{"id":301,"date":"2010-08-23T09:37:45","date_gmt":"2010-08-23T13:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mymontys.com\/wordpress\/?p=301"},"modified":"2010-08-23T09:37:45","modified_gmt":"2010-08-23T13:37:45","slug":"anatomy-of-a-drought-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wordpress.mymontys.com\/?p=301","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy of a Drought pt.1"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Optimism of Spring is quickly, cruelly crushed by the reality of Autumn<\/em>.\u00a0 —\u00a0dpr\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0And with that quote, so begins my fall. All that I had hoped to accomplish this summer in my lawn and in my garden is now face to face with the reality of what happened this season.\u00a0 My harvest has been acceptable, but just barely.\u00a0I put up several quarts of cucumbers,\u00a0I have tomatoes waiting in canning jars for some fall stews and pastas, my potatoes will wait in their earthen tombs until I get a hankering for\u00a0them, but all in all the performance was lack luster. Sure, thanks to Monty’s my results were better than most in the area, but still not nearly what I had anticipated in those days of spring when\u00a0I assaulted the earth with my hoe and seed packets. As for my lawn, the work I had done to rid\u00a0it of weeds fell apart. Sure I was the only lawn without the plague of dandelions, and my Bermuda grass strengthened in the areas where it was already growing, but that is small consolation when you compare it to the bevy of crab grass clumps now growing where\u00a0fescue once thrived.<\/p>\n

I have talked the whole thing over with my county extension agent. Bottom line, my planning, optimism, and hard work were brought to naught by our drought.\u00a0Again, small consolation, but I am in the same boat with everyone in the country except for New\u00a0Mexico and Iowa, who, for some reason in the russian roulette called weather, received an abundance of moisture this season.<\/p>\n

The only saving grace is that what we experienced this year can prepare us for next year, or the next time we encounter similar circumstances.<\/p>\n

In order to do that, we must understand our enemy; in this case drought.<\/p>\n

So here are some quick lessons about drought and plant response:<\/p>\n

Drought-<\/strong> drought is defined as a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall particularly one that negatively affects growing or living conditions.\u00a0 Sometimes drought symptoms occur because of a dry period, at other times you may be receiving normal rainfall, but are experiencing unusually hot temperatures. \u00a0So you are getting your traditional rainfall, just not enough to support the additional heat units. In this scenario, you may not be in a \u2018drought\u2019 climatologically but it is all the same to the plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drought is not death-<\/strong> Many people assume that if their lawn or plants turn brown that they are ‘dead’.\u00a0 This is not necessarily, or even usually, the case.<\/p>\n

Learn to speak \u2018plant\u2019 –<\/strong> Drought response occurs in stages and by understanding the stages we can determine how best to react to preserve our precious plants. Everything a plant does is telling us something, from \u201ceverything\u2019s okay so I\u2019m growing and producing like expected\u201d to \u201cI need some help, here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Understanding your plants response to drought –<\/strong> The wilting and eventually browning that you see is actually a fascinating plant response aimed at preserving life in the plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n