Guess what? It's time to water the garden

Water watcher and dry gardener Emily Green is advising her fellow Los Angeles-area gardeners that despite the tease of rain this week, it's time to irrigate the soil. That's because this year is already way below typical for precipitation, and the outlook doesn't get much better. "As odd as it sounds to be prescribing irrigation after light rains blew through and before summer heat, for lack of meaningful precipitation, late winter is the time to charge unnaturally dry ground<" she blogs at Chance of Rain. "The soil is still porous, so there should be no run-off. Shorter and cooler days check evaporation and native and Mediterranean gardens are growing now, so they need a drink before they slip into summer dormancy in May."

Map: NOAA One-Month Outlook/Precipitation Probability