent puny partial blossoms that faded more quickly than ever. A few budded out, promising their beauty, but the buds dropped without opening. Even now, my dinner-plate dahlias have few flowers - and those the size of quarters - that cannot even display a full circle of petals.

Seventh, it may be the first year in many that there is no fall garden here. With no rain and few prospects, I'm ready to pull up everything and put the whole idea of a veggie garden to bed for the year.

Eighth, no ticks - I live in the woods and saw only two in April - and no mosquitoes - I saw one outside in April and one inside this August. In all my years before, I've never been able to work as late outside or start as early in the morning without dousing myself with mosquito repellent and with this summer's excessive heat, I've been working in the garden or tucking the chickens to bed later than I'd ever expected. Finally there were no ants - I haven't seen ants or their ant hills at all this summer. Early this spring I dug a couple of ant colonies and treated the chicks to ant larva. Since then I haven't seen a one to displace.

Curious-er and curious-er. I can't have been the only gardener without this summer. . . can I?

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening in zone 4b-5a, newly 5b? -- anyway, Im still in the same spot in south-est, central-est, dry-est Wisconsin

 

[sparks]

I am right there with you Smart Red. Also in WI. My worry is about the trees next year. Mine are dropping leaves like late fall. Hoping for rain this week

 

[Carol Dee]

Very simular here. Moderate to severe drought conditions, very few bugs. We do still have ticks Just ask the dog. And the blue birds are sitting on their 4th clutch! Everything has struggled. We did have a few naughty rabbits that found the beans and tomatoes. Yes it is aobut time to pull up the remnants and start planning for next year.

 

[desertlady]

Not a very good summer here too !

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some experiences were different, some similar. We also had "exceptional" drought. We are still in drought conditions, but at least we've had enough rain that the grass is turning green and some of the trees have broken dormancy.

A lot of my early stuff did really well, but most of my sumer stuff was basically nonexistent, even though I watered. Sweet peppers, eggplant, and okra did OK. I got some early tomatoes. That was about it.

I did not have many problems with insects. I had a blister beetle invasion that really hurt. I think our Japanese beetle grubs were cooked in the ground last summer due to those really hot days. I think I saw three of those all summer. I only found one tomato horn worm all summer. Cabbage moth butterfly worms hurt the second growth broccoli but were not all that bad. Aphids were a little more of a problem than normal, but that was about it for insects with one huge exception I'll get to later.

I had really good plums, grapes, blackberries, blueberries, mulberries, and peaches, but the othe fruit was not that great.

I was the only one watering in this valley, so I had the only green stuff. It did attract grasshoppers in huge numbers. Just walking outside around certain stuff would be like an explosion with huge numbers flying off. They killed my beans by keeping the leaves stripped as they tried to grow new ones. They ate the silks off the corn and even ate the corn kernels that managed to get pollinated. They hurt a lot of other stuff. I used that Semaspore stuff and saw a lot of dead grasshopppers, but realistically it did not make a dent in their numbers. Those grasshoppers really hurt.

I also had problems with rats living in and next to the garden. I've had minor problems with them before, but this year those problems were much more noticeable.

I usually do not have that much of a rabbit problem. Occasional damage but usually nothing more than I can live with. This year I have permanantly removed 16 rabbits from my garden. Every one of those 16 were actually inside the garden fence, some living in there. In spite of all the damage from the grasshoppers, I'll probably remember this one as the year of the rabbit.

 

[lesa]

"The summer without" makes me very nervous. It reminds me of the first chapter of "Silent Spring". We had some severe dry weather and many plants and trees suffered from it. I am afraid compared to the conditions in the midwest, it was nothing. We had a handful of Japanese beetles. Normally, they are a huge problem. If not for watering I would have lost all the veggies. I didn't water the perennial gardens, and they took a hit. Much as I enjoy sunshine- I really missed the rain.

 

[897tgigvib]

Yes Linn B., your writing sounds like the start of a Stephen King story. I sure hope this is not the prelude to a sudden increase of global warming.

 

[baymule]

We had a record breaking drought last year with 100F degrees and higher for 2 straight months. Trees died. Grass died. Gardens died. Trees that took 50-100 years to grow withered and died. Highway crews cut those that were close to the roads and electric high lines. Ranchers sold cattle. Hay was brought in from out of state and hit over $180 for round bales. We finally got rain and are in normal ranges for rainfall this year. It will get better for you.

 

[hiker125]

Weird for us too. I live in the tiny part of IN that wasn't exceptionally drought-ridden this year. However, we have sure had our share of bugs- West Nile Virus is everywhere. I personally two people who have it right now (and they don't know each other!), the ticks were HORRIBLE this year and the fleas, which I have never had before, are almost out of control. I even had a feral swarm take up residence at my house and they are rockin'. Those girls are amazing.

As for the garden- I am going to pull up the stuff that didn't do well and start over with fall crops. With rain several times over the last two weeks, things are greening up, but its just so late in the season.

Hope Springs Eternal- this is why we garden. :coolsun

 

[catjac1975]

Though we want a long time with out rain here in Massachusetts, the drought for my town has diminished so that I have not had to water for a long time. We have had sporadic thunderstorms that dump buckets of water to save my water usage. We are still listed as unusually dry. Because of the intense heat the garden has grown very lush. The only thing that was poor were the green beans. That was only because they went from ripe to over ripe in a very short time from the excessive heat. My second crop is good and I have a third crop coming along. So I have an unlikely great garden this year.