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digitS'
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Re: 2018 What's the weather like where you are?

All sorts of things have happened when I have been posting on HG, AppleStar. Believe it or not, I nearly always proofread and often make especially weird mistakes where I've changed things!

:roll: Weather here: Snow is forecast for tonight. It has been freezing every single morning. I was a little surprised that it froze this morning because 1/4" of rain fell yesterday, mostly right at sundown. Surprised again on my way down the back steps heading out to the greenhouse ... oopsiedaisy!

Meanwhile, in the pleasantly warm greenhouse:
March 23, 2018 74953 AM PDT_kindlephoto-224025905.jpg
Some successes :D

Stev

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applestar
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Are you saying you fell? Please be careful! I hope you were not hurt.

...and Image for Coyote!

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digitS'
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No, foot slipped but no fall :oops: . I appreciate your concern :). In 20+ years living in this home, I have only fallen once on those stairs. That was a very similar situation to yesterday. Throughout all of that time, I have had mobility problems and those 5 steps down have encouraged caution. No, I fall when I least expect to, usually out in the open where there shouldn't have been cause. Of course that also means that there isn't something for me to fall over and I get away with my clumsiness without paying much of a price.

My various saved seed has both pleased and disappointed me. Luckily, I have started early enuf and with sufficient seed held back that I can begin several again; gaining a plant or 2. More Chances to Win!. The entire growing and saving process is so long-term, messing up can enter the picture and time to make corrections pass. AppleStar, you are to be commended for keeping so many balls in the air, season after season :shock: . I'm sure it's fun but you should have a garden apprenticeship program!

Snow this morning but the ground and pavement are too warm for it to stick. Looks like a forecast for a miserable day for outdoor workers. Tomorrow morning, driving conditions (and those steps :? ) will probably be very bad.

Stephen
edit: oops! just looked out into the morning darkness and the thermometer is once again to where the falling snow has created a blanket of white.

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applestar
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We had mostly steady 20-30mph wind with lulls and occasional gusts all day yesterday, but my hardening-off seedlings remained safe in the protected nook of the patio. Luckily wind wasn’t blowing from direction that forms mini-dustdevils there.

...I always wonder if Mary Poppins might be flying up in the sky with her parrot handled black umbrella heading for her next assignment of “charges”...

DarrenP
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Here in South Australia, we are in mid autumn. For the next three days, we are looking at 36, 37, and 36 degrees Celsius. That's unheard of at this time of year, more like summer temps. We should be having mid 20's, with cool nights.
And I've only just finished taking all the shade cloth down from the veggie beds.

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Rained most of the time between 3 a.m. until around 6 this morning. I plan on boiling a sack of crawfish today and was thinking if the weather kept up like it was, I'd have to put it off until tomorrow, but the sun is now out with clear blue skies and absolutely fantastic temperatures in the mid 60's F at the moment.

So, off to the seafood market I will head and buy a 35-40 lb. sack of the delicious little crustaceans to cook and enjoy.

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applestar
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:D I’ll be right over :-() :>

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applestar
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@DarrenP — fickle Mother Nature :x I hope your garden gets through the heatwave. Maybe you will get extra harvest season this year?

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applestar wrote::D I’ll be right over :-() :>
More than happy to have you. You can then learn how to eat mudbugs the proper way with sucking the heads and pinching the tails to get all the tasty morsels possible.

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Well that went great. I picked up a 35 lb. sack of crawfish and did the boil and it was just for the wife and I this time. We ate our fill and then picked the rest to get the tail meat and about 200 of the larger heads that I will use to make a few gallons of crawfish bisque in the next couple days.

For those not familiar with crawfish bisque, you take the tail meat and chop it fine, add onions, bell pepper, green onions, parsley, garlic, celery all minced real fine and then add bread crumbs, a little egg for a binder and make a stuffing. Then you stuff the cleaned out heads, brown them off to set the stuffing in them and cook all that down in a crawfish flavored rich red gravy for a few hours. It is a meal to die for and one that not many people cook any more due to the intense labor needed to make it, especially when boiling your own crawfish and going from there.

I know we have some La. folk in here and they can attest to the amount of work involved, but boy, is it worth it in the long run.

