Thursday, October 12, 2023

ORCHARD AFTER THE DROUGHT


Last week, it rained all night....and at 8am the next morning, this was the radar...


...and at noon, this was the radar again.  The red pin is the farm.  We ended up with about 2 inches of rain.  The ground was too wet to mow last weekend and hadn't grown that much, but it sure is all greening up.

But in the end, all this rain after the drought has been great for the yard and plants.

Things greened up but the newly planted apple tree is confused.  Blooms???  I plucked them off of course but too funny.  Even nature is confused, ha.


The fig tree was looking horrible all Summer and at one point, dropped all its leaves and was just some sticks sticking up out of the ground.  We almost gave up on it, but now it's looking pretty good.


However, we lost a blueberry bush.  This was the weekend before and we were hoping the rain would bring it back but nope.  Dead.  Still dead.  Thankfully. this isn't one of the two varieties that gave us so many this past Spring, this is one of the other two that didn't fruit this year.  It's definitely dead, the branches just break off with no green at all.  Not sure it was the drought/heat as the other one like it is still doing pretty well.  Maybe this one was just weaker for some reason.  We'll have to look for another variety either like it or maybe just try another blueberry.


On the plus side with fruiting bushes, the Gogi berry bush, still on the porch and not in the ground, is covered in blooms.  Since it's not in the ground and we don't have to worry about root development, we'll let the blooms continue and see what develops.

We are thankful for the rain we've had, though I did  enjoy having the Summer off from mowing in the oppressive heat.  I should have some good mowing to do this weekend for sure!

8 comments:

  1. We have things green up months after we give up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right? That does happen. We'll see how this goes. May just wait to next Spring and see what happens.

      Delete
  2. What a difference some rain makes!
    Sorry about the dead blueberry bush. The heat was so high that it literally cooked some plants.
    With the cool front coming in tonight, it should be a gorgeous weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my the weekend was SOOOO perfect wasn't it? So many plants died everywhere. It was a brutal Summer (and Spring actually). We'll probably just leave it alone till next Spring.

      Delete
  3. Due to the high triple digit temperatures, I also lost a couple of plants. The sun just baked them and they where in the afternoon shade.
    Sad that you lost a blueberry bush. It may have had some sort of virus. BlScV is an aphid-transmitted virus.
    Make sure when you do Any trimming of trees, etc. is to clean and sterilize/ disinfect your gardening tools each and every time you get done with one cutting /trimming of a tree, Before moving on to the next, as you can transmit a virus from one to another without cleaning up your cutters after each and every use. Make sure they are cleaned up again before putting them away.

    You never know; you just may get some green shoots coming up from the root system of that blueberry bush.
    The one plant that we had thought died during the heat; I cut it down to almost ground level and I am now getting a green shoot that has come up. Sometimes we just have to be patient and see what what happens.
    Wishing you all the best of luck with the remainder of your trees.
    Have a wonderful and enjoyable weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Forgot to ask you how your pear tree that your electric company had you trim down, is coming along.
      Oh, forgot to mention; once you are all done using your garden tools, including your spade or anything that you use for gardening; put in a bucket of sand. It prevents oxygen and moisture from reaching the metal and causing rust.
      I use a 5 gal. Home Depot bucket and fill about 1/2 full with sand and stick my garden tools in.(any bucket will do)

      Delete
    2. Thanks, we will check out that article you sent. And yes, good reminder for everyone about the tools. So easy to spread illnesses. We will be patient on that one. Like I said the Fig tree was just barren sticks and now it looks like that. And the pomegranate last Winter/Spring looked dead but now it's growing like gangbusters. Patience!! :-)

      Delete
    3. What a great tip about the bucket, we have several 5 gallon buckets that need a new use, ha. And funny you mentioned the pear that we pruned I was going to get a picture of it for an update. I'll do that this weekend. :-)

      Delete

Please leave us a comment! I have some comment moderation on and of course will approve your comment relatively quickly. We love feedback and hearing what others have to share with us all. Please know that I can't always reply to it right away, but ALL comments are read. I will reply just as soon as I can so be sure to come back and see my reply.

Now, let us hear from you!