Halloween Brings a Treat, Rain!

| November 1, 2014 | 3 Replies

Halloween brings a treat, rain! As if scripted in a Hollywood movie, trick-or-treaters young and old were safely snug in their beds before the skies opened up around midnight in Los Angeles County. Northern and Central California got more than the Southland. Los Angeles Times online reported,”The weather service said rainfall totals were less than a half-inch in the Los Angeles Basin.” Even though it’s only a drop in the bottomless bucket of California’s thirst, last night’s first rainstorm was big news! Here are a few images of the Late Bloomer garden at 8:30AM.

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - Can overflowing with rainwater

Blue sky is reflected in rainwater collected in a city trash bin

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - Poblano pepper

Poblano pepper plant dripping with rainwater

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - Mexican sunflower

Mexican sunflower drenched with rain

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - Borage weighted down by rain

Huge borage plant weighted down with rainwater

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - Cremes bean vine

Cremes bean vine with water droplet

My Cremes beans are still producing. Delicious fresh or steamed, or dry them for cooking later, I only wish I’d planted more seed! You can buy this rare heirloom seed from Sharon’s Natural Gardens. Sharon has been a biodynamic farmer in Delaware for decades. Please support her by buying her seeds at Local Harvest.

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - Can overflowing with rainwater

Monarch caterpillar, dripping wet, wastes no time getting back to eating milkweed

It’s more important than ever, especially in drought-stricken California, to be capturing your rainwater. I installed a rain barrel last year (I wish I had one on each corner of the house), and I checked on the progress of the storm at midnight. I realized the small trash cans would easily overflow (the tallest one already had) after I went to bed, and dragged an extra city trash bin to the side of the house.

Halloween brings a treat, rain! - rain barrel

Ivy rain barrel with overflow tube which has filled a city trash bin

I could have filled another one as well, but I was sleeping soundly at 2AM, secure with the thought that my garden would be renewed with this Halloween treat, rain! The garden existed on city water the last six months, in fact, all my heirloom tomatoes were grown with it, save but for a bit of captured rainwater which anointed my tiny parcel in June.

I qualified for a rebate on my rain barrel. See if you do at SoCal Water Smart.

Are you short on rain? Are you capturing rainwater? Please let me know, and please subscribe to Late Bloomer on YouTube. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the photos. – Kaye

 

 

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Category: Community, Environment, Rain

Comments (3)

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  1. Eric ( Double Dog Farm ) says:

    Kaye, Your right column shifting up and down do to the “Kind words from viewers” is distracting and hard to click on titles.

  2. Thanks Kaye for the kind words …. lovely photos of the plants in the rain . I have about 30 -60 gallon pickle barrels from a local pickle factory that were free . There are 6 on the corners of the house , a row next to the greenhouse and I want to set up a gutter on the stables to catch that runoff so they fill automatically . I also have a dozen in the passive solar greenhouse made with recycled doors and windows, to retain heat in the winter. I cut a bunch in half and use them as planters in there . I will send a photo .
    We have had droughts here and I also lived in the desert, so I know about conserving water . One thing nice about dry weather is fewer weeds and no fungus problems . It rained all day and I still have not dug out all my peanuts but did start the first fire in the house . :)Sharon

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