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@Applestar, where I live, I get to grow what we call cool weather crops in winter, such as brassicas, root vegetables, onions, etc.
Some will grow in the warmer months, but others, like beetroot, either bolt or just grow leaves with no root as such.
Summer here is all about the tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, etc.
This morning I put the shade cloth back up, and finished extending the chicken run before it got too hot.

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applestar
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UNBELIEVABLE! 80+°F for two days running and I can’t take the time to plant my lettuce and other “cool” weather starts. I barely had the time to put up some shade for them this morning, but couldn’t move them from the brick patio to cooler area in the garden.

BUT! Temp is supposed to head downward all the way to around 40°F by tomorrow noon, and it’s supposed to rain most of the day tomorrow and night. Overnight lows possible in the upper 30’s for the following three mornings.... :roll:

DarrenP
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Well our heat wave turned into 4 days instead of three, at 37-38 degrees Celsius. That's hot for this time of year. Veggie beds seem to have survived ok. Now we have a couple days of wind and rain, probably half an inch in your language.

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It is overcast and when I got out from my party, the ground was wet and there was a light drizzle. However, on the drive home I saw a grey mist obscuring the view so there was more rain (annoying drizzle) on the way home. The forecast is for more rain and possible thunderstorm tonight. The weather is so inconsistent. It was a perfect sunny day yesterday until nightfall when the rain moved in. Good thing, I finally weed whacked the grass yesterday.

xtron
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we got rain!!! 1.3 inches so far and still coming down.
good timing too, yesterday I planted peas and beets. this should get things up and growing.

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rainbowgardener
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Making me crazy!! Three days ago it was 77 degrees. This morning I woke up to frost on the cars and the bird bath frozen over. It had only been predicted to go down to 36 degrees. I haven't been out to look at all the plants I have been planting, I'm not sure I want to know.... :shock:

I understand that early spring is always up and down, but we have been doing this for more than a month now, a few days or even a week of warm, then one or two nights down at or close to freezing.

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digitS'
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We will be hoping for the very best for your plants, RainbowGardener.

There are big temperature swings here under clear skies. I'm always a little stressed about the outdoor conditions, early and late. Even with few nighttime hours of darkness through the growing season, 30°f differences between afternoon temperatures and overnight lows are not uncommon - puts some stress on many plant species. Several days rather than several hours may be what your plants needed to adjust.

Not such big swings here, lately -- haven't been much in the way of clear skies. I'm usually complaining about a lack of April sunlight but 2018 hasn't been very kind to my greenhouse plants! Supplemental lighting sure would have helped but the thing is now crammed with flats and something like 8' fluorescent fixtures would only cover so many of the poor little stretched seedlings ...

Overcast like this sometimes prevails right through until summer. I can usually guess how good of a gardening year I will have by when conditions clear up in the spring. But, some early springtime sun is needed! (I will be back to complain about scorching hot July days, later :wink: .)

Steve

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Right now I'm kind of bummed. It is feeling like a frustrating spring. I had 16 beautiful broccoli plants started under lights in January, that we would have been eating from, except the chickens kept finding their way into that garden. I would fix the fence and they would find another way. Totally killed the broccoli. Now that we have the picket fence around the other gardens, I borrowed some of the fencing that was in there and made a secure fence and replanted.

I waited and waited and waited. All my seedlings were way outgrowing the little pots. According to the weather it would get down to 36 last night and then no more nights in the 30's. So I planted everything, tomatoes, peppers, basil, impatiens, etc., all of which I had started from seed under lights and were thriving. And of course we had what looked like a pretty hard freeze last night, with the bird bath completely frozen over and not just with a thin film of ice. Most of the warm weather plants look like a complete loss.

My fault I guess. But some years the last frost here is in March. I could have kept waiting and missed over a month of growing time..... April 17 (today) is my 90% last frost date, I.e. a 10% chance of getting a frost this late. Sigh.... I guess I will be buying a bunch of plants. I just don't have the heart to re-start all that at this point.

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It is absolutely gorgeous here and will continue like so the rest of the week. It is in the low 70's with relatively low humidity, clear blue skies and a light breeze. It has been getting down into the upper 50's to low 60's at night and it's nice to have the house open to air out.

