8 or 10 weeks down the road

[digitS']

How do we know what the weather will be??

I remember starting seed on February 17th . . . in 1993. Too early! It was below zero at my place that morning and I should have known better. So, the 24th became my traditional day to start snapdragon and pepper seeds.

We aren't going to have a record low temperature the next few nights -- but, it will come dang close to it! A cold spring again this year :/? Might be.

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Unfortunately we can't tell Steve :/ . Sure would be nice if we could, but the weather trend seems to be for later and colder springs, don't you think? Two weeks ago or so I was lured into a kind of extreme optimism because of the high 40* weather and sunny skies... but today I'm reminded that it is indeed , still February. I was inclined to be generous toward winter, grateful for the physical break I get, and the chance to catch up on things that get abandoned in the hectic rush of summer, and I do love winters beauty... but enough already!!!

 

[journey11]

Perhaps we should be saving up milk jugs and buckets, just in case?

 

[digitS']

Journey, I used over 60 "containers" to cover what I set out too early last May!

Some insurance I take out is to save about half the seed of whatever is especially important and sow it again in about 10 days.

I like to be optimistic. We don't seem to have a whole lot of season to let slip away from us around here, so -- I am always pretending a little that we will catch a break and have a nice warm spring.

One thing for sure, we can't seem to count on how much winter snow we'll have, Thistle'. Record in 'o8 - 'o9; pitifully little in 'o9 - '10; record in November '10; very little since; and now this . . .

Our low temperature tomorrow and the next day will come close to the -10F and -23F I remember from 1890. That memory might be from an earlier, Native American incarnation.

Steve

 

[silkiechicken]

Haha, talk about starting seed to early...

I stared tomato seeds Jan 12th despite writing in bold to start March 1st!!! To put into perspective how early was too early.... I won't be putting these guys out till the second week of May... Oops? Nah! I just need to buy more lights to cover the 40 seedlings...er plants.

Either way, I am starting to harden them off outside.... Put them out right after work, and bring them in when the thermometer reads 32F... 3-4 hours in the 30's haven't shriveled them up yet. LOL!

Glad I didn't start 100 plants like I did in Feb last year...

 

[lesa]

Hard to find a more optimistic or hopeful bunch- than gardeners!! We are in the middle of an horrific blizzard. Getting a couple inches an hour!! Yesterday, I saw some grass in the backyard... Oh, well.

 

[digitS']

The Northwest has joined the Northeast in your difficult winter, Lesa!

It isn't just the lights - it's the room, Silkie! And, I no longer have the kind of ceiling above my good south window where I can easily hang lights.

It is easier to move things out into the greenhouse and turn on the heat :/. I can hang a light out there. . . . Now, we are talking real energy use!

But, the room problem -- Last year, the plan for the tomatoes was to pot them in larger containers than usual, after they were about a month old. I did that and moved them out of the greenhouse into a plastic tunnel.

It was 38F in there the 1st night! They had never experienced a temperature below about 58. Many wilted so badly that the leaves and tender growing tips did not recover. Back into the greenhouse they went; where I no longer had room to walk!

I could pull some hardier plants out (off the floor) each day once things began to warm up but the the cool weather lingered. I finally hardened off the tomatoes and took the risk of setting them out in the open garden. Too early!! They spent nearly 72 hours covered thru 2 frosts.

The only thing that saved my sorry . . . state of affairs was the sheer number of plants that I had. If memory serves, 16 of the 60 tomato plants in the garden had to be replaced. And then, my 60 plant tomato patch really didn't have a very good season.

The peppers did reasonably well . . . they weren't subjected to such nonsense !

I still think that the 24th is the best date for the snapdragons and peppers for me here. I got the containers of soil good and soaked in a basin of water and allowed them to drip (sorta) overnight in the greenhouse. No heat in there, they froze like bricks that night . . .

I carried the containers indoors and sprinkled seed and a little more potting soil on top yesterday and they are now resting comfortably in my nice warm kitchen. It is -1F outdoors.

I'll start the 1st half of the tomatoes by March 1 and the 2nd half of the pepper seed soon after. No Fear!!

Steve

 

[silkiechicken]

Ah gardening. At least you almost had the room and a green house! That would be awesome! Starting too many must be part of gardening. LOL

I'll still have to figure out where in the apartment I will be putting everything, and how exactly I'll be transporting everything back to Washington in a 2 door coupe.

 

[digitS']

Silkie,

I hope you won't miss the chance to enjoy all the fruits of labor.

Will you be heading back to Oregon by the end of August this year?

You've got to extricate yourself from that higher education self-improvement track! Yes, you too can vegetate in a garden right thru the growing season. Ultimately, all it takes is age and infirmity .

Steve

 

[silkiechicken]

My parents get to eat most of the stuff. For the most part, I grow what is easy for them to maintain and pick for themselves to eat. I do manage to get some fruits of my labor from a south facing balcony that gets no direct sunlight....and am now dabbling in hydroponics... I am lucky our landlord who owns the condo actually lets us have so many animals and plants inside! They visited and probably thought it was weird we had no standard furniture since we are in one of "those" HOA type developments. LOL

I'm actually in oregon for school so go north for spring break to plant cool season stuff, skip out of lab work for one weekend in may to plant summer stuff, then weed the neglected plants once over the 4th of july, help clean things up over a weekend in august, and dig potatoes over thanksgiving... all to start it over again the next year... dang school getting in my way. Why oh why did I not chose to just get a job after undergrad?

I would even be happy if I could have rocks like yours to grow things in outside.