The Drought We're In

August 7 & 9, 2011

It's been an extreme summer! We broke high temperature records (three digits high temperature everyday since early July) and had 0 inch of rain in July and to-date August. The rain that we got on the grapes picking day (July 25th, 2011) was not worth to be recorded.

Pastures turn brown, no hay to bale. Hay price goes up to $100/bale! We sold ours last year with average price of $30-$35 / bale.

Prickly pears sprouting on the pasture. Something that hasn't happened in the past 20 years at least.

The water level on the pond has receded down about 3 feet.

Extremely low water level on the pond. We're glad the the lotus has been coming back although not as lushly as couple years ago.

© Burke's Garden Blog, 2011.

Grapes Picking Day

July 25, 2011.

We decided that it's time to pick the grapes, so we did.

We harvested two out of four rows of grapevines we grow.

The age of the vines that were making grapes are about 3-4 years old vines.

The other two rows were the ones we planted this year

so they're not old enough to produce grapes.

The state of the grapes when picked.

Our helper picking away.

The white wine grape, Blanc Du Bois, didn't do

as well as the Black Spanish grapes this year,

maybe they need more time to mature before producing more grapes.

A label of Blanc Du Bois fell off of a vine.

We're going to grow grapes using our own cutting

next year.

The clouds that gave us some shade and kept the temperature

slightly more bearable started to break out.

The high temperature was 107˚F that day.

A basketful of Black Spanish grapes or Lenoir,

the approved grape variety name for American wine.

The harvest from 1.5 rows of grapevines when

we were taking a break (about 75% of the whole harvest).

We used all the coolers and baskets we have to contain the grapes,

laundry baskets included.

Gorgeous, healthy cluster of grapes.

We had rain after the picking was done, not a lot,

just enough to keep the dust down

and put out this unusual color on the sky and landscape.

That was the last rain we had, there's no more rain since then.

We're in an extreme drought this year.

© Burke's Garden Blog, 2011.

Golden Celebration 2011

July 1st, 2011.

One third of summer and half of the year 2011 has gone. Now we're facing even hotter weather the rest of this season before it gets cooler. We got quite a good rain yesterday, it sure gave a big relief to a lot of plants, and also humans, and animals. Our pet dog soaked up all the rain, laying on bermuda grass in the rain, until thunders and lightnings started to roar. Anyway, it's the 4th of July weekend. Enjoy, everyone!

Golden Celebration, a David Austin climbing rose.

© Burke's Garden Blog, 2011.

Much Needed Rain

June 21, 2011.

We finally got some rain after long hot (high around 100s˚F) and dry spell since around mid May.

The wet patio during the rain in the morning.

Baskets of fresh tomatoes and squashes are laying around

on the patio.

We've been busy making and canning tomato sauce.

© Burke's Garden Blog, 2011.

Weather

April 4, 2011.

The long awaited rain is finally pouring this early morning, along with thunder, lightning, and mothball size hail. The wind picked up yesterday afternoon with very strong gusts blowing loose stuff around the garden and it went on until today evening. Here's the view from the front porch yesterday afternoon when the gust were just blowing (see the flag). Petunias in the hanging pot looked extremely pretty and the Ajanica pacifica comes back very strongly as always.

©Burke's Garden, 2011.

Heavy Frost & Hibiscus

We got heavy frost on Sunday morning that turned the grass white and light brown, while in our little green house a tropical hibiscus was blooming.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Goodbye to Garden

The killing frost has come

I say goodbye to garden

See you back in spring

© Burke's Garden, 2009

Visibility Limited

Day time has become shorter and shorter. Sunrise today was at 7.00 am and sunset 5.19 pm. These pictures were taken one hour after sunrise this foggy morning when the sun was reaching the bald black walnut branches.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Meaty Mushroom & Wintry Weather

Found this colony of mushroom in the pasture. They're beautiful and look meaty. I wonder if they're edible. We had the first rain in the month last night along with thunder storm, then the cold wind blew quite hard bringing down the temperature to the 50˚Fs.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

A Wet Fall

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

One Fall Day

October 22, 2009.

We've got another spell of rain (the 3rd or 4th in the month) that brings the total rainfall to 9.6 in. This time the ground has already been all soaked with water and the creek level rises fast. It's fun in a way that our landscape changes with the increment of water level. It's like having a new big lake in the yard for one or two days.

~~~

Falling leaves.

Mushrooms sprouting.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.

Here Comes the Fog

Less than an hour later after the sun went down, the fog settles in.

Angel's Trumpet is loaded.

Its sweet fragrance fills the air at the end of the day.

© Burke's Garden, 2009.