It rained like crazy over part of the weekend but has dried out nicely and I got into the garden yesterday for a little transplanting to space some okra and a few other plants to give them sufficient room and then weeded a good bit to keep up with that task. Took the hoe between the rows and hand weeded between plants. Guess it's time to hit the store for a lot of cardboard to place between my rows since the weeds are showing up and will only get worse between now and the next time I till in the fall.

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I feel for you guys with the frosts and snow. We very occasionally get a light frost in winter, but no snow. The heat in summer is our only weather issue. And lack of rain sometimes.

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applestar
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Aww I’m so sorry to hear about the damage to your plants @rainbowgardener — that is heartbreaking. :cry: There is always something, but I know how much work and care is invested and it takes a toll. I hope the season is kinder to you after this rocky start. Image

imafan26
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The heavy rain last weekend causes flooding on Kauai and parts of the windward side. Some seashore homes on Kauai were washed away or damaged along with some homes, churches, schools, and businesses around streams that overflowed. The roads were impassible and some parts of the main road on the windward side of Oahu was undermined and washed out. I think the news said that Kauai got 48" of rain in 24 hours. It was a new record. The last time it came close was the New Years flood of 1992 when Hahahione Stream changed course right through a house.

My lanai floods with heavy rain, but it gets sucked out on its own. All I can do is put up a barricade and dig a trench to redirect water to the side of the house.

More rain is expected and there is a flash flood watch that started yesterday that runs through tomorrow. The rain is expected tonight. It is from the same system that hit us last weekend. It is not so much the rain, but the volume and the fact that the ground is still saturated. Forecasting bad weather here is hit and miss. Most of the rain may just land in the ocean or on another island. Hopefully, the folks that have already lost so much and spent the week cleaning up won't have to do it again.
I am in Central Oahu so I get some of the rain that makes it over the mountains from the windward side. I do live on a hill and down hill at the end of the street is the drop off to Kipapa Gulch so I have never seen the street flooded more than ankle deep even in the worst rain. In the meantime I may add a little fortification to the lanai and make sure the water can get out to the side of the house.

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applestar
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35°F this morning! Forecast was 42°F. :x

I actually left the two lidded storage tubs of tomato seedlings outside, albeit on the brick patio in a sheltered corner near the kitchen window ON the arms of a teak armchair so up off the ground AND covered with 3-layers of thin plastic, a heavy garden fleece, and a nylon woven burlap blanket.

I thought at 42 and in sheltered location with those covers, they might be better off than being brought in the house like I did with the peppers... ugh. I brought the two tomato totes in the kitchen to warm up — hopefully they haven’t taken damage, though apparently the temp dropped down to the 30’s around 2am, so just over 3 hours.... It’s supposed to warm up to above 50 by 9am.

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rainbowgardener
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Well that was the very last frost. And the good news is that since it was warm before and after, the freezing probably only lasted a few hours. The tenderest things, basil and impatiens, died. All the rest, including tomatoes and some of the peppers, were set back a lot but are now sprouting back from low on the plant. I am cutting the dead tops off and letting them go to see what happens. They are stunted and ugly, but survivors!! :)

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digitS'
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Yesterday was a very warm day. First afternoon above 70°f since September, 2017!

It's now approaching 30° cooler than that, outdoors. We have moved a number of tomato plant starts out of the greenhouse and into the temporary hoop house. They joined some marigolds and zinnias in their containers, sitting across the path between two beds. This is the latest that I've fired up the little electric heater in there since the frost-tender plants began rotating into that cooler, protected growing. Sunrise is still more than an hour off.

Friday afternoon, we may see the thermometer hit 80°! Then, don't you know, the forecast for the weekend is for clouds, rain and much cooler. We will come out of that with overnight temperatures back, at least, to frost on the rooftops. I'm really hoping that the tractor guy follows thru and tills the big garden on or close to the first. If there is some delay, I may be out myself with the rototiller on some ground he doesn't need to drive over so that I can get some pea and early greens seed in ...

digitS'

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applestar
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YAY! We got the much needed rain! Not just a sprinkle but good soaking rain!! This means I will be able to pound stakes and posts into the hard subsoil clay that has been softened by the soaking. :-()

WAH! We got so much rain all of the trays and tubs with my hardening off plant starts are filled with as much as 2 inches or so of rainwater :shock:

...after that first inspection round/stroll with my mug of coffee, I’m inside fortifying myself with eggs and bacon before going out to tackle them all. I collect all the water that have been enriched by the fertile potting mix so it’s going to take a while.... :roll:

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applestar
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Oh great. It went down to 49°F last night ... creeping up to 50°F now. That’s going to be a little cold for the tropicals that were sent outside for the season. It’s been raining, too.

