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Post by shoshannah on Oct 18, 2016 16:05:20 GMT -5
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Post by rowan on Oct 18, 2016 18:51:38 GMT -5
Interesting topic, I will have to do some more study on it.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 18, 2016 22:55:25 GMT -5
I looked at the graphs presented, and tried to fit them into my local area... Basically what it amounts to, in the worst case scenario, is that growing conditions, in my warmest field, are expected to become more like the next valley to the west which is located at about 400 feet lower elevation. My coldest field can be expected to be more like the field that is currently my warmest.
In this area, my coldest fields are located at approximately the ecological limits of where warm weather crops like tomatoes, melons, okra, and squash can be grown. The projections in the article indicate that the limit would move about 400 feet higher in elevation. Because of topography, that doesn't gain us much additional farmland, but it does increase the variety of varieties and crops that we would be able to grow.
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Post by reed on Oct 19, 2016 7:46:34 GMT -5
So some geniuses figured out that 90 degrees in April won't stop it from freezing in May. Whoda thunk it? Sorry to be snarky, been in a little bit of a bad mood of late.
What to do about it? Save your own seeds, lots of them so you can plant as soon as the weather allows knowing as often as not they will be lost and you'll have to start over. Plant anytime you feel like it, garden in the middle of winter if you want till you find out what grows and what don't. I'm finding that the seeds are pretty good at letting me know what to do.
This is probably too broad of a generalization but I have found little written material of value outside of Carol Deppe's books and this forum.
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Post by templeton on Oct 19, 2016 16:36:41 GMT -5
Interesting. I get the phenological mis-match idea. So springs will get a bit earlier, but frosts will still continue at their normal frequency/timing?
Not sure how relevant this is to SE Australia - as I've written before, the old NH 4 seasons don't have a lot of explanatory power in SE Oz - at least in natural history terms. An intereting area for research - but i think triggers and drivers for growth here are more about light hours and water availability rather than temperature - generalising, of course.
T
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Post by reed on Oct 19, 2016 18:58:40 GMT -5
In my observation spring, I suppose, can be said to be getting earlier. But, yes frost / freeze can still occur within the old range of such things, nothing normal or predictable about it though. Our old "normal" last frost is May 15. I used to plant tomatoes soon after that. This year I planted tomatoes in early April in 90 degree F and had to cover them I think second week of March at 29 degrees. In recent years I have seen daffodils and peonies and iris bloom in February only to be fried by Santa Anna type wind in March, all followed by another couple weeks of snow. I'v see trees on the hillsides completely leafed out, get frozen and have to start over.
Summers, generally are longer, hotter and dryer. Winters are generally milder and dryer, I haven't been ice fishing for years. That doesn't mean a few weeks of a "spring like" winter won't be punctuated by a few days of 15 below zero or a three foot wet snow. Summer / fall being extended without frost seems to be more reliable and regular than spring.
It's all messed up and that's all there is too it. Yep I wouldn't think knowing the old North American norms holds much value in the SH. It's actually pretty worthless here too.
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Post by richardw on Oct 19, 2016 21:18:07 GMT -5
Its all messed up alright, diffidently seeing more "spring like" patches of weather during winters now than when i was a kid along with frost that are no way near as cold, to show how much its warmed there was talk of turning a disused quarry not far from here into a ice rink back in the 1930's, nowadays you wouldn't get enough ice to support a flock sparrows
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 19, 2016 23:55:13 GMT -5
When I was about 4, I remember the snow getting up to my waist. These days, it rarely gets over knee high.
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Post by philagardener on Oct 20, 2016 5:39:22 GMT -5
When I was about 4, I remember the snow getting up to my waist. These days, it rarely gets over knee high. Can't fool us! Your waist is higher now!  |
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Post by richardw on Oct 20, 2016 15:17:03 GMT -5
Now come on, i'm sure Joseph is not trying to fool us,  he must have just been very very tall for his age |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 21, 2016 0:16:41 GMT -5
Guffaw: steev's wit must be rubbing off on me...  |
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