Here comes the heat

Yes, it wasn’t that long ago we were worried about our cold weather. This week, starting Wednesday April 7 we are due to hit 90 degrees. And we will spend 3 days at 90 degrees. According to the weather station I listen to, that is a week early on average for this area.

So welcome to the heat of Texas.

In anticipation of the summer temperatures here, I just had a pergola/deck cover installed over my outside deck. It looks like it showed up just in time. They are still working on the pergola, they delivered the wood and stained in on Thursday last week. They didn’t work Friday as it was Good Friday. But today they put it up, with just a bit of work to still do.

I am having a product called Polygal put on. We’ll see how I like it. I’m not quite sure how to describe it since I haven’t yet seen it. I’ll let you know what it is, and what I think of it once it gets installed.

The weather station

Well I’ve had both weather stations up almost a week now. And the differences are beginning to be noticeable. A great example is right now. The weather station out by the fence, the new on, shows a temperature of 57 degrees with wind of 2.5 mph.

But the old weather station, the one on the deck and closer to the house, with the temperature gauge by the house, shows a temperature of 64 with a wind of 0 (zero). I’ve noticed that there is a difference most of the time. Sometimes the temperature is different by a small amount 2 or 3 degrees, but sometimes it more like 7 or 8 degrees. I’ve also noticed that the wind is different from the fence line to the deck.

These may not really sound like information of great interest, but as a gardener it can be. When it comes to making sure plants get enough water and support, you have to know the temperature and the wind. A tomato plants needs less support for a light 5 mph wind then it does for a 25 mph wind. Also, if the temperature at the fence line is warmer than on the deck, which I suspect it will be, knowing how much warmer will help me with watering.

And of course if I decide to add a shade cloth this year I will be able to know why I am doing it. And maybe when to put it up, and when to take it down.

FROST!!

We finally have our first real cold snap. Our temperatures have dropped from the 70’s down to low to mid 50’s. And tonight (YEAH!) we should get down somewhere just below freezing. I’ve seen the temperature for tonight rated as anywhere from 27-30, so we’ll just have to see where it gets. But we are due for a cold snap. Since we got rain over the weekend, just shy of 1″ here at the house, we’ve had time to dry out. So I don’t expect a lot of icy roads tomorrow, but it could happen.

In preparation I have covered plants. I have not covered my swiss chard nor my lettuce. I did cover the squash coming up and all the citrus trees. We did get some light wind over the weekend, after I had covered the squash. I ended up putting pieces of wood to help hold down the plankets (you know those plant blankets they sell, more like thin flexible paper than blankets). But I have high hopes for the squash surviving. We’re shooting for a high of 53 here, but by 10pm the temperatures should have already fallen down to mid 30’s.

I’ve also moved plants that were outside on the deck close to the house. Since the area close to the house is covered and sheltered, it does keep a few degrees warmer than out in the open. Its will get chilly, but not quite as cold as those plants out in the yard. Obviously these are plants in pots, including some succulents and my tomatoes.

I will say, I do miss the weather station set up we had at the old house. I may have to figure out how to set up something that will give me that same amount of information. That system showed me the changes in 5 minute increments, so I knew how quickly temperatures dropped. But of course, when we moved, we couldn’t easily move that.

Let’s see what tonight’s weather brings.

UPDATE: its 10:45 pm and it is already 31 degrees outside. It will be a cold night for Austin.