Drought comes to New Jersey
Based on that report this would be a good time to curtail lawn watering. Why wait until it becomes a bigger problem?
Actually, IMHO, the only time lawn watering is justified is when the lawn is newly installed or seeded.
We don't water our lawn, except for newly seeded/patched areas. It always seems that the lawn gets by just fine except during really severe droughts and those usually come with watering restrictions. If a lawn is regularly watered and then watering is curtailed, it can suffer more in the long run. Ours always seems to come back after a drought, once rainfall gets back to normal.
Plus it's easier and we are lazy.
That's funny. All four people in the area who don't water our lawns, and we are all on the same thread.
krnl said:
We don't water either. And, we mow our own lawn.
Same here re mowing our own lawn. But our lawnmower is about to die so there may be a decision point about that soon.
sac said:
krnl said:Same here re mowing our own lawn. But our lawnmower is about to die so there may be a decision point about that soon.
We don't water either. And, we mow our own lawn.
Ours has been on the verge for two years now. I'm prepared to canvas the neighborhood for a replacement. There are always a few newbies who start out with good intentions to do their own mowing, but soon give into peer pressure and hire a landscaper. There's lawnmowers in them there garages just waiting to find a new home.
Not a bad idea. Maybe time to post in the ISO threads here and on Facebook.
krnl said:
We don't water either. And, we mow our own lawn.
Same here. New neighbor sodded his back yard; watered it maybe twice in the first week. There may be 4 actual patches of green among the yelllow straw/grass! Our friends who had a service put in a section of lawn to cover areas once tree-covered made her promise to water twice A DAY for the first 10 days.
Is 'drought' a regular state of affairs there (as opposed to 'wow, we Haney had decent rain in a while') ? Or is it something that might happen say once in50 yrs?
And what happened to all the melted snow? Where did it go? Or is most of it too salty to be of any use?
joanne said:
Is 'drought' a regular state of affairs there (as opposed to 'wow, we Haney had decent rain in a while') ? Or is it something that might happen say once in50 yrs?
And what happened to all the melted snow? Where did it go? Or is most of it too salty to be of any use?
We actually didn't have an unusual amount of snow. What was unusual was that it stayed on the ground for two months because it was unusually cold.
And, to my knowledge, in New Jersey, we have never experienced a drought like the one currently afflicting California.
I wasn't imagining your situation is anywhere near as bad as California's yet. But there are many kinds of drought, so I'm wondering how NJ and your part in particular cycles through this kind of weather pattern.
Most of Queensland, where I am, is now drought-declared (we're talking over 80%), and for most of the state it's worse than it's been for at least 30-50years. Some areas are beyond desperate, and these are places that know 'dry'.
We just threw down some seed, so we've been watering, but otherwise we don't. We also mow our own weeds...and eschew chemicals.
joanne said:
Is 'drought' a regular state of affairs there (as opposed to 'wow, we Haney had decent rain in a while') ? Or is it something that might happen say once in50 yrs?
It's a technical term. Water conservation is always a good idea.
That said, I water my perennial garden and the bit of lawn not yet converted to garden.
As the article states, we are at stage 1, the first level of heightened awareness. The reservoirs are full, and there are no shortages yet. This level occurs about once every 5 - 10 years. It is well within the annual precipitation cycle, nothing at all like Oz or Cali are experiencing.
Thanks, Max. So generally by end of winter/springthe melt would be enough to keep the water table topped up?
joanne said:
Thanks, Max. So generally by end of winter/springthe melt would be enough to keep the water table topped up?
Not really. If we don't receive more or less normal rainfall during the summer, things dry out pretty quickly. It isn't like California where most of the precipitation comes in the winter time and summers are normally very dry. New Jersey averages around 4 inches of rain per month.
I mow. We water a few times a week. Daily if we're seeding. Chemicals rarely, but mostly because I'm too late with the cycle or too lazy.
ramzzoinksus said:
Right in time for an inch or more of rain on Sunday.
Oh, good, I could use a rainy Sunday. And the garden can use a nice, slow soaking.
Texas has been crazy. When I first visited Lake Travis in Austin, it looked like the photo on top. When I visited 2 years ago, it looked like the photo below. And at this link, you can see a time lapse of how the recent rains have virtually refilled it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZtNJXO4IZ4
ml1 said:
Texas has been crazy. When I first visited Lake Travis in Austin, it looked like the photo on top. When I visited 2 years ago, it looked like the photo below. And at this link, you can see a time lapse of how the recent rains have virtually refilled it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZtNJXO4IZ4
And more on the way. Flash flood warnings, torrential rains, roads closing, half-inch hail (in San Antonio, heading towards Austin).
ml1, did you see any video of Shoal Creek overflowing Lamar at 9th?
I don't water the lawn. I do water some of my plants, but not on a regular basis. My vegetable garden does get watered regularly.
Probably not a surprise to anyone that rainfall over this month has not been sufficient. According to New Jersey Weather and Climate Office at Rutgers, we are now in a Category 1 (Moderate) drought condition.
Details: http://www.njweather.org/content/drought-invading-new-jersey