Here in southwest Missouri the summers are hot and humid. When I was a kid we would travel to my grandparents the first week of August in Colorado. In the summers they lived in a small cabin in the mountains at 8900 feet elevation. Wow, that was refreshing, no humidity and you needed a jacket in the mornings.
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Really strange weather! Now that it’s September and should be raining it let up again. I guess with weather all bets are off on what it’s going to do next.
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I’ve always thought spending July or August in Grand Marias, MN (right along Lake Superior) or Leadville, CO (10K ft) would be cool. I think in Grand Marias you could easily grow strawberries in July…probably great place for lettuces, cabbages, etc.
2.5 inches of rain so far and its still raining. Areas to the south are flooding (some reports of over 5 inches)…Over 20 inches in the city here since June 1st… and i think we are at the low end of things in this area.
Very warm and humid the last 48hrs… Cold front is coming but its taking its time.
Those training storms can wash you away, fersure
You can’t grow a lot of things at 8900 feet but you can grow really nice potatoes, red raspberries and strawberries if you water them.
This is the satellite shot of the garden , it is right next to the old cabin. That is six foot deer fence around it. The summer I stayed there when I was 20 grand mother wanted to grow potatoes. The hunting lease manager had kept horses in the garden the previous fall using it as a temporary corral. The ground was so hard the tiller wouldn’t scratch it so I shoveled the whole thing. I wasn’t there when the dug them but she said it made potatoes for several families,
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If you had a high tunnel/greenhouse i bet you could grow about anything. The sun up that high must be intense. You could trap all that heat for those chilly nights.
Downpour this morning Probably and inch+ streets were flooded again. I just mowed too… Rain today/rain tonite…dry/clear sunny and cool all weekend (high of 69F tomorrow…nice!).
I never thought of that but I bet you are right. I was wearing a baseball cap when I shoveled the garden. It took me two days and I sun burned the tops of my ears badly. The sun is really intense at that altitude. After that I wore a cowboy hat.
Ponds are full now, ground is saturated and more rain is falling! I love the rainy season here! 6+" just from this last round of storms!
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I finally got a little rain today. It rained buckets at work today but only got five tenths at the house six miles away. Still it sure is nice to have a little rain.
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No no …no more rain!
Extended also looks very warm…r.ight into the first week of October… this may be one of those falls when you go from AC to turning on the furnace in a week… ugh. Give me 6 weeks of 60F…
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You could direct the rain our way, we could use some - tho not perhaps all of 7 inches
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Ponds are full and we were dumping water for several days. That water is always a welcome sight after summer. Any more rain would just be spoiling us.
Not sure down there, but here we have the worst outbreak of mosquitoes i’ve witnessed in a long time. We were out in full sun on Sunday in the yard, getting attacked in the middle of the day. Its been an insanely wet pattern all summer up here.
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Rob & Jason, living close to 8900’ (8300’ at my place) I can tell you that while you can grow quite a bit, it can be a challenge. Growing season is short, so if you miss a planting date or the weather doesn’t cooperate you’re out of a crop. And it is quite a bit windier here than most other places. Growing greens even in the summer do far better under some ag cloth covering.
As for high tunnels or passively heated greenhouses, yes they help quite a bit (I grow all my tomatoes, peppers, cukes and eggplants in one) but in spite of all the sun, its very hard to keep one heated in the cold. Even with the best passive designs, the best one can usually do is extend the growing season 1 month on either end. More than that requires supplemental heat, or a GH attached to heated living space which shares heat with it.
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That’s awfully high, do you live there year around or just the summer? My grandparents lived there year around for several years but you might be snowed in for long periods of time
The Mosquitos are like that even on the dry years now.
Live here year round. Have for 20+ years now.
Getting snowed in happens every so often, but there are quite a few folks up here and the county does a good job of plowing in the winter. Although after a 7’ snow in ‘99 (I think it was then) it took them a week to get the roads up here cleared off. Had to use two road graders, first one took the top 3-4’ off and the second got it close to the road. But that hasn’t happened in a while. Usually the most I can get off for a snow storm is one day…
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1.75 inches of rain overnight and its pouring. The lightning/thunder with these storms have been amazing. Must have had some wind too because crap was blown all over this morning.
Damn, wish you guys could share!