September 12, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of Good Growing, horticulture educators Chris Enroth and Ken Johnson dive into the challenges of gardening during Central and Southern Illinois’ increasingly dry fall season. From flash droughts and cracked lawns to watering strategies for trees, shrubs, and cover crops, they share practical advice for managing your landscape in low-moisture conditions. Plus, a timely reminder about fire safety and a segment they have dubbed "Hose Talk." Tune in for expert insights and seasonal tips to keep your garden growing—even when the rain won’t fall.
Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/9PXCI5ddpBI
00:33 Hey Ken! It is dry.
01:37 How dry is it? Drought levels and recorded precipitation amounts.
04:34 Dry conditions in southern Illinois and a flash drought.
07:32 NOAA predictions for the next three months.
09:13 How does a fall drought affect our gardening this time of year?
11:59 Fall lawn planting. To seed grass or not to seed grass?
16:44 Watering trees in preparation for winter is a critical fall drought task.
19:26 Hose talk!
22:27 Planting fall cover crops during dry weather.
24:44 Fires during dry fall weather.
28:26 Thank you, and see you next week.
US Drought Monitor: Illinois https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?IL
NOAA Drought Forecasts https://www.drought.gov/forecasts
Blog posts by Illinois Climatologist Trent Ford:
Sept 4, 2025, August Ushered us From Summer to Fall https://stateclimatologist.web.illinois.edu/2025/09/04/august-ushered-us-from-summer-to-fall/
Sept 11, 2025, Drought is Intensifying in Illinois https://stateclimatologist.web.illinois.edu/2025/09/11/drought-is-intensifying-in-illinois/
Contact us!
Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu
Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu
Check out the Good Growing Blog: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing
Subscribe to the weekly Good Growing email: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowingsubscribe
Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chris (00:06):
Welcome to the Good Going podcast. I am Chris Enroth,
horticulture educator with theUniversity of Illinois Extension
coming at you from Mac Omb,Illinois, and we have got a
great show for you today. I amdusting myself off as I walk
into the office because it isdry and dusty out there. We're
gonna be talking about how dryis it this time of year right
(00:27):
now. And you know I'm not doingthis by myself.
I am joined as always everysingle week by horticulture
educator Ken Johnson inJacksonville. Hey, Ken.
Ken (00:36):
Hello, Chris. It is dry. Very dry. At least in
Jacksonville it is. Mhmm.
Chris (00:43):
I I did a a demonstration this morning on lawn
installation, and I have thegrit of all the dust in my mouth
still. So I'm like, yeah, everytime I my teeth come together,
it's just kind of this grindingsound. Hopefully, it's not TMJ.
Oh, boy. Something wrong with myjaw?
No. It's sand in my mouth.
Ken (01:06):
Where are your teeth down? I need dentures here.
Chris (01:08):
There you go. Yeah. I gotta smooth out those those
back teeth there. Yeah. Oh,well, Ken, it it is dry.
Dry. And it wasn't always likethis, though. We had quite a bit
of rain earlier in this year.Let's start by maybe giving an
update, you know, what's beengoing on in our neck our own
(01:30):
neck of the woods. SoJacksonville, what have you
experienced this growing season?
Ken (01:36):
Yeah. So earlier early in the year, we had plenty of rain
and just the spigot, as you say,just kinda turned off. I know we
are looking at the droughtmonitor websites. We are
currently in abnormally dryconditions. And I know in the
looking at the ten day forecast,no rain predicted.
(01:56):
I think the last I looked, thehighest chance is like 20%
chance of rain. So it's it'sdrying going to be staying dry
at least for the next week ortwo, it looks like.
Chris (02:07):
Yeah. About about the same story here. We had a lot of
rain in in June. July wasincredibly plentiful with the
precipitation. Looking at someof the the the precipitation
totals near my backyard, Julywas over 10 inches, of rain fell
(02:27):
during that month in Macomb, andsome weather stations are
reporting even higher amounts ofprecipitation, but but
everybody's over 10 for themonth of July.
And then August, as you said,everything turned off. And the
current precipitation, we didget a half inch a few weeks ago,
(02:48):
but in total for August, we'vegot seven tenths of an inch for
the month of August in Macomb.So that's it got very dry very
quickly.
Ken (03:02):
Yeah. I'm not sure how much we got in Jacksonville for
August, but I wouldn't besurprised if it's that or less.
And we've we've had to startwatering our vegetable garden to
start doing that because I mean,when I was out in our front
yard, we've got cracks I can fitmy hand down into and hit my
knuckles, and I'm still nottouching the bottom of the
(03:23):
cracks in our yard. So
Chris (03:27):
That's pretty dry. That when I when that is the sign I
tell folks, when you can shoveyour finger between the sidewalk
and the lawn, that is when wehave to start watering our
trees, which we'll talk about Ithink here in a little bit, but,
don't wanna get ahead ofourselves. But that that is my
sign for it's time to start.Forget about the lawn. Save the
(03:47):
trees.
Ken (03:48):
Lose a small child in a crack.
Chris (03:50):
Yeah. The amount of snakes that also live down those
cracks. I'm kidding, folks. I'mkidding. Stick your hand down
there.
See what happens.
Ken (03:59):
It's the brown recluses. Not really.
Chris (04:02):
You gotta look out for them. Ken is kidding. They don't
brown recluses even in your neckof the woods, they don't survive
our winters, do they? Or
Ken (04:11):
It depends on what map you look at. Sometimes
Chris (04:13):
Okay.
Ken (04:14):
Probably not up by you. Jacksonville would maybe
borderline. Okay. But they'reprobably in your basement, not
outside.
Chris (04:22):
Yes. They're in they're they're house spider. Like, they
wanna be in the house. Theydon't wanna be outside. They
like us.
Ken (04:29):
Remember, if you're cold, they're cold.
Chris (04:31):
That's right. Well, I I I I think we've established that
that it is dry, but there'sother things going on. So Trent
Ford, he is our Illinois stateclimatologist. He did do a blog
post on September 4, so it'sbeen a couple days. But, you
know, looking at sort of whatthe the state of Illinois has
(04:54):
experienced from from thenorthern portions all the way to
Southern Illinois, you know,really commenting about, you
know, Northern Illinois has seenquite a bit of rainfall this
later half of the summer,whereas with Southern Illinois
has seen almost no rainfall.
Actually, Carbondale hasrecorded only two hundredths of
(05:17):
an inch of precipitation. Ithat's like the amount of
morning dew that is accumulatedin the the the rainfall catcher
thing. The the the not therainfall catcher thing. What's
the official name for? Raingauges.
