Your Weather, 2022

[digitS']

Since there was a long time when I had to be and enjoyed being outdoors a lot, I have had an interest in weather. I have looked at what weather information Wikipedia puts on for various parts of the world. Tried to understand the meteorologists' climate classifications for geographical areas.

What I came up with there is that "our growing season" when I'm outdoors so often, is a Mediterranean type. This isn't anything surprising for people who live in western US but that classification is supposed to end about 100 miles away and I'm supposed to be in a Continental climate. Okay, but that is including Winter .

So, using my best imagination, and never having visited any of these places, I came up with several areas of the world with similar weather. One is the higher elevations of Tasmania . Another, the Lake District of Argentina ... next, the mountains of northern Spain (not the Pyrenees). Finally, the part of Tuscany in Italy close to the Alps. Now, if we could just have some people with successful gardens in those parts of the world on TEG!

Would anyone be okay with running off to garden in those locations????

Steve
we did once have a California Girl who had moved to Tasmania a few years before . i think that she was mostly homesick and my interest on TEG in her new home went right past her. she wasn't on the forum long ... oh well.

 

[ducks4you]

You are pretty much the same growing zone as me, 5b/6a.
I think you must be higher elevation and drier, and the zone map doesn't take those things into account.
We live about 600 ft above sea leavel.
So,MAYBE, you are really zone 5a. We had our last snow flakes 3 weeks ago, and our last average frost is April 20th.
I looked up Lewiston and got this:
You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 31 through September 9.
I notice that you are still getting chilly mornings and we are past that by now.
I bet you can grow lavendar and rosemary, and they don't like MY yard.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

It has been a dry spring! We are direct sowing and transplanting and trying to water it all in best we can
I am so thankful for our well!
The weather has been great tho! Afternoons get bit hot but there is always a nice breeze.

 

[flowerbug]

...
I notice that you are still getting chilly mornings and we are past that by now.
I bet you can grow lavendar and rosemary, and they don't like MY yard.

do you have a lot of sand? we have primarily clay but still manage to grow lavender. rosemary we don't use so i've never planted it here.

 

[flowerbug]

It has been a dry spring! We are direct sowing and transplanting and trying to water it all in best we can
I am so thankful for our well!
The weather has been great tho! Afternoons get bit hot but there is always a nice breeze.

yesterday was a beautiful day outside. perfect weather for getting a lot done, which i could not get done because of unexpected things coming up but oh well there is always tomorrow or next week.

the well here is appreciated for sure. we normally have rains, some years we do go through extended dry spells where i have to water using the well and i can tell the plants don't do as well, but they hold on until the rains come along.

a shallower well would be possible to do and i could also capture rainwater if i had a big enough tank to put it in. i have a perfect spot for it or a pond, but that's an expense and a project i'm not ready to do yet. another easier way to get surface water would be to tap either of the large drainage ditches which run through the property - it is very rare that they don't have water flowing in them. they are also probably the main reason why we have good water in our deep well - we're right in the middle of the topographic water flow for the area. off to the sides of us you get water but it has salt in it. our water has some rust and calcium but that's a minor issue with me compared to what salty water would be like.

 

[ducks4you]

I have killed 5 lavendars. We are just too wet here.
I Have seeds, so I guess I could start more, but it would have to be in a pot that goes inside in the winter.
REMEMBER, lavendar is a Meditarrean plant.
Rosemary will die of cold if I try to overwinter it.

 

[ducks4you]

Volcano Eruption Is Biggest Explosion Ever Recorded and It Reached Space - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

The volcano eruption in Tonga in January was the biggest explosion ever recorded and reached the ionosphere. - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

THIS does affect our weather and ability to grow crops.

 

[digitS']

Lavender and some of the other Mediterranean plants will survive our winters but Rosemary will not (except in the unheated greenhouse under a tarp ). It's not terribly cold here but only recently or very seldom have we had winters with no subzero temperatures - a morning of -25°f (-32°C) is the coldest that I have experienced here on the border of ID/WA.

Hardiness Zones are winter concerns. Summertime, this is a semi-arid climate with little rainfall. Our less-than-20" annual precipitation is mostly not during Summer. That makes this a good place to grow - SEEDS . That is, if the growing season is long enough for the plants to mature. So, wheat, dry peas, lentils and chickpeas. Alfalfa does fairly well and with irrigation, there are often 3 cuttings.

Spring is affected by the Pacific Ocean atmosphere even tho it is 300 miles away. Winds bring clouds, if not rain so it is still semi-arid. Growing season, the mountains to the West fairly well block that weather altho the Mediterranean climate status extends right up the Pacific Coast into WA. I don't know how much sense that makes but the rains in Seattle do slow-down just a little during mid-Summer .

No, not Lewiston, @ducks4you . You picked the place with the lowest elevation in ID! The Snake River comes thru Hells Canyon and joins the Clearwater at Lewiston which is only a little higher than your home in Illinois.
Leaving Lewiston, one immediately climbs about 1500 feet and I live at 2000 feet elevation and I'm closer to Canada than Lewiston. (Closer to Montana, as well .)

The entire NorthWest is further north that Illinois and in this northerly location, that puts our Winters about the same temperatures as some of the Upper MidWest. And, we have nice long Summer Days - like Upper Michigan, maybe .

Steve

 

[Marie2020]

You are pretty much the same growing zone as me, 5b/6a.
I think you must be higher elevation and drier, and the zone map doesn't take those things into account.
We live about 600 ft above sea leavel.
So,MAYBE, you are really zone 5a. We had our last snow flakes 3 weeks ago, and our last average frost is April 20th.
I looked up Lewiston and got this:
You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 31 through September 9.
I notice that you are still getting chilly mornings and we are past that by now.
I bet you can grow lavendar and rosemary, and they don't like MY yard.

Lavender and rosemary is about all that has survived in my garden so far.

 

[Marie2020]

We had a few dry weeks it was all clay dust for a while but apart from grey skies we have at least had rain for the past few days

Today is grey we are due rain according to our forecast and its 17 a little windy and feeling really cool.

Last night we had a lovely red moon which I wish I had at least tried to take a picture of but my phone isn't to good on capturing such beauty