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Post by RpR on Dec 15, 2014 16:18:53 GMT -5
It is now 38 degrees, was in the fifties yesterday. The snow cover is gone and what would have been a few inches of blanketing snow today is pissy rain.
I hate this weather, now it will be ice and if it gets as cold as last winter the frost will go down deep without the snow.
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Post by steev on Dec 16, 2014 13:18:20 GMT -5
Yesterday was another rainy day, but it's sunny now; rushing to complete work this week so as not to eat into "vacation".
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Post by reed on Dec 16, 2014 14:27:57 GMT -5
Yesterday was warm and sunny. Got one garden all cleaned up and planted some garlic bulbs Joseph sent. Made a bed to plant garlic seeds but was dark when finished so didn't get them in. Woke up this morning to lightening, rain and a little hail. Didn't last long and been getting colder and windy all day. The wind will dry it back up so should be able to get the seeds in too either later today or tomorrow. Only supposed to go to low thirties for a couple days and then back to 40s and 50s.
Recently planted some "on special" pear and peach trees, really nice trees 75% off cause they were losing leaves. This cool and wet will be real good for them.
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Post by steev on Dec 16, 2014 19:03:47 GMT -5
Rained out 1 1/4 hours before quitting time; this will put Oakland at ~twice normal-to-date and ~6 1/2 times last year-to-date. Of course, the Sierra snow-pack is what's important.
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Post by bunkie on Dec 17, 2014 11:38:10 GMT -5
So far it's only been 'spitting'snow here. Our snow pack in the mountains is only at 7 percent of what it should be....even tho we got LOTS of rain before the ground froze.
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Post by steev on Dec 17, 2014 19:20:28 GMT -5
Rained a bit this morning, then started again ~3:30, so we're still on schedule, mas o menos. Predicted dry Thursday.
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Post by 12540dumont on Dec 17, 2014 22:35:45 GMT -5
Steev, as I've waited a really long time for your clone, can you send me an elk clone instead? Yummy!
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Post by steev on Dec 17, 2014 23:03:06 GMT -5
Don't we both wish I could!
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Post by steev on Dec 20, 2014 0:46:40 GMT -5
Rained all day again.
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Post by Al on Dec 21, 2014 8:47:20 GMT -5
Solstice greetings from Edinburgh. Weather here is mild, 10 C (50 F) but damp & grey. Typical north British leaden skies, like wearing a Tupperware box on your head for the winter. I feeling like sitting under a Growlight to remind myself what sunshine is! But I am not complaining because I feel we are lucky with our weather here, a similar latitude to Juneau & Moscow but nothing like as cold thanks to the Gulf-stream. What astonishes me at this time of year is the day length. Sunrise today was 8:41 & sunset will be 15:39 followed by 17 hours darkness! I think it is time to deck the halls with holly just to celebrate anything that is showing signs of life & colour. Parsnips & carrots are lifted for christmas dinner, also will be eating an old kale named Sutherland from real seeds. Kale was a real survival food in these parts in years gone by, every croft had a walled enclosure called the kailyard, & the greens produced with its very high vitamin C (more than oranges) together with oats & herring sustained rural populations. Incidentally, Sutherland is the most northerly county on the British mainland yet the name means 'southern land', curious until you realise that it was a Norse outpost. For the Vikings on their voyages between Scandinavia, the northern isles, Iceland Greenland & beyond, north Britain was the southern land. Many here feel the climate is warming, certainly we can grow more than kale. I may even try sweetcorn next year, always said to need 100 sunny days so never bothered but others have managed it. i am wondering if a baby corn such as Snobaby will be more likely to succeed in the north. Presumably it is earlier than normal maize & will not need pollinating, also very expensive to buy, where-as corn cobs in season are 3 for £1. As a rank amateur allotment veg. grower I feel lucky to have been able to benefit from reading the postings from the many knowledgeable members on this forum & wish everyone a successful season next year. Alex IMG_1276 by portobell0, on Flickr
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Post by steev on Dec 21, 2014 11:40:36 GMT -5
Yes, the Winter Solstice is come! The Sun returns to quicken the soil to fruition in NorHem; rejoice in the renewed potential for abundance. To those of SoHem, one hopes you are to be sustained through the dying of the Light by excellent harvests.
Not that there is much sun to be seen here, it being thoroughly overcast.
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Post by ferdzy on Dec 21, 2014 11:58:32 GMT -5
Hurray for the Solstice! We are nowhere near as dark as Edinburgh here, but I am still very happy to see the days start to get longer.
Weather is hovering around freezing, just a dust of snow on the ground. After our dump of 16 inches of snow in November, it has melted and not come back. Maybe our long period of heavy, persistant precipitation has come to an end. That would have advantages... and disadvantages.
Last week my weather was 28°C, sunny and hot! But that was because I was in Cuba. Now I am home again.
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Post by 12540dumont on Dec 22, 2014 13:58:51 GMT -5
Ferdzy! You went to Cuba and didn't take me? I was invited by the government to come and talk to farmers about organic and sustainable farming. Alas I could not get a visa from the state department.
Still no frost here. Not even for solstice. But the sky is a leaden grey...looks like London, without the bone chill.
Alex, welcome to our kailyard. There are a lot of short season sweet corns out there. Get one with a seed treatment (not poison) that protects from cold damp soil in the early season and you'll do fine. Just make sure you plant enough of them in your allotment to get good pollination. At least 25 in a clump, not a long single row.
Glad your back Ferdzy. I had great luck with your tomatoes this year.
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Post by copse on Dec 22, 2014 16:46:56 GMT -5
Been a good week. Rain on Sunday, rain last night. The day started off with gray skies, and fog, and a dark red sun seen through the haze on the horizon. Suitable weather for December 23rd, given that today is Festivus. But now it's warm with blue skies, not a cloud in the sky.
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Post by philagardener on Dec 24, 2014 21:46:32 GMT -5
62F and foggy in Philadelphia this Christmas Eve. Almost tropical!
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