Telling you, dust is getting tome. And and so but August totals
(05:43):
for up in Will County up inNorthern Illinois has been over
10 inches in August, which is300% higher than normal. So we
have these two ends of thestate, far north, far South,
really at two opposite ends ofthe rainfall spectrum. And the
(06:05):
other thing that Trent talksabout is the humidity from the
summer. My gosh.
It was awful, Ken. I it it wasI've never experienced that. Now
you lived in Florida, so maybeyou have. But that amount of
humidity, it was unbelievable,unbearable.
Ken (06:24):
It's definitely having some flashbacks to to to why we why
we moved back to Illinois. Yeah.It's, yeah, uncomfortable. And
and going back to your thedrought stuff in Southern
Illinois, there is a rapid onsetof drought kind of outlook, for
that just because it is we'vehad so little precipitation.
(06:45):
It's going to be getting hotagain.
We've had our our first falsefall, and now summer is coming
back. By the time people arelistening to this, I think it's
going be back into the ninetiesagain. So that, you know, no
rain, dry, or no dry conditions,warm weather again, we still
have plants, you know, drawingon moisture and releasing it.
(07:09):
We've got that thosepossibilities for that really
rapid onset drought, because ofthat.
Chris (07:13):
I like the name that, Trent has in this, blog post. He
calls it flash drought. Youknow, if there's, like, flash
flooding, now there's flashdrought, which is a new word for
me. That's that's a whole newword word that I I will use from
now on, when it gets dry in ahurry. So, Ken, I guess maybe a
(07:34):
few other items just weatherrelated.
You know, if we look at theextended forecast, what NOAA
predicts, you know, we're we'rekind of sitting in the realm of
could be warmer, could be coolerthan average, could be wetter,
could be drier than average. Butwhen we look at some of the the
(07:58):
drought predictions from NOAA,Southern Illinois remains in
this three month period, in thisthree month outlook. Southern
Illinois remains still theprobability of being about 33 to
40% drier than normal. And andagain, with us in Central
Illinois, it's kinda like, couldbe dry, could be wet. We're
(08:20):
we're not quite sure.
So but it seems like that dryweather pattern is gonna hold up
for Southern Illinois. But itdoes look like when we look
ahead at the three month outlookfor temperature, most of
Illinois is going to be, let'ssee if I find the correct key
here. It's like we're about 40%higher than than the normal
(08:45):
temperatures, or the probabilityis to be have a 40% probability
being higher than normaltemperatures.
Ken (08:52):
So, yeah, hot and dry. Mhmm. You're saying, well,
relatively hot. Yep. I'm hopingwe're not 90 in November and
December.
Chris (09:02):
Boy, that would not be fun. The garlic will like that.
Garlic's gonna go nuts if we'renice and warm, and then it's
gonna get hit by a frost thatyou can just see it coming. So
how does all of this weatheraffect our gardening? You know,
we often tell folks, hey, fallis a great time for planting
things.
(09:22):
Normally we get some rainfallreturn after a really variable
summer season. Ken, what whatwhy why should we even care? I
mean, we live in Illinois. Wegot so much water. Who cares?
We got groundwater. We gotlakes. We got rivers, ponds,
streams. There's watereverywhere.
Ken (09:43):
There is. Yeah. So you're normally like
Chris (09:47):
Until there isn't.
Ken (09:48):
Exactly. So like like I said, you know, typically, this
would be the time of year wherethe rains are are coming back
and a little more consistent.And because that, you know,
we're we're planting a lot oftimes trees, shrubs, time per
year to plant grass is the bestthis is the best time of year
typically to plant grass andstuff. But if we're not having
that water, we probably need itwith the models predicting that,
(10:13):
you know, we're gonna stay dryat least next thirty days. You
may want to think twice aboutthat if if you're not gonna if
you don't have the capability orthe desire to constantly not
constantly, but consistentlywater stuff, to get that
established.
So, you know, with trees,they're gonna need quite a bit
(10:34):
of water, you know, if you'replanting new trees. I know we're
at the State Master GardenerConference last week. One of the
the super seminars is treeplanting that Emily was doing.
And and I before I left, Igrabbed my mattock for her so
she could dig the holes becausethe ground was so dry and
there's a lot of clay. We couldnot do it with a shovel.
(10:54):
We had to use the mattock, whichis kinda like a pickaxe, if
you're not familiar with whatthat is, to get to dig a hole.
So if if, you know, you'recentral to Southern Illinois, if
you're planting trees, you maywant to look at watering for
several days beforehand just toget that soil loosened up and
moist so you can actually digit. And then you're going have
(11:16):
to stay on top of that andmulching to help retain that
that moisture and stuff. Mumsthis time of year, you know,
everybody's got mums for sale.Mums are very shallow rooted
plants.
If you want to try to overwinterthose, you know, get them
established in the landscape. Wetalked about this last year,
planting those earlier, soonerrather than later, and then
(11:39):
again staying on top of thatmoisture, mulching that, helping
them get established. If you'rejust, you know, you're growing
them as a temporary thing, youknow, water as usual and stuff,
but probably not gonna don't, Iguess, plan on relying on rain
to get you the moisture youneed. And then with grass, you
(12:02):
know, you're gonna have to keepthat watered. And if you're
doing really large areas, likeyour whole lot yawn, that may
be, that may be a whole lot ofwork.
You may be dragging a lot ofhoses or look at getting one of
the sprinklers the that willgonna walk itself so you don't
constantly have to move stuff.Those are usually Interesting.
(12:25):
Those like little tractors, theypull out a string and like it'll
walk itself forward and it getsto the end, it'll shut off.
Where have I been? When I workedat ground screw at the high
school, they handle I mean, ifyou were doing these on athletic
fields, yeah, you'd set it outand it'd walk itself forward.
Chris (12:42):
I think I've seen those. Some of them are like cutesy and
they look like little tractors.They're on wheels. I just
thought it was cutesy. It'ssupposed to move.
Ken (12:53):
Yeah. Ones the least ones we had, there's a string
attached to it. You run it out,put it on a stake, hook up the
hose and I don't know how itactually worked on with the
water pressure just kind offorced it along, but it would
spin out the water, walkforward, roll forward and then
it got to the end, it hit it andthat would Neat. Compress
something and shut it off. Butagain, that's really big.
