The devastating effect of the drought on the plants in my orchard and my garden.

After a more or less prolonged absence, I am back in contact with all the #hivers friends of this community.

This has been due to two main reasons: the first one is directly related to the topics we deal with in this section such as gardening, the vegetable garden and the cultivation of plants and flowers in general.

In fact, a tremendous drought has been devastating the region where I live since the last quarter of last year until now.

In all this semester the rainfall was barely 100 mm when the normal average in a similar period should be around 600-700 mm, that is, an annual rainfall regime in the order of 1200-1400 mm.

All the crops have been destroyed by the high temperatures which during the summer months (January-February) generally exceeded 40°.

And my garden, with the adjacent orchard, was no exception. I was only able to harvest some arugula for salads and chard for family consumption only.

Squash production failed completely. I couldn't even harvest a single pumpkin. And the same with tomatoes. The plants developed thanks to the artificial risk, but they never bore fruit, they lacked the necessary strength. The plants grew and flowered, but none of them transformed the flower into fruit.

And the second problem was health problems related to the sequel that left me the Covid, contracted last September 21, by irony of fate just the day that in this part of the planet celebrates the day of spring and from which I have never been able to recover completely, because with the Covid I was attacked by a strong pneumonia.

To leave testimony of what has been this drought I want to share some photos that I took with my cell phone.

The trunk you see in them is from a wild walnut tree that never bore fruit and was in danger (its crown) of falling on the roof of my house or the roof of the neighbor's house, when strong hurricane winds would originate.

With much pain in my soul I was forced to cut it down (I did not want to dig it up by the roots) to give it a second chance to continue living and growing.

Until before the high temperatures and the prolonged drought began, it gave numerous branches on the sides of the trunk that, even last year, I used as a vertical support for the growth of the squash plants to prevent them from multiplying horizontally with their guides on the ground, occupying too much space.

The branches began to dry out, little by little, exposing the thick bark that covered the trunk.

To give you an idea of how thick this bark is, I was able to use it as firewood to make embers instead of charcoal for a delicious autumn Sunday roast.

When the trunk of the bark is uncovered, a smooth trunk remains in sight, of a color as light as ghostly, testifying to a life that no longer exists.

The extreme heat and the lack of water have penetrated the soil with such force as to first take away all the strength and then make the roots themselves dry up.

The fruit trees (oranges and mandarins) that last year were full of fruit, this year have had a very poor production, almost nil, and when especially the oranges begin to ripen they break in half and fill with worms and other larvae.

The lack of strength in their growth makes the insects, parasites and other pests that generally affect this type of crops make the disaster and discouragement even greater.

We are at the beginning of winter and I have started to sow some vegetables, but for the moment the result is discouraging.

The drought continues to linger, although at the moment the temperatures are, of course, low. The only relief is that during the fall and winter some plants, as long as the cold is not too severe, manage to survive and conserve the scarce moisture much better.

To counteract the drought and high temperatures that are sure to come in a couple of months with spring and summer, I have devised a system to start supplying the plants with some more moisture. Especially to their roots.