Valley Fog

Job one today was to get a clear picture of fog.  This time of year our valleys fill with fog every night.  Hot humid southern air just hangs here.  Night time cooling takes the air to a point where it can no longer hold its moisture load.  Water vapor condenses and the valleys fill with fog.  Despite our drought of six weeks duration, plant foliage greets each new day dripping wet.  High air humidity slows the drying process so the leaves remain damp much of the morning.

We are located just over the near ridge close to the bottom of the valley about on a line with the end of the barn.  The distant ridge seen here is never visible from our place.  A lower ridge hidden in the fog blocks our view of this distant high ridge.   Wisdom that sometimes comes with hindsight now tells me that our homestead would have been better placed higher in the valley.  Tomatoes growing in the pictured field would have been dry this morning.  Ours woke up wet.

At our age moving again is not an option.  We will work with the challenges that come with our site.  Spacing plants so that they get good air circulation may offset the dangers of nightly soaking.  So far powdery mildew is absent here, as is blight.  Our garden is presently filled with lily fragrance  and bird's song.  Advantages clearly outweigh disadvantages.