(13:14):
And like if you just got apostage stamp yard, you're gonna
be watering everybody's lawnaround you probably, but
Chris (13:23):
Well, that's cool. I so this morning, I just did the, a
lawn installation demo with withwith seed. And so, yeah, right
now, I would be hard pressed tosuggest to folks to to seed,
like, their entire lawn, youknow, like, more than half an
acre of lawn. I mean, we did asmall area along a sidewalk that
(13:48):
was being flipped from plantingbed back into lawn. And, yeah,
it's it's super dry.
I can't imagine keeping up withwater right now on a larger
scale than than this. This isbasically a spot where you can
cover the whole area with withone little sprinkler that's on,
like, half power or, like, youknow, I have the the water
(14:11):
spigot really dialed downtowards, like like, just give it
enough so that the sprinklerhead moves back and forth. But,
yeah, I I would not reallysuggest right now seeding an
entire lawn unless you have somekind of dedicated irrigation
system, you have one of thesemobile walk in irrigation
(14:32):
things, or you're prepared to tofollow-up next year with more
seed.
Ken (14:38):
Yeah. Or you wanna drag hoses everywhere.
Chris (14:41):
Yes. I don't wanna do that. So yeah. Lawn's on its
own. And we've we've experiencedthis though for like several
years, think.
I it I feel like every time weget to mid August, late
September, this is the time whenI should be telling folks, yes,
you need to be seeding yourlawn. You need to this is the
time to do it. And for the lasttwo, maybe three years now, it
(15:05):
has been just just terribly drythis time of year, and which has
forced people to to wait, andand maybe try it in spring where
where spring lawn seeding is notas successful. It can work. You
just you have cold soil.
You know, you're you're dealingwith, just your all the annual
(15:29):
summer annuals are starting togerminate also at that same
time. You just have a lot ofcompetition going on in the
springtime. So, yeah, I thistime of year is ideal.
Ken (15:40):
And by the spring, you're going into hot weather. Yes.
Surely ever it's gettingestablished and stuff. So Yeah.
Chris (15:47):
Yeah. So if we could do it now, this now would be the
time, but we just don't have thesoil moisture to to be as
successful. And it always kindapains me to take potable water
and throw it on the ground for alawn. I'll do it for a tomato,
but a lawn hurts a little bit.
Ken (16:07):
Yeah. And, yeah, depending on your your water source, it
can get expensive.
Chris (16:12):
That's true. Yes. Yeah. Like, the amount of water that's
required right now is not rainbarrel size. Like, unless you
have a thousand gallon rainbarrel somewhere, you know, they
don't you can't really findcisterns anymore where people
use those type of watercatchments or rainfall
catchments underground.
(16:34):
So it's it's potable water, wellwater, rural water, yeah, some
kind of treated water.
Ken (16:44):
Yeah. So instead of I guess spending our time on our lawns,
which, you know, if you want to,great, but maybe think twice
about it because of the amountof water you're going be
needing. What we should probablybe looking at though, especially
as we're heading into the end ofthe fall and eventually winter,
is those perennial trees, thosewoody plants, trees and shrubs,
(17:07):
so especially trees. Yeah, wellestablished trees, you know, can
pull a lot of water, but whenwe're getting this dry for this
long, we probably want to startlooking at adding some
supplemental watering, for thosetrees. And we've, seen pictures
pop up here and there on socialmedia and driving around a
(17:27):
little bit, starting to see somescorch on trees because it is
getting dry.
So even those old mature trees,we would maybe getting to the
point where we want to startthinking about watering those.
So, and especially newer stuff,younger stuff, getting that
water so we're going into thefall and into the winter where
(17:50):
we have that good moisture inthe soil, especially for
evergreens and stuff. Becausewhen we start getting those
cold, dry winds, we don't wantlot of desiccation. We want that
that moisture levels to beadequate. So we're not getting a
lot of desiccation, winter burnand stuff on those.
Chris (18:06):
Yeah. I'm I'm glad you mentioned evergreens. That's a
biggie. You know, what you thinkabout trees, also our boxwoods,
our rhododendrons, those retainbroadleaf evergreen foliage,
which are more susceptible todesiccation in the winter, and
and so yeah, I need to make sureespecially before we get to
(18:29):
freezing, that freezingtemperatures that they are going
into winter not in a deficit ofwater because they are going to
get scorched as they have in thepast. So I I need to make sure
to at least be on top of it withthose.
And and for me, you know, wehave woods behind our house,
those trees are pretty much ontheir own, but I do have some
(18:51):
ash trees in the front of myhouse which I have spent a lot
of money protecting from emeraldash borer, so they also will be
getting water supplementalirrigation. Just I can't help
myself. I I love the I love thehabit of the white ash tree. I
love the fall color. They'regreat trees.
(19:12):
There's a reason why we overplanted them. They're tough.
They're good trees. And, yeah,they're almost gone now.
Ken (19:19):
Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned rhododendron because
we planted some way in ourbackyard where we've got a lot
of shade. We have to drag wehave to drag a lot of hoses out
there to keep those watered.
Chris (19:31):
Grab the hose, Ken. Buy some extra. Those lightweight
hoses, I like those quite a bit,but they do they don't last as
long as the heavy duty ones. Ido like those lightweight ones.
Ken (19:41):
Yeah. We got one of the ones that, you know, shrinks
down Mhmm. And snags it onsomething and it is now. I think
more water is coming out theside of those than the end of
those. So
Chris (19:53):
I I just I just threw away a favorite hose of mine. It
was just a blue rubber hose, butsomehow there was a hole in it
and water got between the twoliners. And the hose just blew
up like a balloon, and I gotterrified. Like, the entire
hose. Like, the it was like likethis giant anaconda was like
(20:16):
blue anaconda was behind me, andI thought it was going to
explode.
I, like, ran over to the spigot,turned it off, and it that water
stayed in there. And I tried totry to drain it out so I could
toss it in the trash, but it wasstill very heavy, very full of
water.
Ken (20:34):
Like, make some drip irrigation out of it.
Chris (20:37):
That's a good point. I should have held onto it and
poked some holes in it, andthere's my own personal drip
line.
Ken (20:43):
Yeah. We've had the the the another one of those hoses that
shrinks up when you don't havethe water on. Somehow the you
know, they got the fabric on theoutside that got kinda torn and
the inner plastic rubber swelledup like a balloon. I did not
shut it off. I let it go untilit burst just to see what
(21:03):
happens.
And filled up with a lot ofwater before it finally
Chris (21:10):
Well, this has been hose talk with good growing. The the
other thing while we're whileI'm thinking of this, make sure
you're undoing your hose fromthe spigot. Just just do it
right now. Even if you'reputting it right back on, those
things confuse together,especially if you're going if
have like a brass spigot and, analuminum or some other type of
(21:34):
metal, hose fitting, they canfuse together. You don't wanna
be doing this right before it'sabout to hard freeze.
