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Post by stevil on Jan 18, 2009 5:12:41 GMT -5
It's back! The sun reappeared above the horizon this morning at 11:00 am for the first time since early December, the first harbinger of spring and a little miracle every year. However, it's not very springlike out there with a big storm raging....however, only a month or so before the first flowers appear (Hazel)
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Post by Jim on Jan 18, 2009 7:47:20 GMT -5
Wow..It's hard for me to imagine no sunlight for that long,
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Post by ottawagardener on Jan 18, 2009 9:34:54 GMT -5
Interesting. I love every little sign of the approach of spring, no matter how far off!
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Post by lavandulagirl on Jan 18, 2009 10:59:53 GMT -5
Forgive my ignorance, but does that mean that in the middle of summer, you have about 6 weeks of sun for 24 hours a day? How does that affect your growing season?
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Post by stevil on Jan 18, 2009 12:42:14 GMT -5
We're a bit south of the arctic circle, so we don't quite get the midnight sun here. During summer, we don't see the stars or the aurora borealis as it never gets dark enough, that's from about mid-April to mid-September. In mid-summer, the sun just drops below the northern horizon for a few hours. The consequences of this is that daylight sensitive plants have problems. However, the lack of night means that nightime temperatures are higher than they would be otherwise and frost between May and September is rare. For example, it's easier to grow plums here than further south in Europe as the flowers never get frosted. It also means that one can easily garden all night long - no, I've never done it - I usually stop before midnight! For me, the long summer days more than compensate for the dark winter days, the latter aren't as bad as you would think as there's still a long twilight and the snow also brightens things up. North Americans from southern latitudes jetting in during summer can end up not only with jet lag but light lag and if not put in a dark room at the normal time each day can end up completely lagged for the rest of their stay (which can be months!)
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Post by plantsnobin on Jan 18, 2009 13:42:18 GMT -5
I think I would hate not to be able to see the stars. But it would be nice to live where you could see the aurora borealis. In my almost 44 years, I have only seen that once here in southern Indiana. A few years ago, and it was incredible. That is, after we figured out what was happening. For a while there we thought we might be under attack of the Martians.
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Post by grunt on Jan 18, 2009 23:18:45 GMT -5
So Stevil, I guess you don't get to say (as I do all summer) that you stay in the garden until it's too dark to see what you're doing. Around here that's about 9:00 or 9:30 PM
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Post by stevil on Jan 19, 2009 3:04:00 GMT -5
Well, I could! I could say that I go out into the garden on 15th April and I stay in the garden until it's too dark to see, that's around about 15th September....
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Post by kimikat on Jan 26, 2009 22:30:21 GMT -5
I think I would hate not to be able to see the stars. But it would be nice to live where you could see the aurora borealis. In my almost 44 years, I have only seen that once here in southern Indiana. A few years ago, and it was incredible. That is, after we figured out what was happening. For a while there we thought we might be under attack of the Martians. LOL! I thought the same thing when I saw them...I was like 16 or 17, and vibrant red waves were floating across the sky. I ran inside freaking out...My Dad got a hoot outa that one.
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Post by stevil on Mar 22, 2009 2:40:05 GMT -5
Well, we now have longer days than I think everyone else here, unless we have a member in Fairbanks or Northern Norway? It changes quickly! It's snowing this morning, but the snowdrops are out, the Hazel is in flower, I've harvested my first perennial onions in the garden and the first migratory birds are back (Robins, Starlings, Oystercatchers, Lapwings). Most of the snow disappeared in the mild weather this last week, but there's still a lot of snow only a kilometer inland.
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Post by sandbar on Mar 25, 2009 11:25:11 GMT -5
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Post by sandbar on Mar 25, 2009 11:27:05 GMT -5
Oh, rats ... the link's not working ...
Well, if you go to that page and look towards the bottom right, you will see a place where you can enter in the lattitude and longitude.
For latitude, enter in 63.43
For longitude enter in 10.65
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Post by stevil on Mar 25, 2009 17:15:37 GMT -5
More precisely... 63.440173, 10.654292 But this Norwegian one is better resolution - you can see some of my veggie beds, the greenhouse and with a bit of imagination you can see me tending my Hablitzia tamnoides plant: tinyurl.com/c8oo3fAn analysis of the colours will tell you that this is a hotspot of diversity... Now that I've let you all have a peep into the innermost realms of the Edible Garden, anyone else like to show us where they live?
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 25, 2009 18:40:36 GMT -5
Love the pic - is that the ocean nearby? I am going to figure out how to send you mine. Just a minute
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Post by stevil on Mar 26, 2009 7:34:27 GMT -5
Love the pic - is that the ocean nearby? I am going to figure out how to send you mine. Just a minute That was an awfully long minute.... It's the fjord, Trondheimsfjord which is Norway's largest fjord (areawise). More here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trondheimsfjord
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