poolz1

You’ve been in a great spot here recently. Seems like that area just south of Frederick has been magnet...my office is just off English Muffin and I know we have received some good rainers that have developed too late for mby. I’ll take a good yard/garden soaker!

A nice soaker setting up overhead. Very slow moving mod/heavy rain band seems to be expanding. 1.33” so far today.

.38” in about 15 minutes when that storm popped overhead. Atmosphere is juiced and ready to deliver. Hoping for an over performer. Love humid/tropical rains.

2 boundaries getting ready to combine over my general area. One moving south from the PA cell and one moving north from the convection to my south. Would love a garden soaker this evening.

98/78 Nice and cool in the creek though...

Wow! Currently 96.5. Didn’t expect that when I checked the weather station. .5 degrees from the highest temp recorded imby from this heatwave.

All the ingredients for a good soaking Monday night. Maybe some convection Monday afternoon to get things primed. Pwats 2”+ with a slow moving front....actually a decent trough digging in . Maybe another early morning nightmare commute on Tuesday morning. Looking forward to ending this heat.

96/79. Hit 97 earlier for a high temp so far.

A nice garden soaker. A few gusts to about 35-40 and .56” in the gauge. Plenty of thunder and lightning. All in all this was one of the better storms of the season.

A little bit of breeze from an approaching storm has backed temps down to 87 already. Thunder in the distance...

I’ve never felt like my weather station has been inaccurate. Sometimes I feel like the dew pt can be a few degree too high but not all of the time. I question this reading a little just due to the obs near the metros. Which are usually warmer than me. But, here is the current obs at home. 95/77/111

I don’t disagree with any of those cons to not tilling. Here is the key, IMO....the constant addition of organic material to a piece of ground will create that “relatively “ loose soil that is optimal for root structure. The maintaining of an organic ground covering prevents scorched earth and promotes a healthy population of earthworms and other insects which further enhances healthy soil and a non compacted soil....not to mention the preservation of the microorganisms by not tilling. Go into a hardwood forest and stick a shovel in the ground...it’s easy digging for the first 10-12” (besides the roots). This takes time to cultivate but a healthy balance can be achieved. I have yet to water any of my gardens this year and the production has been plentiful. In no way am saying one approach is better than the other. I have just found that the time and elbow grease involved in managing 3 large gardens has been greatly reduced with this method. We have been able to achieve 100% organic by stopping the constant fight against nature....but it has taken time and many fails.

I have implemented a no till approach to our gardens for the past 3yrs and the health has returned. I think there are pros and cons to tilling. The idea of mimicking large scale farming in home gardens is not necessary, imo. Mappy’s winter time brush pile is the key....if she didn’t till, I would thing she would have same results come summertime. Mimicking the forest floor > mimicking large scale farming.

I use the plopper regularly during the summertime. It has been very successful for both smallmouth bass and largemouth. On Saturday I hit the reservoir that is just north of Cumberland Maryland and was able to snag 8 nice largemouth on the plopper as the sun was coming up. It is definitely my go to lure for early morning and late evening fishing.

Missed the deluge at home... 1.44" overnight. But man, Frederick was a monsoon this morning.

Slow movers over CMD starting to expand and merge with that complex in PA drifting SE. Hoping that convergence drifts west. Somebody is going to soaked...

A bit disappointed after returning home from vacation. Hornworms decimated 6 of our tomato plants....still have 8 healthy plants but the ones that were eaten were full of green tomatoes when we left. On the menu this evening... potato salad with red and green onions and herbs, green beans sautéed with shallots and a tomato/cucumber salad . All from the garden... chicken on the grill to top it off.

.53" for the week. Would have been a shutout if not for a random overnight storm earlier in the week. PA continues its streak...

Not a drop here but the view of the storms to the east was awesome with the setting sun. Crappy cellphone shot... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

With leopard slugs like this roaming around it's no wonder I don't have any cabbage plants left. On a positive note, it's been a banner herb season so far. Drying oregano, parsley and dill. My wife also made a large batch of pesto to freeze. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Agreed. I’m always down for a good soaker but I’ve been watching this system like a hawk. Between work and family it’s tough to schedule an 2 day float for smallmouth. This weekend has been planned for a while. Really hoping for a bust....especially in PA. The trend has been to shift the heaviest rains east like you said. You can see it on radar already. Just need to keep amounts below .30 and the rivers will be prime Saturday morning.

That’s a great resource...much appreciated. I don’t think I have anything to lose by applying a sulfur based fungicide throughout the summer. If I can limp them along until fall I can then be proactive next spring. Apparently, it affects peach trees as well...which I have 3 new peach trees in close proximity. No sign of the fungus yet though. Thanks again...

Any fruit growers in here? From what I gathered from researching this look like “apple scab.” A fungus that starts in the early spring but has recently just reared it’s ugly head on 80 percent of our apple tree leaves. My question is, is it worth treating with a natural fungicide now or is it too late? That’s the question I a, having a hard time finding the answer to.

Man! I have tried the beer in shallow dishes with no success. I did read that different beers produce different results....they dont like any Flying Dog beers, thats for sure. Would have thought the high yeast content would have attracted them. Fortunately they just like the dark greens...summer veggies aren't affected.

Slugs are still an issue even with the wood chips idea this year. Tried yeast traps, crushed up seashells (don’t tell my kids) and a few other natural repellents with no success. The only thing that has worked is manual removal over the past 10 days. I’ve probably removed 50+ slugs so far but each night there are less and less. They have damaged half my cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels. Pretty frustrating. Think I’ll go with netting next year. Someone should start the annual lawn and garden thread.