California's Drought

Yolos,  I've looked at recommended zoysia and buffalo grass as replacements, but they are invasive.  All of my life in Fresno with weeding Bermuda and then Bermuda hybrid out of flower gardens, I don't want to go back to that.  Fescue doesn't creep/invade.  The Fescue stays green all year but it does need water in the summer heat.  The thing that has laid waste to Fescue is a fungus called dollar spot.  I think the fungus, plus water restrictions and using fertilizers has led to a decimated lawn.  Everyone has it, even worse than we do.  I wanted a summer program of cut and drop, spray weekly with compost tea to break down the cuttings, and monthly maybe with Neem.  But husband just doesn't want to go with the cut and drop.  It's sort of like row gardening vs. SFG, it's easier to SFG if you weren't brought up with row gardening.   http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/lawn-care/specific/zoysia/facts-about-zoysia-grass-zoysia-grass-problems.htm

Low of 49 tonight? Snow in the mountains? I REFUSE TO TURN ON THE HEAT IN THE MIDDLE OF JUNE! 

The newest report says el nino is over but la nina is coming and that usually means "dry" for our neck of the woods. With a good portion of CA still in "exceptional drought" that news does NOT bode well.

It's raining!  Just a very light drizzle, but definitely a good thing, and we might get more, tomorrow.

Sanderson, cut and drop with lawn clipping has made a world of difference in keeping my lawn thick and green.  Saves work as well.

Country Naturals, can I send you some of our rain?  I would love to share.

Kelejan wrote:Sanderson, cut and drop with lawn clipping has made a world of difference in keeping my lawn thick and green.  Saves work as well.

Sigh, I'll never know

Country Naturals, can I send you some of our rain?  I would love to share.

And then CN will meet me in Sacramento to give me half.

sanderson wrote:

Kelejan wrote:Sanderson, cut and drop with lawn clipping has made a world of difference in keeping my lawn thick and green.  Saves work as well.

Sigh, I'll never know

Country Naturals, can I send you some of our rain?  I would love to share.

And then CN will meet me in Sacramento to give me half.

Lawn? What's that? 

We actually got a little of our own rain last night, with maybe a little more to come tonight. 

Also, I can't believe it, but it looks like that gawdawful heat wave that's heading this way is gonna miss us completely. Fingers crossed it's not as bad as predicted for So Cal, Nevada, AZ, & NM. 

Not happy about the heat predicted this weekend-supposed to be in the high 90's. The heat tolerant tomatoes have been setting fruit, but I hope the heat doesn't cause any cracking as the Black Krims have in the past. Got my fingers crossed that the shade cloth does the trick. It's hit 90+ in the shade and the plants didn't drop blossoms as they had in past heat waves, so I'm hoping things fare well. Already had my first taste of vine-ripened Krims, and I'm being optimistic; I have have ample bacon, lettuce, and bread standing by.

It's still raining! Been going on all day! 

Ahhhh, the garden fresh tomato, bacon and lettuce sandwich. On toast. With Hellman's mayo. Maybe 2. Summer. Yardslave, you have literally made my mouth water.

BLT   Forecast starting Sunday to be +/- 100*F until basically the end of the month.

countrynaturals wrote:It's still raining! Been going on all day! 

Lovely!

CapeCoddess wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:It's still raining! Been going on all day! 

Lovely!

It was WONDERFUL! Still raining at bedtime last night. Today is absolutely beautiful. High around 80. Wish we could clone that last 24 hours and bring it back in July, Aug, & Sep. 

For those in the Southwest, water and shade. And that's just for you. Plants, pets, commercial animals and wild life also suffer, so buckle everything down and I hope everything makes it.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/southwest-braces-for-heat-wave-with-temps-reaching-120/ar-AAhh8o1?li=BBnb7Kz

Stay safe, all!

sanderson wrote:For those in the Southwest, water and shade.  And that's just for you.  Plants, pets, commercial animals and wild life also suffer, so buckle everything down and I hope everything makes it.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/southwest-braces-for-heat-wave-with-temps-reaching-120/ar-AAhh8o1?li=BBnb7Kz

Remember to check on elderly neighbors, friends, & relatives.

Especially during brown outs and black outs! We have cooling centers around town.

Ag statistics for CA 2014-2015 posted on "Mylifedependsonag" FB.  Some one commented that they will be interested in the 2015-2016 statistics after the drought.  I wonder if our El Nino rains will help this summer.  My local reservoir lake, Lake Millerton, is 85% full.

My area is looking pretty bleak. Two lakes serve irrigation and recreation. Naciemento is down to 35% and lake San Antonio is at 7%. Our local reservoir is not much better. The local water agencies have been bickering for 3 years about who is going to provide desal and so far haven't produced a drop. the only thing they've done is give themselves a 500% raise in rate hikes.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reservoirs/RES

And, then there was Hetch Hetchy . . .

Yardslave wrote:My area is looking pretty bleak. Two lakes serve irrigation and recreation. Naciemento is down to 35% and lake San Antonio is at 7%. Our local reservoir is not much better. The local water agencies have been bickering for 3 years about who is going to provide desal and so far haven't produced a drop. the only thing they've done is give themselves a 500% raise in rate hikes.

That's terrible, Yardslave.

With a private corporation providing water, every time we open a faucet a little "JACKPOT" alarm goes off. They posted a 34% return for their shareholders last year. I think the corporation's trucks should have their logo changed to "Giving the public less (water) for more (money)".

sanderson wrote:http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reservoirs/RES

And, then there was Hetch Hetchy . . .

Yea, it's a pretty bleak looking picture.  The aggregate table is a bit misleading at a high level. (Note I know you're not trying to mislead so I'm trying to fix this to say we need to look at the data)

There's 46 catchments listed.  Three of them, Shasta, Oroville and Trinity account for 40% of the capacity in the network, those three also hold 50% of the current stored water.

The ten smallest hold 1%.

The big three are just over 70% capacity.  

The whole network is actually at 80% of average.

Yardslave wrote:With a private corporation providing water, every time we open a faucet a little "JACKPOT" alarm goes off. They posted a 34% return for their shareholders last year. I think the corporation's trucks should have their logo changed to "Giving the public less (water) for more (money)".

If you can't beat 'em then join 'em. Buy shares in the corporation! 

Kelejan wrote:Sanderson, cut and drop with lawn clipping has made a world of difference in keeping my lawn thick and green.  Saves work as well.

Country Naturals, can I send you some of our rain?  I would love to share.

  Snap , perhaps we can arrange a new version of PLUTO  & pump what we are getting to your side of the pond
  We got over two inches of rain last night .. several trays of flowers were standing in it this morning at ten o'clock , looking sad . So I drained them off , only to find that a few minutes ago we'd had them refilled from above .

trolleydriver wrote:

If you can't beat 'em then join 'em. Buy shares in the corporation!