Planting, growing and freezing.

[jal_ut]

Some of you are planting, and growing, and I'm freezing. 26° this morning. No snow on the ground. This is a rather unusual situation as we normally have snow and sub zero temperatures in January. The ground is freezing. I guess that is a good thing to get rid of a lot of insect pests, but I hope my garlic survives it. I think it will be OK, as it seems to have good cold resistance.

Last spring I remember shaking my head because it was a cool season, and now its a warm winter. (warm, as in warmer than expected) Oh well, we just roll with the punches. I have been putting together my shopping list for seeds. The local garden store has bulk seed and they weigh out enough for a packet for around 75 cents. Maybe a bit more on some of the rare seeds. Sure beats paying $2 or more for a packet. Looks like I am going to have around 40 varieties this season.

[soil]

we havent had a single drop of rain for over a month and a half, and it was only an inch when we did get it. temps are down to the mid twenties. we still have stuff growing though thankfully.

[brandon558]

Here in eastern North Carolina its 30's and 40's should warm back up into the 50's and 60's by the weekend. Its been a very warm december here.

What to do untill time to plant/prep.

[digitS']

Weather for our December & the 1st few weeks of winter might be a lot like what you are experiencing, James. It is kinda cold but not by "normal" standards. Dry. If we wouldn't have had a good rain last week it would have probably been the driest December on record! Other than a couple of traces there had been only 4/100ths of an inch recorded before the rain fell.

And, rain? What's with rain? Yeah, we should have a nice blanket of snow by now! Dang, I'm worried that the cold will move down and we'll have below zero weather with no snow cover!

Winter has just begun and it is still expect that it will be a La Niña one. Kinda weird to be hoping to have snow to shovel. Dry seems to be the story all over the West. Soil may not be on the northern Cal coast but even there and points further north, the precip has been waaay below normal.

Steve

[jal_ut]

Precip. I recorded 0.18 for the month of December. Pretty dry here too.

[GardenRN]

warmer than normal here too. 20 tonight, 30during the day. but we're supposed to be up near 60 again in a couple days. We're normally staying in the 30's and 40's here during the day by now.

[lakngulf]

25 last night and predicted 22 tonight. That is cold for this southern boy. I have some tomatoes and bell pepper in pots in the greenhouse, along with some Sawtooth acorns that are just beginning to sprout. I just left the lights on last night, but will probably run a little heat tonight.

Last night was WINDY.

[nathan125]

mid 40's- late 40's during day. late 20's at night. barely gets to freezing. very dry and warm here. unusual to say the least

[OROZCONLECHE]

84F day and 50F at night I must Say Cali. Weather is nice and my Garlic is growing Quick I hope yours stays alive

[dustyrivergardens]

It has been a cold wet winter in Northern Arizona. Usually we do not get a lot of snow or really cold weather until January and February but this year we got it really early in December. not complaining but I should have covered my artichokes I hope there still alive. I have since covered them I am hoping the 18 inches of snow acted more as an insulation rather than killing them.

[applestar]

Are we posting temperatures?
I was shaking my head that it was 12°F this morning at 8AM....

...so for me, my "expect fall~spring overnight lows to be 3° lower than the reported COLDEST forecast, no matter how improbable it may seem" rule is holding (forecasted lowest was 15°).

It's a good idea to discover the weather station that always reports current temp that is closest to your own garden's and to find the weather station that can forecast closest to your own as well (sometimes those two features are not mutually inclusive)... Then learn to factor in appropriate adjustments if necessary.

[GardenRN]

oooh, almost as bad here AS, 16˚F here this morning. And I was outside at 2am trying to see that stinkin meteor shower that was supposed to be so spectacular, didn't see a thing. Oh well. I guess winter really IS coming.

My 4 year old is getting so impatient. Now that she is really getting the idea of gardening, she can't wait to start again. But I keep explaining to her that it's too cold outside. lol, and she says "ok daddy, maybe tomorrow right?"

