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We’ve had a cold few days here.  But yesterday we hit the mid 60’s and today, Friday, we made it to 81 degrees briefly.  And we should stay in the mid to high 70’s for the next week.  How’s that for weird weather.

But I took the time today and started planting a few things.  I put in:

• Sugar Ann Snap Peas
• Champion Radish
• Lettuce Master Chef
• Broccoli Major Hybrid
• Carrot Scarlet Nantes
• Little Marvel Pea

We’ll see what if anything comes up.

I also took some time to slash at the cactus.  We have a cactus patch I’m trying to keep under control.  It has spines so I’m not trying to let it grow.  I’d rather kill it off.  We have cactus in other areas of the yard, but this patch is just in a bad spot.

Another lovely day in paradise.  Yesterday we hit the low 70’s, it was nice and sunny outside.  Today not so much.  The temperature dropped over the evening and has been sitting at a nice cozy 38 degrees since about 7AM.  This may well be our high temperature for the day.  Tonight its supposed to drop to about 33, then tomorrow’s high should be about 38 with tomorrow low of just below freezing – 30.  By Thursday we should be low 60’s the Friday in the 70’s.  Not sure if this is our last cold front of the season or not.  Time will tell.

But with the warm weather we did get a grid down on one of the beds.  We ran out of stakes so I need more of those.  We didn’t exactly do them as one foot square blocks, like those used in square foot gardening.  The garden beds are roughly 4 feet by 10 feet.  Roughly.  They actually measure more like 4’2″ by 10’5″.  And those measurements are rough since the walls are actually made from blocks that are not exact.  The blocks have lots of bumps and lumps so its not quite precise.  But its close enough.  So the squares are basically 1 foot by 16 inches, or 1 foot by 1 foot 4 inches (1′ x 1’4″).  Close enough to work with.

Since we were warm yesterday we set up one grid.  With the cool weather today, I’ll wait until it warms and then I’ll begin some planting.  We’ll see how that goes.  But at least this time I can get things in early.

Today we went out to Lowe’s and I picked up a fig tree, grape vine, potato starters and some more seed – corn and sweet small peppers.  So I expect to be able to begin planting sometime this week.  Hopefully.  And hopefully I’ll get a better crop this year.

Its been a cold past few days.  Today, Saturday, we’ve begun to warm back up.  Thursday never really warmed up at all.  It just stayed cold, below 32/freezing cold. Yesterday, Friday it took until the afternoon until we got above freezing.  Then last night stayed just above freezing, 34 for the night.  But today since about 7AM it has begun to warm up.  Its about 12:30 PM, just after noon and we’re already up to 56.  Its still cool but not as cold as it was a few days ago.

So now maybe its time to start thinking about the planters.  I need to get actual measurements for the four planters.  Then I need to start thinking about what I’m going to plant where.

Another cold front came thru last night.  At 5PM yesterday we were at 40 degrees, it was downhill since then.  We’ve been at freezing or below since 9PM.  And we’ve been at 22/23 degrees since about 6AM today.  Its now 10:30 AM and its still 22/23 degrees.  The weather is just hovering between the two temps.  Though the good news is its been more in the 23 degree mark.

At this rate we’ll be able to grow apples in this region easily.  It has definitely been a cold winter here.

Its now after 1:30 PM and we’ve only hit 25.  I won’t bet on making it to 40 today.  And our low for tonight is supposed to be 27/28 degrees.  We’ll have to warm up to make that!

Okay, at 5PM we still only made it to a high today of 28, still below freezing.  They say we should still be a low tonight of 27/28.  That would mean the temperature should be steady from now thru the night.  We’ll see if that happens.  I’m betting on another cold night.

Weird.  We hit a high of 61 yesterday (Thursday).  Today (Friday) at 10:45 AM its already 60.  And yet next week we might hit a low of 27.  So who know what the weather will bring.

Sorry, didn’t post this on Friday.  Now its Saturday (the day before Super Bowl Sunday football game).  At 9:30 AM it is already 66 degrees outside.  Tomorrow night (Sunday night) it should be down to freezing and later this week we should hit freezing nights again.  Quite a roller coaster of weather.

