What has my rain garden done for me lately?

So today is September 1st. It's almost always dry at this time of year. This year though, we've had the hottest summer on record in Durham, North Carolina. And it's been breezy. There were days when I felt that I was walking around in a convection oven. Our gardens have suffered. Even the rain garden is showing signs of stress with groundcovers displaying burnt edges on their leaves.
Thank God for the grasses. Nothing ever seems to phase them and now they are topped with beautiful plumes that sway in the hot breeze.

I did a little weeding this weekend. I didn't think I'd get very far with the ground being baked to a brick-like consistency. And in parts of the yard, this was true but the beds on the slope just below the rain garden had moist soil. I shoved a long narrow spade in to clean up the edge of the bed and pull back the runner grass and it slid in easily. The soil was still moist to a depth of at least eight inches. This surprised me since we've only had a smattering of brief rain over the last two weeks that punctuated the oven-like days. My only conclusion is that a large area around the rain garden soaked up the water that sits for a day or two after a storm event just like a sponge. Moving uphill from that very same rain garden and the soil is dry and hard as would be expected for the weather patterns we've had.

So now, I'm trying to decide how to incorporate a rain garden over by the apple and cherry trees and the blueberry bushes. We'll collect the run-off from the north side of the garage roof and channel it there. We won't get near the volume of water because the square footage is so small but even 4 or 500 gallons would make a difference to the fruiting trees and bushes.

September here in North Carolina is also a very high-risk time for the after effects of coastal hurricanes. Earl is now moving toward our coast but the weatherman says no rain for us from this storm. Fiona is following right behind him but it looks like she too is going to stay far out to sea and not even an outer band of moisture will reach us.

Of course I'm not wishing for destruction at the coast to get us a little much needed rain but as they say 'If wished were horses then beggars would ride on gleaming white stallions with bright fiery eyes'. So,,,, I wish for a weather system that settles peacefully over the upper piedmont where we live and slowly drops a few inches of much needed moisture over a few cool days. Yes, wishes.