Rain, rain and more rain
Leif has a new article posted in the library. Here’s the first paragraph:
Just over a month ago we were quite concerned about the drought conditions which had developed over the previous ten months. An amazing run of cool and very rainy weather has brought a complete turn around to overly wet soils and whole new set of challenges for farmers and gardeners alike. While gardeners may be facing the decision of whether or not to apply a fungicide to various landscape plants to control foliar diseases, farmers may face the prospect of yield losses due to root rot, shallow rooting, and a few areas where ponding of water has killed young plants. The irony is that with all this rain and the recharge of soil moisture that has taken place, some of the row crops might still suffer from lack of moisture later in the season if July and August rains are not timely and adequate. This is because plants that fail to establish deep roots during an early season wet spell may not be able to do so later in the season if a dry weather pattern returns.
Leif’s articles appear in the Wednesday edition of the Northfield News, in the Farm and Garden section, just behind the sports page. All his previous articles are archived in our web library, going back to 2001.
