How is your weather? (Part 1)

off and on showers here all last week… still above avg. temps in upper 60’s and very muggy. got 2 hard frost last week also. evie2 strawberries still producing!

1 Like

I’m surprised you’re still getting strawbs, even after a freeze. Doesn’t that mess with their quality?

Do you use wood for heat, and if so, have you got your wood stacked up and ready to go?

I’m supposed to help my bro-in-law next week, cut and stack some wood for their fireplace. We’ll go up in the holler and cut up some red oaks.

2 Likes

Saw a lot of freeze warning on the weather last nite. How did everyone do?

Our weather here is in the high 80s with 90% humidity. Ugh. Horrible weather for the fall. I should go out and weed and sow some of my winter crops, but when I start to sweat after 5 seconds outdoors, it’s hard to muster up the will to do unnecessary garden work.

Looking forward to next week when the weather should be highs in the mid 70s and lows in the mid 50s, and less humidity. It’s actually a pleasure to do outdoor chores in weather like that.

1 Like

Typical.

15076801807590

yeah. they aren’t as sweet as earlier in the summer but its the only fruit left this time of year. the plants in this area are very cold hardy also. still have raspberries ripening but they slowed down a lot.we have oil heat here but most burn wood as its a lot cheaper. most go thru 6-- 8 cords per winter up here.

2 Likes

Very telling. :wind_face: :snowflake:

Oil heat? I imagine that can get pretty pricey in your locale? At least it’s not as high as it was just a few years ago. I had the propane tank (which is used to heat the old house down the hill from us) half filled last year, and it cost about $250. We didn’t use it all, but we don’t spend a lot of time in it.

Wow, 6-8 cords, that’s a lot of log-splittin’!
I think when I helped my BIL the last time, we stacked about two cord, and they didn’t use it all last winter, but it was a pretty mild one. Like I said they just use it for their fireplace, they use propane for their usual heating.

My wife wants us to put in a wood burning stove in the old house since we got here, but I’ve been reluctant to do it. Lots of work putting one in, especially if we’re not going to live there. But, it might be nice to have a warm place to go to if the power goes out in our present all-electric home.

I considered a wood boiler when we first moved here, but that has been kinda pushed to the wayside as well.

yeah. the oil runs us $800 a year on average so not much more than wood which is $!20/ cord cut and split. nice to have a wood stove in case elect. goes out tho.

1 Like

Pretty good frost this morning, (second time,) so took out the calendar to note it and look back on the last frost in spring. First frost this fall was October 9.

From frost to frost in Spokane in 2017: 150 days.

1 Like

We got 7 inches of rain this weekend - I think I can finally stop worry about the drought

Looks like we are in for a little pattern shift, and dare I say…RAIN!!! lol
But then we warm right back up.

tomorrow we’re supposed to cool off pretty significantly, although it may be short-lived…

image

1 Like

Enjoying a warm, dry day at Disney’s California Adventure park. :slight_smile:

15081805727181

3 Likes

They were calling for a frost last night here, the coldest night so far this season. Most predictions were about 38, but some had 35. So, I didn’t want to risk my peppers freezing so I got out yesterday before dark and picked most of what was left. Ended up getting about 15lb.

It only got to 38 this morn, so the plants should be OK. We have another week before it’ll be back down in the 30s. No rain until next Mon, and highs in the 70s all week, perfect weather. Lots of leaves on the ground, but still quite a few still on the trees. Not a lot of color, tho, guess it’s been too dry.

2 Likes

Past few weeks have been very wet…everything is green/moist again. Tomatoes are still going…Nicotiana and many other flowers still flowering. I think i saw a monarch this afternoon. Still haven’t brought in any of my tropical plants.
River is very high right now. Mowed (for the last time i think) the other day. Leaves are changing, but some trees are bare while others are almost green still. No frost locally. I think i had 38F one morning. Still haven’t turned on the furnace.

70F and blue skies this afternoon. A+ day. Very little wind. It seems like its been so windy the past few weeks.

Strong signal for rain AGAIN on Sat (3rd sat in a row). Next week we might not get out of the 40Fs and have a good shot at some frost.

3 Likes

We got down to 35 last night here

I’m surprised you were so cold. What elevation are you at in KY (since I know your state has some hills/mountains)?

We had frost in my neighborhood Monday morning. Not much on the ground, but some on roofs. Air temp was 32 F.

All of my sensitive plants are done, and the apples are too big to strip leaves this year. So I’d welcome them going dormant before the first, heavy snow.

We’re on a east facing hillside in the NE part of the state. It’s where the Appalachians are just starting to get going. I think our elevation here is only 800ft or so. Being on the hill, we’re about 100ft above the valley floor, so it gets pretty cold down in the creek bottoms. Our in-laws live about half mile from us, down by the creek, and their temps can be about 3-5° lower than us.

Kentucky has many different terrains. Just west of here, maybe an hour or two, the countryside is gently rolling, around the Lexington area. Big mountains down the SE part of the state. And in the west, it’s a bit hilly, but flattens out towards the Miss River. The climatic changes are quite varied as well. We’re 6b, but it’s a cold z6, if that makes sense.

We don’t have any producing fruit trees yet, but I hope being on this hill will help in the future in preserving fragile fruit blooms. We have old apple trees on the farm, and they always seem to survive the late freezes and produce. I know apple blossoms are more hearty than say, peach, so I wonder how our new peach trees will do.

I checked the pepper plants today and they seem OK, but it only got to 38. There are still some peppers that need to ripen, so I hope we can delay any freezes here. Our average 50% freeze day was yesterday, so we are on borrowed time. But, the 10 day forecast is showing no freezes during that time.

Quite a few of my fruit trees and plants lost their leaves weeks ago, don’t know why, probably beetles, maybe drought? Deer have done some minor damage to the trees, but I have them all enclosed in a circular fence.

Should I worry about these fruit trees losing their leaves so early? I hope it doesn’t mean that they may not make it thru the winter, and/or struggle to grow next season.

1 Like

Losing leaves early is usually a sign of stress, possibly from both the drought and beetles… Since you got some rain, you probably don’t need to worry about watering, but the usual suggestion is to water if the weather turns dry going into winter. Hopefully they all make it through the winter. Maybe it will be a mild but not too warm one?

1 Like