Category Archives: Weather related

An arctic wave to end the season

Posted on December 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

The full moon on December 2^nd heralded a phase of turbulence that has only eased itself with a slow return to more seasonal, wet weather.

The day was busy enough as it was, coming home from work to prepare a meal for friend Jack, just out of knee surgery. Old Cedar-cat had been having a very difficult week since Thanksgiving, and there was always a good amount of ritual cleanup to do. Meanwhile, we were warned of an imminent plunge of night temps, having already had a couple of frosty nights. The lettuce and chard needed to come out, but I needed more time. Neighbor Patty to the rescue, as if she read my mind! With her help we plucked the lettuce and chard well after dark, leaving the leeks and kale to weather whatever might come.

The arctic wave extended well beyond its original few days, leaving us cold and dry (thank goodness, no ice) with night temperatures into the single digits. It became too cold for frost, quite a rarity in these parts. It will be interesting come spring to see what doesn’t make it through. Though I kept them fairly sheltered, I hope the new pineapple guava seedlings in their containers make it!

But, all those positive ions that build up with continued high pressure get trapped down in the dense cold layer, and start making many people agitated, impatient, crabby, and extremely tired. Where was our seasonal rain?

Relief was on the way as of December 11^th, with a noticeable pressure shift and cloud cover moving in. The tricky part in western Oregon is maneuvering through the “transition zone” since freezing rain is frequently a visitor. There was a quagmire of accidents once the ice formed during that night into the next day, but it passed quickly. My skin in finally relaxing and feeling less dehydrated!

Juniper-kitty thought it would be fun to jump out the door per her normal routine, but didn’t bargain for the immediate skating she had to try out. At first perplexed, she then thought it a bit fun, making tiny runs on the concrete to see if she slid. However, that quickly became old as she became more intent on walking through the yard, where she had more traction on the soil.

Wouldn’t you know? My camera decided to go on the fritz while trying to take some pictures.

A good time to list the bit of November’s bounty, and call it the final tally for 2009:

Lettuce: 6.5 (pounds)
Kale: 1
Chard: 3.5
Leeks: 0.75

Month’s Total: 11.25

Total season bounty: 579 pounds (rounded) Well done!

Leave a comment

Posted in Fall, Harvest tally, Oh..oh...., Uncategorized, Weather related

Tagged chard, freeze, frost, harvest, kale, lettuce

Thanksgiving and suet time!

Posted on November 26, 2009 | Leave a comment

Chilly, rainy weather demands more food for the birds now. During the week we had a break in the weather, perfect for getting out feeders and restocking suet. Today a visiting flicker rewards me! He always looks awkward, being quite large relative to the suet cage, but he prefers it to the specially designed one purchased a couple of seasons ago (forget that one). A woodpecker came by earlier last week, more interested in picking bugs out of some dead arborvitae trunks. A little Anna’s hummingbird is braving the rain as well, searching out different feeders in the neighborhood that have more cover.

At the moment, the lettuce crop in the community garden is worth “gold” given the steep jump in market lettuce prices. It’s slow growing with the current temperatures, but supplies small salads, if not overly-picked.

Frost nips at the yard when there is a clear night, and the nasturtiums aren’t sure when they should officially curl up to call it quits. I was hard-pressed to find enough intact blossoms to adorn a salad headed to a potluck.

A very dreary day, today the rain came in earlier than predicted, and it has been a constant stream, stronger than a typical drizzle; just the right temperature and moisture combination to make it officially “yucky” enough not to work outside. Unless one has a giant umbrella. Hey, I shouldn’t have put the patio umbrella away….

It is a fine day to be inside with the kitties, and I give thanks for that opportunity to “hunker down” for a quiet Thanksgiving, to catch up on correspondence, give the old, ailing cat more attention, and get some rest!

Hope you are having an enjoyable Thanksgiving in whatever way you choose!

Blurred by rainy netting! Wishing a happy, restful Thanksgiving to all!

Leave a comment

Posted in Community garden, Fall, Furred and feathered friends, Uncategorized, Weather related

Tagged birds, lettuce, nasturtiums, rain, Thanksgiving

Classy evening wear

Posted on October 9, 2009 | Leave a comment

Just because we harvested all the basil the evening before a cold rain was supposed to dowse us, the storm skirted north, depositing its brief, but heavy showers while I was slipping the last plants. I wasn’t going to take the chance of seeing our beautiful plants become black-spotted before harvest!

Instead, dry, but cooler weather has prevailed, allowing the summer squash to keep pushing out more small “gourmet size” fruits, while several yellow bell peppers have actually yielded a couple of large, still-green specimens. (Perhaps they felt it necessary to prove themselves after finding themselves mentioned in a “comedy of errors” mode.) Tomatoes are in absolute limbo with the lower sun angle and night temperatures hovering in the low to high 30’s. They have earned the right to wear evening jackets!

Classy evening jackets for the tomatoes

Happy to report that the lettuce seedlings that had nearly been chomped to death before evacuation of the kale and chard, have pulled through and are starting to put on a little girth. And, some rainbow chard seeded in July, largely sheltered by green beans and squash has grown up nicely, almost ready for picking.

