We're having the 23rd day in a row of below-average temperatures. And by "below-average", I don't mean "It was supposed to be 70 degrees and we only hit 69." Usual daily highs this time of year are in the mid sixties, and we'll be lucky to claw our way out of the low fifties by late afternoon.
On the heels of the second coldest July on record, this means that we got bupkis for tomatoes. The grape tomato plants in the backyard are still covered with stunted green things that can only be called tomatoes because of the position they occupy on the end of the stems. The neighbor's Tabasco pepper plant only half-ripened as well, and our crop of Serranos could have been bigger, with four plants yielding maybe five or six peppers worth eating.
Interestingly, my raspberries were almost prolific this year.
ReplyDeletehere in CT, we got NO TOMATOES at all from our garden -- and I spent all that time making raise beds, too. we got some zucchini and some kale, but most of the rest of it -- cucumbers, string beans, drowned in the rain.
ReplyDeleteWe went from summer to winter in two days in Orlando. Thursday was 94, Friday was 90, yesterday we topped out at 72, and my backyard MCFD showed 48.7 at 0600 today. We'll be lucky to make 66 today.
ReplyDeleteWe set a record for consecutive 90+ days in October; despite that I suspect our tropical outdoor greenery won't care much for Nov - March.
Oh yeah, ManmadeGlobalWarming(tm) all right.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, I just read The Last Centurion yesterday...
ReplyDeletewv: metame. I don't think so.
Tam ~
ReplyDeleteAround here, a lot of us plant our tomatoes inside tires because tires help warm the soil earlier & keep it warmer later, and wrap the tomato cage with 5ml clear plastic sheeting at night. Shouldn't need that where you are, but it never hurts to plant this way to be prepared for global warming. ;)
Our grape tomatoes were the only ones that produced squat this year. The others came down with late blight in June and July with all the rain and cold.
ReplyDeleteDamn Algore and his global warming...
Kurt Saxon wrote about tire gardens. It always seemed like a good idea, but we already had raised bed gardens when we moved in.
ReplyDeleteHere in CT we're also getting our second snowfall this month. :-/
ReplyDeleteThis weather is all Glenn Beck/Fox News' fault, trying to distract us peasants from the critical crises of Global Warming, and prevent The One from signing away all our rights in Copenhagen.
ReplyDeleteAll of my jalapenos died.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, I got a RECORD crop of habaneros this year...
My chili (all meat!) just got hotter!
Yeah, well try 360 acres of dent-corn that hasn't enough heat-degree-days to mature.
ReplyDeleteGlobal Warming, My Ass! What a fraud!!!
All The Best,
Frank W. James
As usual Mr. Watt is on top of this
ReplyDeletehttp://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/18/a-cold-start-to-fall-over-4500-new-snowfall-low-temp-and-lowest-max-temp-records-set-in-the-usa-this-last-week/#more-11803
The URL says it all, butthe fraphic at the link is pretty impressive too.
Yet we've had unseasonably warm and dry weather since spring. We're hogging all the heat. Blame Canada!
ReplyDeleteI did not get a lot of tomatoes..... bell peppers were slow as hell, too. I brought 4 of them inside in pots..... 2 don' look like tthey ar going to make it, but the other two are still setting on new peppers!
ReplyDeleteTomatoes were crappy this year, first due to weather, then late blight took out the rest.
ReplyDeleteIt's snowing here tonight, enough so's up the road a mile, a car slid off a corner & into a ditch.
It's October, fer God's sake...
we had our first hard frost here near KC. Wife went out to get the paper this morning and reported the grass was all crunchy. This usually doesn't occur until November.
ReplyDeleteIf all you have is stunted green tomatos.... do what the Mrs. does: Pickled Green Tomatos.
ReplyDeleteThey're good. And that way you don't waste all the effort you put into the garden.
Here in Asheville NC it froze real good last night. Too soon for me...
ReplyDelete