Today in the orchard
Tonight we finally got rain. The last decent rain was four weeks ago on July 30. (By that time it was already getting quite dry. We hope tonight’s storm wasn’t too little too late. It was definitely not too little.) The weatherman said rain all afternoon and we did get some—maybe a quarter of an inch. But at about 10 PM the storm arrived. It was accompanied by impressive thunder and lightning. The rain came straight down, and it came down hard. In the end we got slightly more than 2”—about a month’s-worth in a couple of hours. Not exactly the way we want it (we prefer a half inch a week, thank you) but, hey, we’ll take it!
Tomorrow I’ll survey the farm. I bet the rain barrels are all overflowing. Hopefully the downpour didn’t knock too much fruit off the trees. Fortunately most of the early apples, plums and peaches are picked. Amazingly enough, the trees have fared remarkably well despite the lack of moisture. Although many things are ripening early and some fruit is dropping prematurely, overall the fruit quality is very good.