Rain!!!!

Hmm.  The weather is definitely topsy turvy here.  The last few weeks of June/beginning of July had severe heat.  Now we are getting rain.  Normally we get rain through the end of June and then very little until the end of August.  But if it helps break the high heat wave, I have no complaints at all.  Especially since my plants seem to be very happy.  All of the plants are flowering more and the vining plants have had some serious growth the last couple of days.  And of course, the rain barrel is full.

I'm looking forward to making more rain barrels.  Although honestly, most of the rest of them will most likely be made from 200 gallon ag tanks.  40 to 50 gallons just isn't a lot in the scheme of things when you are trying to keep a garden alive through a drought.  And while the area isn't in drought, the weather in July and August is typically drought type weather.  So I need a good stash of water to help me keep the garden going without running up the water bill.  I'm not looking forward to seeing June's water bill.

And I found some instructables (www.instructables.com) that I'm going to try out.  One if for making an earthbox out of a 55 gallon drum.  The other is for making a wooden planter out of a 55 gallon drum.  I'm planning on combining the two when I figure out how to do the wood part without making holes in the barrels.  I've got a couple of ideas perking for that.  They would be great planters for the mints I have, and a few other enthusiastic herbs. 

So the rain is keeping me indoors.  And today we ran to Aldi's grocery store for a good sale.  So I have 26 pints of chicken for the canner and the dehydrator is working on the watermelon I bought a few weeks ago.  The dehydrator is about to be running for a couple of weeks again.  After I get both watermelons finished, I have 4 honeydew melons to dry.  And by then I'll probably have something else to go in it.  I'm thinking about trying a small batch of watermelon rind pickles.

I'm still thinking on the A/C drainage thing.  And right now, to be honest, my brain is leaning towards attaching a Y and two soaker hoses.  One hose to the gardens on either side.  Right now the beds are plants I don't really care for but hopefully next year I'll get around to overhauling those beds.  They are in deep shade so I'll be working out plants that will survive better there.  I know that at least one of the ground covers will be wild ginger.  Regular ginger will probably be another.

Anyways, I'm off to empty the cooling shelf off.  There will soon be jars coming out of the canner that will need that space.  I hope you are getting the weather you need.  I know I'm glad that we are.