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.

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.

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.

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