There ain't no cure

For the Summertime Blues.  There is always a 2-3 week period during the summer when I wish I could irrigate the gardens with a good sprinkler system.  It is hard to watch the hard work of seeding, transplanting, weeding, etc. be lost to the relentless dry, hot weather we have had here for the past couple of weeks.  There is still good moisture under the top 2 inches of soil, but if the dry weather continues, we will reach a tipping point and the plants in the garden will go into moisture stress which will be tough to recover from.  The first corn needs water to fill out the ears, the cukes and melons are water hogs and even the carrots are pushing deep in search of water.  With only chances of isolated thunderstorms in the 10 day forecast, it looks like the hand wringing will continue.  The same angst is repeated on a larger scale at the farms in the North Country.  Irrigation is a relatively new phenomenon in this area, since historically, the muck soils and the heavier mineral soils store moisture well and rains have been more or less reliable.  It is a big leap  to invest thousands of dollars for a system you may only need for one or two weeks during a season. Of course, that is not the case as climate change plays old harry with the weather patterns.  Weeks of dry weather are followed by torrential rains.  Many growers can irrigate, but others still depend on the increasingly fickle whims of Mother Nature.