How much rain did you get last night? Here at the office, the rain gauge measured about 1.5 inches. That’s a good start! However, don’t assume that things are now back to “normal” or that some parts of your yard or garden don’t still need more water.

Areas that have been well-watered and have good loamy soil probably soaked up a lot of the rain – like our raised beds. Other areas that haven’t been watered as well (or at all) or that have heavy clay soil probably didn’t soak up near as much of that rain as you might wish.

Case in point – our other horticulture agent went out with a soil probe this morning to see how far the water soaked into different spots in our Arboretum, which has been largely unwatered and has clay soils. Here are his results:

• On a slope, the rain soaked in about a half inch. Yikes, not very much! That rain mostly ran off.
• On a flat surface, the rain soaked in about 3 inches. Okay, that’s better, but still not great. If we get more rain, this will improve.
• In a spot with a slight depression (where that rain sat after running off the slopes), it soaked in 6 inches. That’s more like it! Still not getting very deep, but it will provide a little relief.

The moral of the story – we need about a week of gentle rainfall so that it can soak in thoroughly, but this is a good start!

I’m done being a downer now – the next post will be more exciting!