Do it right now. This is yourfriendly reminder.
Ken (21:44):
Yes. I did not listen to that friendly reminder last
year, and I still have a hosestuck on my That's yep. That's
why
Chris (21:51):
I
Ken (21:51):
had hacksaw to cut it off. You
Chris (21:56):
just you get those splicers. You just have, like,
multiple splicers by the spigotand the all these old hoses.
Ken (22:01):
Just reaching to the ground. Yeah. So
Chris (22:08):
So but yeah. But that was great great hose talk, Ken. I
I'm I'm glad we we we delvedinto that side road. And so,
yeah, I I think is thereanything else we wanna talk
about, you know, landscape wise,garden wise in terms of keeping
those plants hydrated at thispoint in time? Do you need to do
anything with your cover crops?
(22:29):
Like, do you do you plant covercrops right now? Are you going
to then have to water them?
Ken (22:35):
Yes. I just just bought a whole bunch. And then we're
gonna have to plant them. We'regoing to to water them in and
we'll probably have to keep ontop of that. Because yeah, if
it's it's dry like anythingelse, they're just going to sit
there.
So, yeah. If it's going to bereally dry, may want to think
about how badly you want to docover crops because you will
(22:56):
have to you will have to waterit. It's going be just like
planting a turf or grass seed.You've got to you're gonna have
to water those to get themestablished and stuff. So that
may be something, you know, ifif you haven't bought them yet
and then you're in the centralor southern part of the state,
and then predictions hold, we'renot getting any rain.
(23:17):
That may be something you thinktwice about doing if you don't
if you don't wanna have to waterthose constantly.
Chris (23:22):
You had mentioned before we started the show that folks
are, that that do alfalfaplantings or second guessing
alfalfa plantings this time ofyear. Just no not enough soil
moisture, and you're notirrigating a field of alfalfa
Unless you have a center pivot,but I don't know many people
that would spend that amount ofmoney on something like that.
Ken (23:43):
Yeah. So you have the home garden, yeah, where you can
water. You can do it, but yeah.Again, you know, weigh that with
having to water that. If you'vegot if you're planting that, you
know, under a crop you alreadyhave and you're already
watering, it may not be that bigof a deal, but just just some
(24:04):
food for thought.
Chris (24:06):
But then we did that just today. We we put our oats and
radish. We we scattered themunderneath our tomatoes,
peppers, and cucumbers. Andthey're still on drip
irrigation, so we'll still haveto water them probably. Go in by
hand, hand water around the bed.
(24:26):
But, yeah, that that justhappened today, September 9. Put
the cover crop in.
Ken (24:32):
Have strips of cover crop.
Chris (24:34):
Yeah. Along the drip line.
Ken (24:39):
So I I got the email there. Ours our cover crop seed is in
the mail or on the truck. So
Chris (24:45):
Well, Ken, one more thing about being so dry, and I I
guess this is our our ourwarning. PSAs, Smokey the Bears,
fire. It's a big deal. You don'tmaybe think much about wildfire
in, in Illinois, but it happens.And it has been happening with
(25:08):
fires that have escaped, intodry cornfields, and those fires
could travel quite quickly.
I mean, it kinda depends onhumidity and wind and and other
weather conditions, but anywherefrom, like, a slow creep to
upwards of 20 ish miles perhour, which I think both you and
I confirmed, Ken, we cannot runthat fast.
Ken (25:31):
Nope. Okay.
Chris (25:32):
Yeah. Can't can't do that. So, yeah, fire. Do do you
do you practice in pyrotechnicsin the fall months? Because I
know I do.
I have a little pyromaniac sideof me that that loves to have
like a little fall fire. Do youdo such things, Ken?
Ken (25:51):
Not at our we live in town, it's not at our house. We you
and me build a small fire androast marshmallows and stuff.
But my parents do as a kid, youknow, we had lived out in the
country, so to speak. And wehad, it was like 10 mature oak
trees and we burned leaves. Sothat was lots of weekends that
(26:15):
we were out burning leaves.
So yes. So not as not as much asI used to in my younger days. If
I didn't live in town, yeah, Iprobably would because buyer's
fun. But when it's this dry,yeah, this is something to keep
in mind, especially if you livein a more rural setting, if you
(26:35):
have farm fields around you. Iprobably do not wanna be doing
that.
You don't wanna spark any ofthat stuff, catch it. Lead to
some big problems and your yourneighbors aren't gonna be happy
with you if you burn theirfields down. Mhmm.
Chris (26:50):
And I and I know we're getting into fire season for,
like, habitat management folksthat do prairies. You can even
do timber burns in Illinois. Andreally the timber burns are
usually pretty docile comparedto the prairie fires that I have
been a part of. And it would beone of those, like, you know,
(27:16):
you have to really pay veryclose attention to the weather,
to that relative humidityfactor, and do not I I do not
participate in controlled burnswhere I don't have somebody else
in charge who has taken classes,who is certified as a a burn
(27:37):
boss in Illinois, And alwaysalways be contacting the local
fire department. And, yeah, donot do not go out and say, ah,
I'm gonna start burning rightnow.
That's probably not a greatidea. We probably wanna wait
till we have some precipitation,a little bit of more moisture on
(27:58):
the ground, and then maybe waitmore into the wintertime.
Ken (28:03):
Just be smart about it. Mhmm. If it stays dry, hold off.
Say, if you're gonna do one,have those nearby. So if if
something does spark, he canhopefully get it out.
Chris (28:18):
Mhmm. Extra set of eyes, extra long hose, couple extra
buckets of water. Yeah. Plan forthe worst. Well, that was a lot
of great information aboutdealing with fall drought.
Year after year after year, itseems like. It's like we're on a
Groundhog Day loop here of thisdry fall weather. And we have to
(28:40):
talk about it now, folks, sothat it actually rains. Because
if we didn't say anything, itwouldn't rain. But now that
we've said something, it it'ssupposed to ring.
Right?
Ken (28:47):
Is that
Chris (28:47):
right, Ken? Is that how it works? It's gonna rain on
Thursday before this comes out.Exactly. People be like, what
are we listening to?
Or maybe we'll just throw thisepisode in the trash can and
start over. Well, the GoodGrowing podcast production of
University of Illinois Extensionedited this week by me, Chris
Enroth. Hey, Ken. Thanks forhanging out today, looking at
the the NOAA maps and in thebackyard, the crispy backyard in
(29:12):
both our cases, and and talkingabout the dry fall weather that
we're experiencing.
