Be Prepared For Isaac

Central Florida is looking at its first probable tropical storm occurance this weekend with Isaac.  Isaac is Florida's third tropical storm, with the Keys and North Florida experiencing early in the hurricane season, tropical storms Debby and Beryl.

Before Isaac comes across the state or skirts the west coast of Florida, now is the optimum time to prepare your landscape to weather the storm.  Is your house and yard ready for a hurricane? Even if Isaac doesn't directly pass over the state, tornados, gale winds, and subsequent rainbands could cause havoc and damage to your home and landscape.

Here's a preparation checklist for you:

• Keep your eye and ears on the weather.  Check the weather stations frequently or download a weather app to your phone for alerts.  Have plenty of batteries on hand for radios, computers for news.
• Remember your BBQ can be used to cook outside for meals or to make coffee.  Get your camping cookware out.  Have plenty of charcoal or gas on hand.
• Fill your car's gas tank up.
• Turn your irrigation system off now.  We've had plenty of rain over the last few weeks and will be getting frequent rainfall over the next ten days.  You don't want your lawn saturated before the heavy rainbands come through.
• Reschedule all fertilizer, herbicide, or pesticide applications for the next ten days. Any  chemicals put on your lawn now will only be diluted to be effective or swept away with the stormwater runoff.  Don't waste your money!
•  Walk around your home, garage, and  barns to check for secure windows and doors.  Make sure buildings have locks.
• Store any chemical products in airtight containers in sheds or garages, not inside your home.
• Bring in flags and awnings.
• Stake any newly planted landscape material that could snap or bend harshly with winds.
• Store any pool equipment, patio furniture, lawn decorations such as gazing balls, bird baths, door wreaths, real estate signs that could be flung against your house or car.
• Check pool covers to make sure they are secure.
• Before the storm comes through, harvest any fruits or vegetables that are ripe or almost ripe so that you don't lose them. 
• Take your digital camera and walk around house to document "before" photos in case of damage during storm. 
• During the storm, don't park your car underneath any trees.
• Remember, after (if) Isaac goes through and the rain may stop, flooding will continue to occur for several days, as the runoff builds up.  Remove any items in swale areas or near docks as tide, river, and lake levels rise.  Do not drive on roads or streets that you cannot see the surface as areas may have given way.  

For more information:  Florida Disaster Preparation

Keep up with local weather on your radio with My790am.

Stay safe, stay dry, and take any days you have to stay inside to read that book you haven't had time for, play games, have family time.  Be appreciative that with Isaac, we are going to have plenty of rain to get through our dry winter and spring seasons.  Hurricanes and tropicals storms are necessary for the replenishment of our acquifers. 

Install Your Own Rain Barrel

We haven't had a lot of rain, but now is the time to start thinking of all the rain we get in the summertime and make good use of it. A great way to harvest the rainfall is with rain barrels.  They are easy to install and are now legal for use in all communities including HOA's.  The Florida-friendly statute states that HOA's cannot prohibit rain barrels. 

We'll be talking to Jerry Butler today from Industrial Containers Services in Zellwood.  His company recycles 55 gallon drums as rain barrels available to homeowners inexpensively.

 
The rain barrels cost $38 plus tax.  Very reasonable, especially when purchasing multiple barrels to irrigate your lawn compared to a water bill. To contact Industrial Container Services and purchase a rainbarrel, call 407-889-5500.

Dirty Word Of The Day: Petrichor

From Jane Fallon's  Business of Life post "4 Useful New Words."

You know how it smells after it rains? That clean, greenish smell? That’s petrichor, from the Greek petra (stone) and ichor (the blood of Greek gods and goddesses). The term was coined by two Australian researchers in 1964.

I know that smell! It's the ozone. (O₃ ). Going outside before and after the rain you can smell the freshness. I love that smell! Now I know what to call it! Petrichor.

Making Up For Lost Rain

The rains finally came and are expected to be here all week with 50% chance through Friday! My flowers and plants soaked in the wetness and look very satisfied this morning.  Turning off my microirrigation system to take advantage of Mother Nature, the moisture will definitely help the fertilizing I did over the weekend.

Above you can see my oak leaf hydrangea, spirea, and dwarf pomegranate tree glistening in the rain.

Florida Yard - North Carolina View

We received over an inch of rain this morning and isn't eleven o'clock yet. We could get another inch to two inches today and the showers aren't expected to stop till after Memorial Day. I am pleased that my anti-tropical yearnings to have a North Carolina garden are coming along nicely. When you're in the Smokies during a summer rain storm, you can hear the rain ping off the branches between layers of trees. Jutting up and down the mountainsides and across the balds down to the valleys, the majestic trees allow the raindrops to land and slide down. The panoramic view of seeing dimensions through the canopies of Fraser firs, alders, maples, pines,and hickories is not a scenic visual you expect in Florida's flat landscapes. But with a little thought and patience can be achieved, or at least imagined.



These rainlilies are a week old and still popping up under my shrubs and around my bird bath. The moss is starting to become a striking mound and without the assistance of over-watering.





The mist of the sometimes gentle rain, then a torrent evokes memories of North Carolina childhood summer vacations waiting on the porch for the rain to stop so that we could go hiking in the woods. I get goosebumps now remembering the narrow clay footpaths on the steep slopes, trying to keep my balance after a rain. You could look ahead of your path for hundreds of feet and see into the forest.

I am enjoying every moment of this low pressure system moving across our country today. It's bringing much needed rain to the Southeast. Despite the Memorial Weekend holiday picnics that will be cancelled, I know that this week of thunderstorms and rainshowers will have firemen breathing a sigh of relief.



It's taken almost four years to achieve the layered look in my North Carolina backyard. It's only going to grow more with this rain. What will it look like by the end of this summer?

The Best Thing One Can Do When It's Raining Is To Let It Rain.

I used Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's quote as the title because it's 'as right as rain.'

Two weeks ago, I prayed for rain. Be careful what you wish for. On Sunday, the rain began and isn't supposed to stop for another few more days. Dropping over eighteen inches of rain in surrounding counties and nearly ten inches at my house, I took the rain as a gentle reminder to start blogging again on earth-shattering gardening.

During my travels and with work, I find interesting horticulture articles, the latest environmental news, and serendipitious gardening tidbits. I love photographing gardens and just strolling through them in my mind's eye. So while I'm not able to go out and dig in my backyard, this week I can still rejuvenate my soul by talking about the earth and gardening. Hopefully you'll write me about your garden. I know it's beautiful. Even in the rain.