Thank you, Matt. Maybe I can get my head around this and be ready for the next go round. Once upon a time I kept very detailed calendar notes on gardening observations. I haven’t done that for many years now.
I think part of my problem is that winter isn’t something that usually sets in and makes itself at home here. It’s more like a battle between the arctic air mass trying to dip down to antagonize us and the Gulf air giving us temps in the 60’s to 80’s. Winter doesn’t usually grip us. Instead, it repeatedly visits long enough to rough us up and remind us who’s boss.
We had, for us, a very late (brief but destructive) freeze on March 29th this year. Winter had come late and given us a colder than normal February. The blooming sequences started later than usual, and were more compressed. For instance, the first daffodils usually bloom Jan 18th or a few days later. (That’s the time to start planting peas.) This year it was Feb 6th.
On March 29th the plums had all passed petal fall, peaches had completed blooming but still retained shucks, cherries were nearing the end of their blossoms, and Fuji apple blossoms were just opening.
I don’t know if any of that information is helpful at all. But might it mean that late Feb to mid-March might be the proper time to start here?
With peaches I kept reading to wait until the weather would be holding in the mid-70’s for awhile. I think that’s late Sept or Oct here. ( I might as well confess as many of my misconceptions as possible at one time.) That thought was probably far off base. Summer generally means temps in the upper 90’s and low 100’s with infrequent rain until late summer. Even established trees get stressed through summer. Very little growth takes place.
Sorry if that seemed a bit rambly. If I knew what was relevant, I’d probably wouldn’t have any questions.