Ken (29:17):
Yes. Thank you. And we have to go buy some new more hoses
and drag them out to myrhododendrons and get those
watered. Mhmm. Let's do thisagain next week.
Chris (29:28):
Oh, we shall do this again next week. It'll be more
horticultural hijinks. We'll seeif it's rained, and we'll see
what the topic is of the week.It might change based on the
weather. So listeners, thank youfor doing what you do best, and
that is listening.
Or if you watched us on YouTube,watching. And as always, keep on
growing. It is dry and dusty outthere. Let me tell you. And I
(30:03):
you know, I'm not doing this bymyself.
I am wait. Did I even I don'tthink I said that right. It is
dry and dusty. Okay. Should wejust keep going?
Take two.
Ken (30:18):
Why why not? Okay.
Chris (30:23):
Take two. Sorry, Ken.
Welcome to the Good Going podcast. I am Chris Enroth,
horticulture educator with theUniversity of Illinois Extension
coming at you from Mac Omb,Illinois, and we have got a
great show for you today. I amdusting myself off as I walk
into the office because it isdry and dusty out there. We're
gonna be talking about how dryis it this time of year right
(00:27):
now. And you know I'm not doingthis by myself.
I am joined as always everysingle week by horticulture
educator Ken Johnson inJacksonville. Hey, Ken.
Ken (00:36):
Hello, Chris. It is dry. Very dry. At least in
Jacksonville it is. Mhmm.
Chris (00:43):
I I did a a demonstration this morning on lawn
installation, and I have thegrit of all the dust in my mouth
still. So I'm like, yeah, everytime I my teeth come together,
it's just kind of this grindingsound. Hopefully, it's not TMJ.
Oh, boy. Something wrong with myjaw?
No. It's sand in my mouth.
Ken (01:06):
Where are your teeth down? I need dentures here.
Chris (01:08):
There you go. Yeah. I gotta smooth out those those
back teeth there. Yeah. Oh,well, Ken, it it is dry.
Dry. And it wasn't always likethis, though. We had quite a bit
of rain earlier in this year.Let's start by maybe giving an
update, you know, what's beengoing on in our neck our own
(01:30):
neck of the woods. SoJacksonville, what have you
experienced this growing season?
Ken (01:36):
Yeah. So earlier early in the year, we had plenty of rain
and just the spigot, as you say,just kinda turned off. I know we
are looking at the droughtmonitor websites. We are
currently in abnormally dryconditions. And I know in the
looking at the ten day forecast,no rain predicted.
(01:56):
I think the last I looked, thehighest chance is like 20%
chance of rain. So it's it'sdrying going to be staying dry
at least for the next week ortwo, it looks like.
Chris (02:07):
Yeah. About about the same story here. We had a lot of
rain in in June. July wasincredibly plentiful with the
precipitation. Looking at someof the the the precipitation
totals near my backyard, Julywas over 10 inches, of rain fell
(02:27):
during that month in Macomb, andsome weather stations are
reporting even higher amounts ofprecipitation, but but
everybody's over 10 for themonth of July.
And then August, as you said,everything turned off. And the
current precipitation, we didget a half inch a few weeks ago,
(02:48):
but in total for August, we'vegot seven tenths of an inch for
the month of August in Macomb.So that's it got very dry very
quickly.
Ken (03:02):
Yeah. I'm not sure how much we got in Jacksonville for
August, but I wouldn't besurprised if it's that or less.
And we've we've had to startwatering our vegetable garden to
start doing that because I mean,when I was out in our front
yard, we've got cracks I can fitmy hand down into and hit my
knuckles, and I'm still nottouching the bottom of the
(03:23):
cracks in our yard. So
Chris (03:27):
That's pretty dry. That when I when that is the sign I
tell folks, when you can shoveyour finger between the sidewalk
and the lawn, that is when wehave to start watering our
trees, which we'll talk about Ithink here in a little bit, but,
don't wanna get ahead ofourselves. But that that is my
sign for it's time to start.Forget about the lawn. Save the
(03:47):
trees.
Ken (03:48):
Lose a small child in a crack.
Chris (03:50):
Yeah. The amount of snakes that also live down those
cracks. I'm kidding, folks. I'mkidding. Stick your hand down
there.
See what happens.
Ken (03:59):
It's the brown recluses. Not really.
Chris (04:02):
You gotta look out for them. Ken is kidding. They don't
brown recluses even in your neckof the woods, they don't survive
our winters, do they? Or
Ken (04:11):
It depends on what map you look at. Sometimes
Chris (04:13):
Okay.
Ken (04:14):
Probably not up by you. Jacksonville would maybe
borderline. Okay. But they'reprobably in your basement, not
outside.
Chris (04:22):
Yes. They're in they're they're house spider. Like, they
wanna be in the house. Theydon't wanna be outside. They
like us.
Ken (04:29):
Remember, if you're cold, they're cold.
Chris (04:31):
That's right. Well, I I I I think we've established that
that it is dry, but there'sother things going on. So Trent
Ford, he is our Illinois stateclimatologist. He did do a blog
post on September 4, so it'sbeen a couple days. But, you
know, looking at sort of whatthe the state of Illinois has
(04:54):
experienced from from thenorthern portions all the way to
Southern Illinois, you know,really commenting about, you
know, Northern Illinois has seenquite a bit of rainfall this
later half of the summer,whereas with Southern Illinois
has seen almost no rainfall.
Actually, Carbondale hasrecorded only two hundredths of
(05:17):
an inch of precipitation. Ithat's like the amount of
morning dew that is accumulatedin the the the rainfall catcher
thing. The the the not therainfall catcher thing. What's
the official name for? Raingauges.
Telling you, dust is getting tome. And and so but August totals
(05:43):
for up in Will County up inNorthern Illinois has been over
10 inches in August, which is300% higher than normal. So we
have these two ends of thestate, far north, far South,
really at two opposite ends ofthe rainfall spectrum. And the
(06:05):
other thing that Trent talksabout is the humidity from the
summer. My gosh.
It was awful, Ken. I it it wasI've never experienced that. Now
you lived in Florida, so maybeyou have. But that amount of
humidity, it was unbelievable,unbearable.
Ken (06:24):
It's definitely having some flashbacks to to to why we why
we moved back to Illinois. Yeah.It's, yeah, uncomfortable. And
and going back to your thedrought stuff in Southern
Illinois, there is a rapid onsetof drought kind of outlook, for
that just because it is we'vehad so little precipitation.
(06:45):
It's going to be getting hotagain.
