Reliving Rain, what is this stuff in my rain barrels?
(originally written on September 12th after first rain of the season)
By Plantsy Drew

While working inside, I could hear a tick, tick, tick like a small smack. I looked all through the house thinking squirrel, bird in the attic, something broken. Finally I looked outside–after taking off the insulating layers of curtain, blinds and plasticboard installed to keep the heat out–I viewed the glory that was rain! Water falling from the sky, life giving, heat calming, seed sprouting natural water!

Oh thank the heavens for the relieving rain! Such a glorious end to a brutally hot, dry summer. I hope everyone was dancing and oogling the wet stuff falling from the sky as I was. Quickly I lined up all my spare 5-gallon buckets along the roof line, flip flop feet splashing in the puddles, and neighbor kids jumping up and down in the mud. And oh, what a relief with the toned down light, a few days of cloud cover to break the eye strain from the glaring yellow orb of life. The long sustained turmoil of the atmosphere was such a complete change from the sky we had been living with for the past four months–and really for the past year!

Why was there flooding? Will there be more? If there is more, how can we best plan for it and use the rain to benefit ourselves and our surroundings? Now that the environment has changed, what to do?

The ground has been so dry for so long, it had really hardened. Not quite but almost rock solid. So, when the rain falls, as it has a tendency to do here, all at once, the water just runs off the ground to the low creeks and washes. Then these gullies fill up to capacity rushing to the next low spot, the nearby river. If a road happens to be in the way, it gets a wash out. Let the ground soak in the moisture and after this first rain, get ready to plant!

There is so much we can do in the garden now, and the rain reminds us to plan for future downpours. It is time to disperse wildflower seeds, plant winter gardens, most important of all-install a rain barrel!

Wildflower seeds to sow now are spring and summer bloomers, especially bluebonnets-get them in by September if possible, October if you forget. All the other standards too, Indian blanket, Mexican hat, coreopsis, skeleton leaf golden eye, showy primrose, get a mix, get them all!

Get ready to plant hardy perennials-yellow bells, lantana, salvia greggii, trees especially. Any tree planting you want to do, get it done by February!

And lastly, install a rain barrel. The city of Austin offers rebates for small barrels, over 75 gallons, and large rebates for rainwater harvesting systems, 500 gallons or more. Go to their website to check out details
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watercon/rbrebates.htm

Enjoy the coolness. Your plants will. You are going to notice a big change. Some plants that had started to fade to yellow will re-green (rosemary, bamboo, some trees) And everything is going to bust out blooming. Even plants that normally bloom in summer have been in a holding/dormant pattern due to the continued heat and lack of moisture. It will be a pleasant few days.