Friday, August 14, 2009

August 14, 2009

Rain

As I write this, it’s raining. Hard. In fact, a few minutes ago marble-size hail thundered down on the metal office roof. As soon as it passed I ran out to the garden to see if any damage had been done. Not much, thankfully. Not like the hailstorm that passed through Gallatin Valley last summer, doing millions of dollars damage to auto dealers and farmers, and much to the pride of local gardeners.

This must be the wettest summer in a decade. Usually by now our unwatered lawn is brown, and so are the mountainsides. This year there’s still green on them thar hills. The obvious bonus is not having had to water as often as in previous summers. But we’ve also had cooler nights and some of my vegetables are behind schedule.

Last June, when a heavy, wet snow was forecast, I quickly made up several hoop tunnels with PVC and row cover fabric, and they did the job. I’ve left the hoops up all summer and come September I’ll lower the fabric when the temps drop. I’d hate to lose what appears to be a bumper crop of tomatoes.

We’re working hard on the Winter issue this month and next, as well as on stories and photographs for next Spring and Summer. Articles can be written right up to the deadline, but the photos must be taken in season (when we’re putting together the Summer issue, it’ll be spring and there’ll be snow on the ground!). Obviously, this requires some long-range planning. Either that or run generic photos bought from a stock agency, which a lot of magazines do. Anyone can run close-ups of pretty flowers. We want photos of the actual story subjects, whether it’s a garden or a person. This takes more work and more time, but we think it’s worth it. And hope you do, too.

As always, we love hearing from you. Tell us what you’re doing in your corner of paradise. And send pix!