We've had our our first falsefall, and now summer is coming
back. By the time people arelistening to this, I think it's
going be back into the ninetiesagain. So that, you know, no
rain, dry, or no dry conditions,warm weather again, we still
have plants, you know, drawingon moisture and releasing it.
(07:09):
We've got that thosepossibilities for that really
rapid onset drought, because ofthat.
Chris (07:13):
I like the name that, Trent has in this, blog post. He
calls it flash drought. Youknow, if there's, like, flash
flooding, now there's flashdrought, which is a new word for
me. That's that's a whole newword word that I I will use from
now on, when it gets dry in ahurry. So, Ken, I guess maybe a
(07:34):
few other items just weatherrelated.
You know, if we look at theextended forecast, what NOAA
predicts, you know, we're we'rekind of sitting in the realm of
could be warmer, could be coolerthan average, could be wetter,
could be drier than average. Butwhen we look at some of the the
(07:58):
drought predictions from NOAA,Southern Illinois remains in
this three month period, in thisthree month outlook. Southern
Illinois remains still theprobability of being about 33 to
40% drier than normal. And andagain, with us in Central
Illinois, it's kinda like, couldbe dry, could be wet. We're
(08:20):
we're not quite sure.
So but it seems like that dryweather pattern is gonna hold up
for Southern Illinois. But itdoes look like when we look
ahead at the three month outlookfor temperature, most of
Illinois is going to be, let'ssee if I find the correct key
here. It's like we're about 40%higher than than the normal
(08:45):
temperatures, or the probabilityis to be have a 40% probability
being higher than normaltemperatures.
Ken (08:52):
So, yeah, hot and dry. Mhmm. You're saying, well,
relatively hot. Yep. I'm hopingwe're not 90 in November and
December.
Chris (09:02):
Boy, that would not be fun. The garlic will like that.
Garlic's gonna go nuts if we'renice and warm, and then it's
gonna get hit by a frost thatyou can just see it coming. So
how does all of this weatheraffect our gardening? You know,
we often tell folks, hey, fallis a great time for planting
things.
(09:22):
Normally we get some rainfallreturn after a really variable
summer season. Ken, what whatwhy why should we even care? I
mean, we live in Illinois. Wegot so much water. Who cares?
We got groundwater. We gotlakes. We got rivers, ponds,
streams. There's watereverywhere.
Ken (09:43):
There is. Yeah. So you're normally like
Chris (09:47):
Until there isn't.
Ken (09:48):
Exactly. So like like I said, you know, typically, this
would be the time of year wherethe rains are are coming back
and a little more consistent.And because that, you know,
we're we're planting a lot oftimes trees, shrubs, time per
year to plant grass is the bestthis is the best time of year
typically to plant grass andstuff. But if we're not having
that water, we probably need itwith the models predicting that,
(10:13):
you know, we're gonna stay dryat least next thirty days. You
may want to think twice aboutthat if if you're not gonna if
you don't have the capability orthe desire to constantly not
constantly, but consistentlywater stuff, to get that
established.
So, you know, with trees,they're gonna need quite a bit
(10:34):
of water, you know, if you'replanting new trees. I know we're
at the State Master GardenerConference last week. One of the
the super seminars is treeplanting that Emily was doing.
And and I before I left, Igrabbed my mattock for her so
she could dig the holes becausethe ground was so dry and
there's a lot of clay. We couldnot do it with a shovel.
(10:54):
We had to use the mattock, whichis kinda like a pickaxe, if
you're not familiar with whatthat is, to get to dig a hole.
So if if, you know, you'recentral to Southern Illinois, if
you're planting trees, you maywant to look at watering for
several days beforehand just toget that soil loosened up and
moist so you can actually digit. And then you're going have
(11:16):
to stay on top of that andmulching to help retain that
that moisture and stuff. Mumsthis time of year, you know,
everybody's got mums for sale.Mums are very shallow rooted
plants.
If you want to try to overwinterthose, you know, get them
established in the landscape. Wetalked about this last year,
planting those earlier, soonerrather than later, and then
(11:39):
again staying on top of thatmoisture, mulching that, helping
them get established. If you'rejust, you know, you're growing
them as a temporary thing, youknow, water as usual and stuff,
but probably not gonna don't, Iguess, plan on relying on rain
to get you the moisture youneed. And then with grass, you
(12:02):
know, you're gonna have to keepthat watered. And if you're
doing really large areas, likeyour whole lot yawn, that may
be, that may be a whole lot ofwork.
You may be dragging a lot ofhoses or look at getting one of
the sprinklers the that willgonna walk itself so you don't
constantly have to move stuff.Those are usually Interesting.
(12:25):
Those like little tractors, theypull out a string and like it'll
walk itself forward and it getsto the end, it'll shut off.
Where have I been? When I workedat ground screw at the high
school, they handle I mean, ifyou were doing these on athletic
fields, yeah, you'd set it outand it'd walk itself forward.
Chris (12:42):
I think I've seen those. Some of them are like cutesy and
they look like little tractors.They're on wheels. I just
thought it was cutesy. It'ssupposed to move.
Ken (12:53):
Yeah. Ones the least ones we had, there's a string
attached to it. You run it out,put it on a stake, hook up the
hose and I don't know how itactually worked on with the
water pressure just kind offorced it along, but it would
spin out the water, walkforward, roll forward and then
it got to the end, it hit it andthat would Neat. Compress
something and shut it off. Butagain, that's really big.
(13:14):
And like if you just got apostage stamp yard, you're gonna
be watering everybody's lawnaround you probably, but
Chris (13:23):
Well, that's cool. I so this morning, I just did the, a
lawn installation demo with withwith seed. And so, yeah, right
now, I would be hard pressed tosuggest to folks to to seed,
like, their entire lawn, youknow, like, more than half an
acre of lawn. I mean, we did asmall area along a sidewalk that
(13:48):
was being flipped from plantingbed back into lawn. And, yeah,
it's it's super dry.
I can't imagine keeping up withwater right now on a larger
scale than than this. This isbasically a spot where you can
cover the whole area with withone little sprinkler that's on,
like, half power or, like, youknow, I have the the water
(14:11):
spigot really dialed downtowards, like like, just give it
enough so that the sprinklerhead moves back and forth. But,
yeah, I I would not reallysuggest right now seeding an
entire lawn unless you have somekind of dedicated irrigation
system, you have one of thesemobile walk in irrigation
(14:32):
things, or you're prepared to tofollow-up next year with more
seed.
Ken (14:38):
Yeah. Or you wanna drag hoses everywhere.
