The Drought

Some years are drier than others, so we had a plan in case of a drought. A gas-powered pump was purchased to transfer water from this old well in a low spot up to the garden beds above. Alas, the well is dry. Last year it was full of clear water. On to Plan B...

Pumping water up from the pond. I'm afraid that, too, is nearly dry. Barely enough water in there for the tadpoles and salamanders. On to Plan C...

...filling up jugs of water from home. This gets old very fast. Yesterday I made 3 trips, taking about 4 hours, applying 25 gallons per trip. The day before was 2 trips, and there were other trips as needed when plants began wilting and losing their leaves.


It doesn't work very well, but has saved most of the plants so far. We added organic material to the soil last year, which stores lots of moisture. Unfortunately, once it's bone dry, it also takes a lot more water to penetrate the soil. It seemed like I watered this area really well, but just scratch the surface and it's still bone dry. This can perk up a wilted plant, but it's wilting again the next day.

Watering efforts have focused on the Butterfly Bed and certain plants along the slope. This one hasn't had any help, and it shows. Earlier in the year the slope was always moist, even if it had been weeks since the last rain, due to water seeping from the hillside. No more seepage these days!
Or this one.

The Sensitive Fern is usually pretty tough to kill (this fern was growing here naturally), but this dry spell has been tough.

We're working on Plan D: Dropping off a holding tank up above the garden along the old drive that once serviced the swimming pool. In the meantime, everyone do a rain dance please!