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It's been raining all week here. I'm starting to grow gills.

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rainbowgardener
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Damn near perfect! Temps in the mid 80's between now and Thurs next week (with night time lows in the mid 60's). Lots of sunshine, but frequent brief thundershowers, so I don't have to do too much watering. Everything is so lush and deep green and growing like crazy. We haven't had the furnace on since early-mid April and still have not turned the A/C on. So our electric bill for April (for all the energy for our all-electric house, we have no gas bill) was $5. That is what was left over when the credit for what our solar panels generated was subtracted from what we used. We expect our May bill to be in negative numbers.

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digitS'
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We have had 9 overnight lows above 50°f. All of them occurred in May and 5 this week.

The forecast low for this morning was back in the 40's but it didn't happen! All mornings this coming week should be above 50° and we might see the first above 60°. Afternoon highs forecast to be in the 80's by mid-week.

We have reached good growing season warmth but have had 6° to 8° above normal temperatures for this time of the year and look to be going higher.

Steve

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applestar
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It’s 49°F with windchill of 48°F here, according to the closest weather bug station.


...Not to worry, we’re going up to 79° F for today’s high — very windy as you might expect from such temp fluctuation.

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digitS'
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It was 48° here this morning, also.

The afternoon is turning windy. I hope not yesterday's 30mph gusts; wind is so stressful on the garden plants.

On the 3rd, the temperature rose from 49° in the morning to 87° in the afternoon. That sorta thing is also stressful. Usually, those 40° temperature swings occur when there is very low humidity and l o n g hours of overnight darkness. Makes me feel that I should be covering all the plants!

Maybe when I finally decide to confine my gardening to here at home, I will just use protective growing or containers that I can wheel indoors during difficult hours.

Steve

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applestar
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...aaaand 48°F outside now.... :shock:

— I just planted and sowed a bunch of warm/hot weather stuff yesterday thinking this is getting WAY late. This has been a very weird season so far. The peppers I already planted are yellowed and wilty looking, and tomatoes have been slow to grow.

Cabbage-family stuff are looking great however, but there has been enough days soaring up to upper 80’s and 90’s that lettuces have all bolted. Cabbage white were slow to appear this year, but now that they are here, they are already egg-dumping, laying dozens of eggs on each leaf, and there has been hot enough weather that cabbage moths have laid eggs on the cabbages, too. I’m afraid those lush leaves are going to get turned into lace and tattered in no time at all.... :x

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applestar
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Yep, and 45°F just before dawn. :eek:
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Gary350
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Hot & dry here no rain in 2 weeks garden is doing good.

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applestar
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Heatwave — 88°F tomorrow, then 90’s until next Thursday. But only possible rain in the forecast is 70% chance during couple of hours tonight. :?

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digitS'
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Officially,

in the 40's (Fahrenheit), this morning.

The very frequent (continuous) wind over weeks and weeks has been exhausting, for this gardener.

Steve

imafan26
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It is a warm 79 degrees now but it got up to 88 today. We had warm rain in the morning that steamed off. Humidity 89% with light trades. Definitely feeling the summer heat. It is a good day to go riding in an air conditioned car or go to the mall, movies, beach, but not a good day to work out in the sun.

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Gary350
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98 degrees with extremely high humidity it feels much hotter than 114 in Arizona. I was at Death Valley once 123 degrees it feels hotter than Death Valley today. Humidity is suffocating hard to be outside more than 10 minutes. Where I once lived in Illinois was 105 today they claim it has never been that hot there before. Put on your swim suit then get out the garden hose the water feels good.

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applestar
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When digitS said it was in the 40’s, I thought wow that’s cold ...but assumed it could happen since both he and jal_ut have talked about uncertain summer temperatures where they live in the past.

But it is currently 52°F HERE, which is NOT NORMAL. It’s July for crying outloud. :shock:



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