Chris (14:41):
Yes. I don't wanna do that. So yeah. Lawn's on its
own. And we've we've experiencedthis though for like several
years, think.
I it I feel like every time weget to mid August, late
September, this is the time whenI should be telling folks, yes,
you need to be seeding yourlawn. You need to this is the
time to do it. And for the lasttwo, maybe three years now, it
(15:05):
has been just just terribly drythis time of year, and which has
forced people to to wait, andand maybe try it in spring where
where spring lawn seeding is notas successful. It can work. You
just you have cold soil.
You know, you're you're dealingwith, just your all the annual
(15:29):
summer annuals are starting togerminate also at that same
time. You just have a lot ofcompetition going on in the
springtime. So, yeah, I thistime of year is ideal.
Ken (15:40):
And by the spring, you're going into hot weather. Yes.
Surely ever it's gettingestablished and stuff. So Yeah.
Chris (15:47):
Yeah. So if we could do it now, this now would be the
time, but we just don't have thesoil moisture to to be as
successful. And it always kindapains me to take potable water
and throw it on the ground for alawn. I'll do it for a tomato,
but a lawn hurts a little bit.
Ken (16:07):
Yeah. And, yeah, depending on your your water source, it
can get expensive.
Chris (16:12):
That's true. Yes. Yeah. Like, the amount of water that's
required right now is not rainbarrel size. Like, unless you
have a thousand gallon rainbarrel somewhere, you know, they
don't you can't really findcisterns anymore where people
use those type of watercatchments or rainfall
catchments underground.
(16:34):
So it's it's potable water, wellwater, rural water, yeah, some
kind of treated water.
Ken (16:44):
Yeah. So instead of I guess spending our time on our lawns,
which, you know, if you want to,great, but maybe think twice
about it because of the amountof water you're going be
needing. What we should probablybe looking at though, especially
as we're heading into the end ofthe fall and eventually winter,
is those perennial trees, thosewoody plants, trees and shrubs,
(17:07):
so especially trees. Yeah, wellestablished trees, you know, can
pull a lot of water, but whenwe're getting this dry for this
long, we probably want to startlooking at adding some
supplemental watering, for thosetrees. And we've, seen pictures
pop up here and there on socialmedia and driving around a
(17:27):
little bit, starting to see somescorch on trees because it is
getting dry.
So even those old mature trees,we would maybe getting to the
point where we want to startthinking about watering those.
So, and especially newer stuff,younger stuff, getting that
water so we're going into thefall and into the winter where
(17:50):
we have that good moisture inthe soil, especially for
evergreens and stuff. Becausewhen we start getting those
cold, dry winds, we don't wantlot of desiccation. We want that
that moisture levels to beadequate. So we're not getting a
lot of desiccation, winter burnand stuff on those.
Chris (18:06):
Yeah. I'm I'm glad you mentioned evergreens. That's a
biggie. You know, what you thinkabout trees, also our boxwoods,
our rhododendrons, those retainbroadleaf evergreen foliage,
which are more susceptible todesiccation in the winter, and
and so yeah, I need to make sureespecially before we get to
(18:29):
freezing, that freezingtemperatures that they are going
into winter not in a deficit ofwater because they are going to
get scorched as they have in thepast. So I I need to make sure
to at least be on top of it withthose.
And and for me, you know, wehave woods behind our house,
those trees are pretty much ontheir own, but I do have some
(18:51):
ash trees in the front of myhouse which I have spent a lot
of money protecting from emeraldash borer, so they also will be
getting water supplementalirrigation. Just I can't help
myself. I I love the I love thehabit of the white ash tree. I
love the fall color. They'regreat trees.
(19:12):
There's a reason why we overplanted them. They're tough.
They're good trees. And, yeah,they're almost gone now.
Ken (19:19):
Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned rhododendron because
we planted some way in ourbackyard where we've got a lot
of shade. We have to drag wehave to drag a lot of hoses out
there to keep those watered.
Chris (19:31):
Grab the hose, Ken. Buy some extra. Those lightweight
hoses, I like those quite a bit,but they do they don't last as
long as the heavy duty ones. Ido like those lightweight ones.
Ken (19:41):
Yeah. We got one of the ones that, you know, shrinks
down Mhmm. And snags it onsomething and it is now. I think
more water is coming out theside of those than the end of
those. So
Chris (19:53):
I I just I just threw away a favorite hose of mine. It
was just a blue rubber hose, butsomehow there was a hole in it
and water got between the twoliners. And the hose just blew
up like a balloon, and I gotterrified. Like, the entire
hose. Like, the it was like likethis giant anaconda was like
(20:16):
blue anaconda was behind me, andI thought it was going to
explode.
I, like, ran over to the spigot,turned it off, and it that water
stayed in there. And I tried totry to drain it out so I could
toss it in the trash, but it wasstill very heavy, very full of
water.
Ken (20:34):
Like, make some drip irrigation out of it.
Chris (20:37):
That's a good point. I should have held onto it and
poked some holes in it, andthere's my own personal drip
line.
Ken (20:43):
Yeah. We've had the the the another one of those hoses that
shrinks up when you don't havethe water on. Somehow the you
know, they got the fabric on theoutside that got kinda torn and
the inner plastic rubber swelledup like a balloon. I did not
shut it off. I let it go untilit burst just to see what
(21:03):
happens.
And filled up with a lot ofwater before it finally
Chris (21:10):
Well, this has been hose talk with good growing. The the
other thing while we're whileI'm thinking of this, make sure
you're undoing your hose fromthe spigot. Just just do it
right now. Even if you'reputting it right back on, those
things confuse together,especially if you're going if
have like a brass spigot and, analuminum or some other type of
(21:34):
metal, hose fitting, they canfuse together. You don't wanna
be doing this right before it'sabout to hard freeze.
Do it right now. This is yourfriendly reminder.
Ken (21:44):
Yes. I did not listen to that friendly reminder last
year, and I still have a hosestuck on my That's yep. That's
why
Chris (21:51):
I
Ken (21:51):
had hacksaw to cut it off. You
Chris (21:56):
just you get those splicers. You just have, like,
multiple splicers by the spigotand the all these old hoses.
Ken (22:01):
Just reaching to the ground. Yeah. So
Chris (22:08):
So but yeah. But that was great great hose talk, Ken. I
I'm I'm glad we we we delvedinto that side road. And so,
yeah, I I think is thereanything else we wanna talk
about, you know, landscape wise,garden wise in terms of keeping
those plants hydrated at thispoint in time? Do you need to do
anything with your cover crops?
