Saturday evening... we enjoyed our supper around the picnic table. To the south, there was alot of rain and we only received a trace. We are still praying that our ponds and reservoirs will fill up, however the rains that we have received have done so much for the subsoil moisture reserves.
In this heavy clay soil (Gumbo) we can really get dry. It takes a long time for moisture to get down. Water will run off quite easily, because it takes so long to permeate. The rains in June and July have been, in most instances, just right. I will say that our subsoil moisture is better than it has been at anytime since the beginning of the century
2000 - 2007 were dry years. It took six to seven years for our big dam to dry up. 2008 - 2011 were heavy snow years and some hard rains. I do not believe the soil had a chance to replenish completely. 2012 and most of 2013 were dry... and then Storm Atlas... which provide much moisture, but again did not get deep. And then this region was extremely dry in 2016 and 2017. Our big dam went dry in just two years. That had never happened before. 2018 started out somewhat bleak as well. We did receive some snow, but most of it was very dry. All said and done... these rains in June and July have been amazing. We are counting our blessings. The good thing about gumbo... when it is soaked up... it does not dry out very fast either. And sometime that can be tough as well. But when you rely on grass as your main crop. ...