What is your climate?

[ducks4you]

I believe that our climate is in a constant state of flux. Yes, we should able aware of this, and make accommodations.
When you consider the massive volume of ocean water, and water changes temperature much slower than dirt, I have a difficulty believing that humans and our use of fossil fuels is responsible for changing our temperatures. We certainly have not been able to do the damage of last year's tsunami, or the summer of the volcano Krakatowa (sp?), which took away the summer growing season in many places that year, mid-1800's.
Let's agree that we pay attention to the climate changes, and that we should be dubious of ANYBODY who wants to get money from us to "prevent" any more damage.

 

[joz]

Zone 8a or 9b, depending on the map.

We've not had frost for 2 winters now. Previously.... maybe a frost in December, one freeze mid January, and another frost before Feb 10. Anytime between it may reach 80 degrees tho.

I've given up and start my tomatoes as early as possible (new years this year... later than the christmas date I wanted to start things, but earlier than the Feb. 4 of last year), leave 'em outside unless I know it's gonna be below 35 overnight, and set them out whenever they're big enough. In previous years, I would buy transplants sometime in March, so I was always way late.

Last winter just didn't happen. It was chilly, but not unbearable (I hate winter. A lot. I'll take 90deg/90%humidity all the time, thankyouverymuch). There was NO frost. There were certainly no freezes. And last summer was the first summer I can recall that people were giving bananas away left and right. There are banana trees all over town. Frequently you'll see blooms and baby bananas, but they usually don't really mature. Once in a while you'd get the perfect microclimate or something, and someone would have a bunch of ripe bananas, but in 16 years I've only seen a couple. The summer after the winter that wasn't, EVERYONE had bananas. And they were AMAZING. And Plantains, which are more challenging, but also amazing.

I was at a party and having a conversation with a woman who lives in San Juan Puerto Rico, and she was wondering why Plantains hadn't made the cut for Cultural Foods of New Orleans. I think it's because usually the plants die back in winter, and it was only last year that they didn't and the two-year-old plants produced like crazy. I think it's so rare that the area never assimilated Plantains as a regular foodstuff. I don't know if two winters counts as a trend, but I'm not looking forward to spring fleas. At least I know summer bananas will make up for it.

Oh, there are rain questions too.

It used to be very rainy here. It's not so much anymore. In the summer, it used to be you could set your watch by it. It would rain most days (or alternate days.... my first year here it was every Mon Wed Fri) between 1:20 and 3:45 pm. Torrential thunderstorming rains. For one hour. And then the sun would come out and heat up all that water sitting on the ground and the humidity would go crazy. Once a year we'd get a 3"/hour storm that would last maybe 30 minutes, typically in the spring. Every 10 years, we get one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_8th_1995_Louisiana_flood. The clockwork rains haven't really been happening over the last 5 years... It rains maybe once or twice a week, never on a schedule, and may go 2-6 weeks between rains. I haven't noticed that winter rains have changed much.

This winter has been mostly in the 60-70's and dry. Various fronts will dip into the 50-40s, and we had 3 nights in the 30's last week. Two days before that it was 70. Two days after that it was 70.

This is the only climate I have actively gardened in, and only for the last couple years really.