It rained almost all day and part of the night on Monday. By Tuesday morning we had about four and a quarter inches, which we desperately needed. Our newly-sprouted grass appreciated it, as did the moss and lichen on a bank along Fouche Gap Road.
I believe the vine cross the image from the bottom left is Virginia creeper.
Despite the amount of rain, the ditches along the road were not flowing heavily. I hope that’s because a lot of the rain soaked in.
Over three days from Tuesday through Thursday we got about four and three-quarters of an inch of rain. It was a lot of rain, but fortunately it didn’t fall in a huge downpour. We had some fairly steady rain, but it didn’t wash away everything I had done to get grass seeded in the front yard. Earlier rain had done that already.
The rain came in what the weather guys called a rain train. There were bands of rain that usually move perpendicular to the length of the band, but in this case moved along the direction of the length, if you get what I mean. Here’s a radar image of some of it.
All that rain marched up from the bottom left of the image to the upper right over a period of hours.
So, Saturday, after two days of no rain, I went out to look for sprouting grass. I found a little in one small part of the yard, but nothing in the largest part of the yard. Not a single sprout in most of the yard. It’s possible that some may show up in other areas, but it’s also possible there will be none. I’ll keep watering (actually, sprinkling) and hope for the best. I’ll also hope for some more rain.
Saturday morning around 6 it started raining. There was lightning, thunder, strong wind, and heavy rain. I’m not sure how long it lasted, but by the time it ended we had about two-thirds of an inch of rain. When I checked our front yard, I did not admire what I saw. Where I had just finished seeding and trying to repair the erosion from earlier rain, I found more damage. It wasn’t terrible, but it was enough to convince me that I’m not going to make the yard perfect. This year, at least, there will be some washed out ruts with no grass. Plenty of time next spring and summer to try to fix that.
Along about sunset on Saturday we got another tenth of an inch or so. The strongest part of the storm missed us and continued south towards Atlanta. Leah looked out the window and pointed out the storm clouds.
These were towering thunderstorms. The entire storm stretched from Cartersville, around 25 miles away, nearly to the I-285 perimeter road around Atlanta, about 40 miles as the crow flies. It had to be a strong storm to push the tops of the clouds up into the sunlight when it was nearly dark here at home.
Yesterday we got no rain, but others not too far away did. Late in the afternoon it was raining over town, but not here. This is all we got.
The secondary bow is barely visible above the main rainbow.
Monday afternoon as we munched on “Mexican” food 10 miles or so from home, it poured for around 20 minutes, plenty of time to wash lots of topsoil and grass seed away, if it had been raining at home. But it only drizzled, at least by the time I sat down to write this post. There are still showers around, moving slowly to the south-southeast. We may get more.
Tuesday the forecast is for a 40-percent chance of rain. Again, we may get some. If not, I’ll have to sprinkle the grass seed and hope it survives. I will also need to water a bunch of juniper bushes neighbor John pulled up from his yard and gave to us. They were severely root bound, so they face more problems than just water. John also gave us three plants of unknown species, but maybe what’s called butterfly bushes. They were fairly mature, probably 12 feet tall, but they left most of their roots in the ground when they were pulled out. They were very wilted by evening Monday. I assess their chances as very poor, but I’ll put them out, water them, and hope for the best. Their blooms were attracting butterflies even as they lay in the back of the truck. It would be nice to have them somewhere in the yard.
I have written about my efforts to get grass planted in the larger, further reaches of our front yard here and here. I have finally reached the point that I am watering a seeded area, although at a rate far less than recommended. Last year I prepared and seeded an area about a third the size I’m working on this year. I watered far less than recommended then, too, but we were fortunate enough to have nice, light rain showers at just the right time. The result was a good growth of grass.
Last year I divided the seeded area into thirds, and lightly watered each third several hours apart every day for several weeks. This year, with so much more area, I can’t water the entire area in one day. This is not good. Walter Reeves, a University of Georgia plant specialist and popular gardening expert in Georgia, says that Zoysia seed must be kept moist or it will die. When I water (carefully preserving our precious underground fluids), I get a small part of the planted area wet, but not wet enough to stay wet very long in our hot Georgia sun. So far during the process, we have had either not enough or too much rain.
On Thursday, it looked like we would get rain. Possibly too much, possibly just enough. Here’s what the weather radar looked like at 3:45 Thursday afternoon. The rain was south of us and moving fairly quickly towards us.
Here’s a later radar image.
The pushpin is our house. The rain is almost upon us. It’s 4:10, and it cannot possibly miss us. Here’s our front yard as the rain approaches.
The rain is visible, just on the other side of the ridge. The low clouds appear to just clear the ridge on the left, and the rain is coming down hard, hiding the sky and the land behind it. I put a row of straw bales at the bottom of the grassy part of the yard to try to slow the runoff that erodes our prepared area. It does almost nothing. The darker earth in the middle is where I sprinkled earlier.
And then, Like the Red Sea parted by Moses, the rain divides itself.
But maybe we can get a little, just the edge of the hard rain. That might be even better than having the heaviest part of the storm pass directly over us.
And then, at 4:45, Moses decides even a shallow sea is too deep.
Here is the radar at 4:50.
We got no rain at all. The green over our pushpin is rain so light it didn’t reach the ground.
It’s Friday night. The Atlanta weather forecasters are predicting two bands of rain for tonight and early Saturday morning. They show rain passing directly over us. Today I spread some straw lightly over most of the seeded area, as Walter Reeves recommends, hoping it will prevent the hoped-for rain from washing all our work away. By the time I get up Saturday morning, I’ll know whether I have to sprinkle the yard again, get another load of topsoil to replace everything that washed away, or (one hopes) sit back and admire the well-watered front yard.
I wouldn’t ordinarily complain about rain, but come on, now, who’ll stop the rain? On Saturday I had just finished spreading topsoil over our bare front yard, hurrying to get it done before the rain started, and then the rain started. And it came down hard, an inch and a half’s worth in a little over an hour. The result was predictable.
In case you can’t see what happened, here’s a closer shot.
The rain washed big ruts into the yard, taking away the topsoil there and washing it deep into the woods. I thought I was finished with the topsoil, but I had to order another eight scoops on Monday. On my way back from the yard where they sell the topsoil, I stopped and bought nearly a ton of lime and fertilizer in 40-pound bags. On the way back home from the store, it started raining, and it rained hard. We got about two-thirds of an inch. I don’t think it made any new ruts, but it reaffirmed the ruts that were already there. And it made the ground so soggy I couldn’t get the topsoil delivered. It will still be too wet on Tuesday, the day of this post.
Right now there is a 20 percent chance of rain for Tuesday, down from an earlier predicted 80-percent chance. That higher chance has now moved to Wednesday and Thursday. I will probably have to have the topsoil dumped onto our concrete driveway if I want it any time soon.
Of course I have to spread 40 bags of lime and 5 bags of fertilizer sometime, and then hope it doesn’t wash away.