Lo and behold, I came upon another “double-take” today while scouting about the patty-pan/saucer squash; that makes four pairs of fused veggies this season!

Double-take on patty-pan squash

We’ve been warned about a rapid arctic front moving in just ahead of autumn rains setting in, and the weather guy’s last-minute prediction of 28° had two of us running out before dusk to clip off all the tomatoes. It felt too warm to believe it could fall that low, but we weren’t going to get up at 4:00 am. to find out. As it turned out, it only went down to the crisp 30’s again, but we’re further along in preparation for the temperature dive now postponed for a couple of days.

Leave a comment

Posted in Community garden, Fall, Pests of any size & species, Uncategorized, Weather related

Tagged basil, chard, comedy of errors, frost, summer squash, tomato

Equinox equilibrium

Posted on September 22, 2009 | 2 comments

We are entering one of my favorite times of the year, even if it means many plants are no longer in their prime. It is the seasonal shift and natural waning of energy. It is the fulcrum and midpoint between the longest and shortest days of the year; the day of the year when every place on earth experiences the same amount of day and night. Indeed, we’ve noticed the darker mornings and shorter evenings over the last two to three weeks. One can feel the garden’s slowing pulse, as many plants continue to ripen their fruits, almost as if in suspended animation. Of course, there are other plants who rejoice at growing in cooler weather again, but it is not the logarithmic pace of spring and early summer.

Yet it is quite the paradox when the local temperature is trying to challenge a record high, more typical of summer, while the silver maples have branches of vivid red leaves! Still, if one is attuned to energetics, 92° in late September is much more mellow heat than 92° in late July. A very loud cricket has been keeping me company as I write, quite content that it is a warm evening.

My concerns that the supposed spaghetti squash might be imposters were assuaged after cutting one open and baking it. The classic string texture was apparent upon scraping, and it was delicious, tossed with a bit of olive oil, garlic powder, salt, cherry tomatoes, and grated parmesan. As a nice alternative to pasta, it is also tasty when mixed with pesto, though it takes a back seat to the pungent basil and garlic flavors.

Spaghetti squash galore!

2 Comments

Posted in Community garden, Fall, Uncategorized, Weather related

Tagged basil, Community garden, equinox, season, spaghetti squash

September showers are good for….a change of pace

Posted on September 7, 2009 | 1 comment

The weather devas decided that it was time to clear the air with a good rain for at least half of Labor Day weekend. In anticipation of serious showers many tomatoes were gleaned the prior evening, to prevent splitting. When the steady showers picked up on Saturday we knew it had been the right decision, even if the bushes now looked “green” without hardly a ripening tomato. It was a good chance to focus on inside food preparation, like making sauce, or starting up the dehydrator. Not quite sun-dried tomatoes, but a close equivalent.

Tomato rescue before rain set in....

A rainy day task - drying tomatoes for winter

It’s been a good change of pace, spending time with all the other inside jobs one neglects when spending most of the time outdoors. Spiders of all sorts are quickly spinning webs, even in the bath tub. After two days of good rain showers the garden looks refreshed, although mildew has set in upon the squash and cucumbers with a vengeance. Kale and chard keep growing like gangbusters, the basil is finally getting really bushy after a few prunings for pesto sauce, and another crop of bush beans is just about ready. The good news is we are warming again in a few days to nearly 90°, so we can ripen more tomatoes!

1 Comment

Posted in Community garden, Summer, Uncategorized, Weather related

Tagged basil, beans, chard, Community garden, cucumber, edible landscape, kale, lettuce, powdery mildew, tomato

It’s squash vs. sunflowers…

Posted on July 13, 2009 | Leave a comment

Our crazy, often cold weather hasn’t been the best for fast sunflower growth, so now we find them almost engulfed by several squash. I’ve had a talk with them, urging them upward. They reply, “Get us some consistent, hot days and warm nights, please.” Granted, they look better than the yellow California Wonder peppers, who have stubbornly refused to grow.

Some of the summer squash and cukes have been hiding their offspring under their huge leaves, and although we’ve been peeking, the plants are pulling their usual “overnight babies.” We’ll be starting to harvest yellow straightnecks and the cue-ball zucchini, and a few cukes in a few days, provided yesterday’s rains didn’t rot anything. Hopefully not too many blossoms were damaged, and the predicted hot weather is to arrive tomorrow. The scalloped Patty-pan in the house yard is bearing 2 or 3 small squashes, so they’ll be ready soon. Quite a few small spaghetti squash are forming on their vines, too, which is a great sign.

Picked the first quart of blueberries (var. Bluecrop) of our joint blueberry patch last evening when the rain let up. Most were ripe, with a couple of tart ones mixed in; mainly didn’t want deer or birds picking them! There are other varieties ripening up. Since these are first-year transplants there are mostly one or two clusters max. Instead of removing them early, as often suggested, we wanted to see how big and how long they take to ripen.