SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - Irrigation systems were working hard Thursday afternoon in eastern Sussex County, where rainfall this summer has been scarce in areas, with parts of the county under moderate drought conditions.
For gardeners in the nursery industry, the extended dry weather makes for coms backbreaking work and frustrating water management when planting shrubs.
Gardener Elwood Hemmeain of the Vine Creek Nursery described what dry weather does to the soil.
"Then the first layer looks just like cement, it's hard," Hemmeain said. "And it's hard digging it and shoveling it and stuff. And all the mulch and stuff, when you do get the rain, it washes the topsoil and stuff away."
Not everyone is upset with the unusually dry August conditions. Adrian Mobilia of the Salted Vines Vineyard explained that a dry August makes for a good vintage.
"We don't like a lot of rain this time of year as we're getting ready to go to harvest," Mobilia said. "The rain will dilute our sugar and drive our pH up, which we don't want. So little bits here and there are great, if not we can control it with our irrigation."
This summer on Delmarva has not been totally barren. Parts of the peninsula have had rain on occasion. In June and July, Salisbury received nearly one foot of rain. This past Monday in Ocean View, Del., as many as five inches of rain was reported.
But as a landscaper in Millville, Del. explained, this rain, which has so often come in downpours, is actually causing more problems than the dry conditions.
"When we go from really dry to really wet, turf and plant material can really tend to stress out a little bit," said Joshua Kenney, owner of Shore Thing Property Services. "They get fungus and different disease with that quick change and so much moisture that doesn't really evaporate from the root system."