Tuesday, June 26, 2012  Preparing for the Worst-case Scenario
the back lawn of Squirrelhaven, June 26, 2012 What, me worry?
You'd better believe I'm worried about the gardener's worst
nightmare, drought. Extreme cold in our Midwestern gardens isn't
a big cause for concern, especially if there is good snow cover.
In the worst case, you might lose a couple of plants. By
contrast, with a drought, you might lose everything. Now I'm a
firm believer in not worrying. Worrying doesn't solve anything,
it doesn't prevent the worst from happening, and it sure doesn't
make you feel any better about it. In fact, should the worst
come to pass, worry renders you even less able to deal with the
situation. So, what is a gardener to do, but relax and, as a
first step, assess. For a second step, plan. Why am I worried
about the worst-case scenario of drought? According to NOAA, as
of June 19, Northern Illinois is in a state of "abnormally dry"
conditions (the next step up is "moderate drought"), and there
was a wildfire at the