Its 2:30 pm and we have made it up to 31, almost up to freezing.  The drive way is looking better, and I’ve even seen one car drive down on the street.  But tonight is due to get down to 24 so any moisture left on a road will freeze up once again.  Hard to believe that Thursday we should get to 66 and Friday to 77.

Weird weather!

Well, they warned us of another cold snap and we got it.  We woke up this morning to a layer of ice on the driveway, the walk ways, the back patio, all hard surfaces.  We are, at least for the time being stuck in the house.  Good thing we did our Costco run yesterday.

Weird weather.

Yes I know, its been a while.  But we made it thru the holidays – Christmas and New Years.  We’ve made it into the 2014 successfully.  Now about this weather.  Its been a bit of a roller coaster.  Just about the new year we had cold weather – really cold for this area.  We had some nights down to low 20’s with the days staying pretty cold too.  But then the cold front would leave and we would warm back up.  For example last Thursday and Friday it was cold, cold enough for snow and sleet here at the house.  But yesterday, Saturday we made it up to about 65.  Last night it only go down to 45 and is expected to warm up to mid 70’s today.  But we have another cold front coming in tomorrow night.  Monday should be almost 50 degrees, but that night we should get down to 26 and Tuesday night we should get down to 23.  But next Thursday it should be 66 and 47.

We were gone from Jan 4-20 and did a pretty good job of making sure everything was covered in plant blankets.  We these cold fronts we are getting I had best check and make sure everything is still well covered.  Also with these alternating cold nights and warming days cedar season is in full bloom.  It is sometimes tough for me to even go outside its affecting my breathing so much.  I watched a news report that said this is a bad year for cedar pollen and that some people are landing in the emergency room and even getting bronchitis from it.  Not the best of weather.

Yes, its been a while.  I know.  I haven’t posted as much as I should.

So what’s been going on here?  Well, we’ve had some cold weather.  We had a week long cold front with night time temperatures down to 24.  Some day time temps that barely made it above freezing.  It kept us cool/cold with temperatures around 30 degrees below our normal.  But it has had one advantage – my tomato plant has finally died.  I was going to keep it wrapped up and warm but I decided not to.  I don’t want it in that same place next year – its in a plastic raised planter.  But the planter got moved from one stop to another, and its not in a good spot at the moment.  So I left it unwrapped and let the cold freeze the plant back.  Its not a nice dead looking plant.  Now I can try to get the tomato cages out of it.  The tomato plants had grown into the cages so well I couldn’t get the cages out until the plants died.  So now when we get some warm day I will go out and pull up the cages.  Also, some of the cages broke under the weight of the plants so I need to just get rid of them.  Another reason why I wanted to tomato plants to die back.

On the good news my broccoli is still growing and so is the lettuce.  I am a bit surprised at the lettuce.  The weather has been below freezing, but the lettuce that is growing hasn’t frozen.  Live and learn.  So I’m thrilled with that.

The yard guys have put more dirt into the four raised planters they built.  They has used extra dirt we had, but did not have enough dirt to fill the planters properly.  Since the planter area was dug down, then 12″ (or taller) stone sides were built around the area, the planter depth is more then 12″ deep.  So when I say some didn’t have enough dirt, I mean 2 had okay soil depth, 1 definitely needed more soil and the fourth planter had about 10″ of dirt over maybe half the planter and the other half had only a couple of inches of dirt.  So they needed to finish filling the planters.  Now when late winter/early spring planting time comes, I’ll have places to put plants.  Yeah for my side.

What weather we’ve been having.  We’ve started having freeze warning.  We’ve been covering plants.  And so far so good.  Yesterday I picked 2.5 lbs of tomatoes from the plant.  But considering todays weather, that may be the last I will get from it.  Its 10 AM and its 38 degrees and raining, blowing rain.  Let’s just say this cold came earlier then I thought it would and I didn’t get the plants covered last night.  I thought we were supposed to get cold tonight, not last night.  So it looks like I’m off one night, and I may not get any more tomatoes because of that.  That’s okay.  Its not the end of the world if I lose the plant.  There’s always next  year.

update:  Its now 5pm, 35 degrees and a wind chill of 28.  We went out and covered the plants since its supposed to stay cold. Down jackets helped a lot.