Gardeners cry out for rainstorm

A friend recently purchased a new piece of land and is working there on weekends, making small changes here and there. These changes add up quickly over time and in a matter of months he’s made a noticeable mark on his 50-acre piece. He’s making clearings to open up views, sowing groundcovers and repairing wounds to the land brought on by the neglect of past owners. He’s ditching here and there so the snowmelt will run freely in spring and making paths through the woods to shorten the hike between work sites on his property.

Working a piece of land is the best way to come to love it. I suppose the opposite could happen. You could come to truly dislike it, but that’s never been my experience.

The foundation of our gardens, of course, is land. On our own unique piece – whether it’s a 200-square foot garden plot in the middle of a city or a half-acre parcel out in the countryside – can be our best classroom.

A garden is an excellent place to learn to accept the best and worst that life has to deal you. Our garden is a place to rejoice in the bounty the earth offers. It’s also a place to witness the natural stages of life – the beauty and vigor of youth, the productivity of middle age, the strength and character of aging, and so much more.

Whether or not we admit, on a rudimentary level at least, our garden is a place where we try to harness nature. Nature plays itself out in our garden daily, and as a result many factors outside our control have an effect on our little bit of heaven. The weather has principal influence over our garden. In particular, rainfall plays a key role in determining how well and fast our crops grow. In a drought-ridden year small, stunted plants can be a sad reminder that our best efforts may not be good enough.

If you love a piece of land, when drought strikes it, you feel for it. If you find yourself in conversation with another gardener in August, you’ll most likely both lament about the lack of rainfall. We all eventually come to the topic. Bone-dry weather makes us feel as though our garden is slowly roasting, turning on a rotisserie over a fire that’s not hot enough to burn right away, but certainly warm enough to scorch and blister over time. Some of us hurt for our garden. We ache for our land.

Even though it can be agonizing at times, observing the weather – witnessing its wild side, its gentle side and all facets in between – can be exciting. In August, when the land is dry and crumbles between our fingertips, and when the air is oppressively hot, it’s easy to start dreaming about other types of weather. I wish fall would get here. I can’t wait for snow. I wish it would rain.

Alas, in August, a good rainstorm is what we all wish for. Even a decent, thick fog would be welcomed. A wild rainstorm would be best of all. Forgetting the possibility of all the aftermath and destruction, we press our face against the windowpanes – or better still stand out in it – and silently witness the strength of nature.

Loving and respecting our land is the first step in coming to accept the choices people make for their land. What truly binds us to the land is the fact that we’re free – for the most part – to handle it however we choose. Like the weather, if we handle it gently, we reap gentle and bountiful rewards. If we handle it harshly, the rewards are not so gentle, not so bountiful and very unpredictable.

If you’d like to learn more about our weather patterns through climatic data, visit the National Weather Service’s Web site at www.nws.noaa.gov. According to the NWS’ site, all weather and climate data gathered by that institution, military services, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Coast Guard is kept at the National Climatic Data Center (www.ncdc.noaa.gov) in Asheville, N.C. The NCDC compiles the weather data (temperatures, precipitation totals, heating and cooling degree days and more) collected from thousands of sites in the U.S. According to NWS, records kept by their local offices are forwarded to the NCDC on a regular basis, but you can expect a lag of 2-4 weeks before today’s data is on file at the NCDC.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@ctel.net. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.