[applestar]

GardenRN, that's when you plant a Bushbean in a pot for her windowsill. my daughter loved it, and as it flowered and grew green beans, carefully picked them and ate them.

This is the first year I don't have a cherry tomato in the window for her...
One or more seedlings usually starts up in a container plant potted up in fall and strt to fruit -- turning red by Feb. I was going to intentionally plant good varieties, much like Gixx is doing, but wasn't able to. (sigh)

[GardenRN]

A bush bean is a good idea! She helped me setup the seed starting area in the basement the other day. We finally got the onion seeds in, moved the Yacon under the lights, and we're just counting down the last few weeks till we get to cram it full of seeds

[digitS']

It has been a cold wet winter in Northern Arizona. . .

This is why I shouldn't have said, "Dry seems to be the story all over the West." What was this I read about Wyoming experiencing a Chinook yesterday?? Well, maybe I'm close enuf to the Columbia to understand the borrowing of the term. Certainly "allow" Montanans to use it . Huge rise in temperatures at times with very warm winds after frigid cold. But, Wyoming at New Years!??

The deal is that Chinook was a trade language as well as "belonging" to a Columbia River tribe so, the words can go all over, just like the wind . . . the "lingua franca" of this part of the world at one time .

. . . It's a good idea to discover the weather station that always reports current temp that is closest to your own garden's and to find the weather station that can forecast closest to your own as well (sometimes those two features are not mutually inclusive)... Then learn to factor in appropriate adjustments if necessary.

I really like wunderground.com for that ! I have had gardens in 3 locations for a good number of years. Then, there's #4, the home turf.

The volunteer weather stations for wunderground.com are great! Altho' I do wish that some of them would lubricate their wind gauges . NOAA has a station not too, too far from the home stomping ground and that helps and there's actually a closer department of transportation station but it took me a few years to realize that the dang thing is on the interstate (wasn't defined as DOT)! Those places have their own (miserable) weather. Yuk!

Steve

[jal_ut]

I like wunderground.com too. There is a station within a mile of home and another within 4 miles. They give a good indication of the temp, but hey, I can check my own station for that. The predictions are of more value to me than current conditions. I don't know who makes the predictions for this locality, but the wunderground predictions are pretty good as predictions go.

Accuweather.com is good too. Then there is the SLC Ut TV stations which you can access online. Ya, you can get all kind of predictions. I will check current conditions at my locale and make my own predictions. So there you go.

[digitS']

For more than a dozen years, I've had a garden 20 miles from my home. I cannot make it out there every day and I can become fretful about conditions when they are in the extreme. Even if it is one of the nearer gardens . . . outta sight, outta mind. No, can't do it!

The nearest wunderground station to that garden has a camera. It's actually pointed in the right direction!! Unfortunately, there's a little hill . . .

We may have had a record high today. The hour-by-hour from NOAA said that it was 53°F at one point this afternoon! The record high for today is 55° set in 1893! I was out about 50 miles today & didn't see any snow. A little unreal . . .

Steve

[applestar]

We haven't seen snow since the freak 2" snowstorm at Halloween, but a couple of years ago, we were hip deep in snow around now.

But today's high was 28ºF so we're definitely getting back to "normal" winter temperatures for this time of the year. (So much for my garlic. Mother Nature enjoys her little jokes....)

[garden5]

Hi, all.

Winter came late for me this year, so I was ablle to get some more growing time in. We've had one of the driest winters in years with little snow fall so far (can't say that I am complaining). The first frost was about two or three weeks later than normal.

There were a lot of reports that I read in the fall calling for a bad winter and while winter's not over yet, I hope that the rest of the season proves the reports wrong (especially in the form of an early last frost).

[jal_ut]

Its been said the temperature lags the sun by about 30 days. If that is the case, it should start to warm up now. It is getting close to that 30 day mark from December 22. Wouldn't it be nice if the coldest part of winter is already past?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Wouldn't it be nice if the coldest part of winter is already past?

Yes please and Thank you!

Eric