(22:29):
Like, do you do you plant covercrops right now? Are you going
to then have to water them?
Ken (22:35):
Yes. I just just bought a whole bunch. And then we're
gonna have to plant them. We'regoing to to water them in and
we'll probably have to keep ontop of that. Because yeah, if
it's it's dry like anythingelse, they're just going to sit
there.
So, yeah. If it's going to bereally dry, may want to think
about how badly you want to docover crops because you will
(22:56):
have to you will have to waterit. It's going be just like
planting a turf or grass seed.You've got to you're gonna have
to water those to get themestablished and stuff. So that
may be something, you know, ifif you haven't bought them yet
and then you're in the centralor southern part of the state,
and then predictions hold, we'renot getting any rain.
(23:17):
That may be something you thinktwice about doing if you don't
if you don't wanna have to waterthose constantly.
Chris (23:22):
You had mentioned before we started the show that folks
are, that that do alfalfaplantings or second guessing
alfalfa plantings this time ofyear. Just no not enough soil
moisture, and you're notirrigating a field of alfalfa
Unless you have a center pivot,but I don't know many people
that would spend that amount ofmoney on something like that.
Ken (23:43):
Yeah. So you have the home garden, yeah, where you can
water. You can do it, but yeah.Again, you know, weigh that with
having to water that. If you'vegot if you're planting that, you
know, under a crop you alreadyhave and you're already
watering, it may not be that bigof a deal, but just just some
(24:04):
food for thought.
Chris (24:06):
But then we did that just today. We we put our oats and
radish. We we scattered themunderneath our tomatoes,
peppers, and cucumbers. Andthey're still on drip
irrigation, so we'll still haveto water them probably. Go in by
hand, hand water around the bed.
(24:26):
But, yeah, that that justhappened today, September 9. Put
the cover crop in.
Ken (24:32):
Have strips of cover crop.
Chris (24:34):
Yeah. Along the drip line.
Ken (24:39):
So I I got the email there. Ours our cover crop seed is in
the mail or on the truck. So
Chris (24:45):
Well, Ken, one more thing about being so dry, and I I
guess this is our our ourwarning. PSAs, Smokey the Bears,
fire. It's a big deal. You don'tmaybe think much about wildfire
in, in Illinois, but it happens.And it has been happening with
(25:08):
fires that have escaped, intodry cornfields, and those fires
could travel quite quickly.
I mean, it kinda depends onhumidity and wind and and other
weather conditions, but anywherefrom, like, a slow creep to
upwards of 20 ish miles perhour, which I think both you and
I confirmed, Ken, we cannot runthat fast.
Ken (25:31):
Nope. Okay.
Chris (25:32):
Yeah. Can't can't do that. So, yeah, fire. Do do you
do you practice in pyrotechnicsin the fall months? Because I
know I do.
I have a little pyromaniac sideof me that that loves to have
like a little fall fire. Do youdo such things, Ken?
Ken (25:51):
Not at our we live in town, it's not at our house. We you
and me build a small fire androast marshmallows and stuff.
But my parents do as a kid, youknow, we had lived out in the
country, so to speak. And wehad, it was like 10 mature oak
trees and we burned leaves. Sothat was lots of weekends that
(26:15):
we were out burning leaves.
So yes. So not as not as much asI used to in my younger days. If
I didn't live in town, yeah, Iprobably would because buyer's
fun. But when it's this dry,yeah, this is something to keep
in mind, especially if you livein a more rural setting, if you
(26:35):
have farm fields around you. Iprobably do not wanna be doing
that.
You don't wanna spark any ofthat stuff, catch it. Lead to
some big problems and your yourneighbors aren't gonna be happy
with you if you burn theirfields down. Mhmm.
Chris (26:50):
And I and I know we're getting into fire season for,
like, habitat management folksthat do prairies. You can even
do timber burns in Illinois. Andreally the timber burns are
usually pretty docile comparedto the prairie fires that I have
been a part of. And it would beone of those, like, you know,
(27:16):
you have to really pay veryclose attention to the weather,
to that relative humidityfactor, and do not I I do not
participate in controlled burnswhere I don't have somebody else
in charge who has taken classes,who is certified as a a burn
(27:37):
boss in Illinois, And alwaysalways be contacting the local
fire department. And, yeah, donot do not go out and say, ah,
I'm gonna start burning rightnow.
That's probably not a greatidea. We probably wanna wait
till we have some precipitation,a little bit of more moisture on
(27:58):
the ground, and then maybe waitmore into the wintertime.
Ken (28:03):
Just be smart about it. Mhmm. If it stays dry, hold off.
Say, if you're gonna do one,have those nearby. So if if
something does spark, he canhopefully get it out.
Chris (28:18):
Mhmm. Extra set of eyes, extra long hose, couple extra
buckets of water. Yeah. Plan forthe worst. Well, that was a lot
of great information aboutdealing with fall drought.
Year after year after year, itseems like. It's like we're on a
Groundhog Day loop here of thisdry fall weather. And we have to
(28:40):
talk about it now, folks, sothat it actually rains. Because
if we didn't say anything, itwouldn't rain. But now that
we've said something, it it'ssupposed to ring.
Right?
Ken (28:47):
Is that
Chris (28:47):
right, Ken? Is that how it works? It's gonna rain on
Thursday before this comes out.Exactly. People be like, what
are we listening to?
Or maybe we'll just throw thisepisode in the trash can and
start over. Well, the GoodGrowing podcast production of
University of Illinois Extensionedited this week by me, Chris
Enroth. Hey, Ken. Thanks forhanging out today, looking at
the the NOAA maps and in thebackyard, the crispy backyard in
(29:12):
both our cases, and and talkingabout the dry fall weather that
we're experiencing.
Ken (29:17):
Yes. Thank you. And we have to go buy some new more hoses
and drag them out to myrhododendrons and get those
watered. Mhmm. Let's do thisagain next week.
Chris (29:28):
Oh, we shall do this again next week. It'll be more
horticultural hijinks. We'll seeif it's rained, and we'll see
what the topic is of the week.It might change based on the
weather. So listeners, thank youfor doing what you do best, and
that is listening.
Or if you watched us on YouTube,watching. And as always, keep on
growing. It is dry and dusty outthere. Let me tell you. And I
(30:03):
you know, I'm not doing this bymyself.
I am wait. Did I even I don'tthink I said that right. It is
dry and dusty. Okay. Should wejust keep going?
Take two.
Ken (30:18):
Why why not? Okay.
Chris (30:23):
Take two. Sorry, Ken.
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