Our Drought Conditions Worsen

For the past two years, New England has had above-average precipitation and well-above-average soil moisture. All that has changed in 2020. As the attached map shows, almost the entire region is ‘abnormally dry’ and much has slipped into a ‘moderate drought’. Almost as bad, much of our precipitation in July was in the form of pop-up thunderstorms which did not provide the deep watering our soil needs. For gardeners – especially those with watering bans – August will be a month of triage. Your priority for watering should be 1) vegetables, 2) trees, shrubs and perennials planted this year, and 3) containers. Your lowest priority should be your lawn. It may brown out now, but it is a perennial that will re-green with cooler temperatures.