This year the soil was so wet in early May that I couldn’t plant my garden or annual flowers. It’s a good thing too because that meant nothing got hurt by the freeze that we had a couple of weeks ago.
Now that the weather is nice and I have my garden planted, I have to water to make sure my seeds germinate.
In a normal May weather pattern, we tend to get enough rain that you don’t have to water your garden to keep the seedbed moist.
Germinating seeds and new seedlings should not dry out so it’s important to keep a steady supply of moisture in the ground.
On the way home from Akron on Sunday we went through some severe storms with torrential rain. My Facebook friends were telling me how much rain they got in that short time on Sunday evening.
Some in Enon were speculating around four inches. I kept hoping that we got some of that too but as we pulled into the driveway there wasn’t a puddle to be found.
It seems like all of the Sunday evening storms went around northern Clark County so I had to water again on Sunday.
You may also notice that some of your plants are wilting in the heat of the day, but they perk up again in later evening.
This is due to the fact that many of these plants are not hardened off and ready for summer. The foliage is still quite tender. The roots can’t keep up with the amount of water lost through the leaves even though the soil is damp.
This tends to occur during the spring when we have warm drying winds.
If you have friends living in the northeastern part of Ohio, chances are you will soon hear them complaining about the 17 year cicada emergence.
In Ohio we have four main broods that regularly appear. There are two of them in the Miami Valley area.
Brood X is in the upper portion of the area and last appeared in 2004 and Brood XIV is in the Southern area and last appeared in 2008. Northeastern Ohio is experiencing Brood V.
These insects take 17 years (some broods take 13 years) to complete their life cycle. After they emerge, mate and feed, they return to the soil to pupate for either 17 or 13 years depending on the species.
You can always count on the periodical cicada to make the news when they come out. If you travel to the eastern part of Ohio, you will be guaranteed to hear them.
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