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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 20, 2023 12:40:49 GMT -6
Amen!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 20, 2023 18:14:22 GMT -6
And there’s more to be thankful for. We just had over an hour of rain and thunder and lightning. It’s clearing up now, but there are still some rumbles, so I haven’t been out to check the rain gauge.
Edited to add: I checked the gauge at sunset. Half an inch. Hurray!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 20, 2023 19:36:02 GMT -6
Nice!
That just made my day! You guys have been needing that for a very long time!
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 20, 2023 21:09:18 GMT -6
Yay! Happy dance!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 21, 2023 9:08:29 GMT -6
I think we got another 1.75 inches of rain overnight after my sunset check. Hallelujah!
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Post by woodeye on Apr 21, 2023 12:49:46 GMT -6
I think we got another 1.75 inches of rain overnight after my sunset check. Hallelujah! That is just downright fantastic!😲I'm very much tempted to do one of Frosty's Happy Dances...🕺
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 21, 2023 18:52:51 GMT -6
Wow! Happy rain barrels, Chrysanthemum!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 21, 2023 19:02:40 GMT -6
Yes, indeed, heavyhitterokra. We’re back up to full in all the tanks except one that’s filled by overflow from another. I had recently drained both of those to about empty, but I think the pipe that handles the overflow got knocked a little out of kilter, so it may have run over the edge instead of into the top. The other barrels were all overflowing, and we even had standing water on the ground in a low spot in front of our house. It was nice to have to put on my waterproof boots this morning to go have a look around. The plants and trees looked so refreshed!
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Post by macmex on Apr 23, 2023 6:47:05 GMT -6
Been watching the temps carefully. Seems that there is no weatherman or app which can be completely trusted. Yesterday afternoon I read that we might have a low of 38 during the night but that it would be overcast and there was no mention of frost danger. Thirty-nine is the point that I mentally sound the alarm and prepare for frost. As the day wound down, however, it seemed a bit warmer and, indeed, the clouds rolled in, I was so very tired at the end of the day. I went inside and got something to eat in preparation for going to bed. Just before jumping into bed I checked the temp and it was 50 f. I thought, "Looking good," and went to sleep. I awoke at 1:30 and checked. The temp was 45 f. Again, I thought "That's okay." I slept until almost 6 am, trying to get a full night's sleep. When I awoke I checked the temp. It was 35 f!!!
I got dressed and skipped other preliminaries so I could check my squash plants and protect them. The four behind the shop looked great. There was dew on them, but no frost. I covered them. The main planting also looked good, though it felt colder in their location. I grabbed a hose and sprinkler, setting it up to water them (at the time of this writing, 7:45 am) it's still going). Setting the sprinkler up I noticed that there was ICE on the hose! That was a close call.
Now my weather app is predicting a low of 35 tonight. Am just going to cover everything in late afternoon.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 23, 2023 7:13:02 GMT -6
Yeah, it’s very confusing. My weather forecast prediction is now, “It is what it is.”
Half my pepper plants are root bound. It will only be a setback, but all those days ‘in and out’ with those larger pots. Adjustments will be made next year:
Starting fewer early on, most starts (pepper and tomato) to start in early March indoors.
I have English peas that I seeded out in late January that are just now reaching mature height, right before flower. 3 months. If they didn’t produce their own, nutrient fall out would have occurred already. Kudos to the soil at the fence line.
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Post by amyinowasso on Apr 23, 2023 8:21:23 GMT -6
We had a family party last night and I forgot to cover plants. The ones I can see look OK, but I haven't been out to check. It was 36.7⁰ at 6:15 am. The weather station is, however out in the open way from the house. The plants are on the concrete patio, next to the house with rock halfway up. The heat was on in the house, if it moves through windows. I'm hoping the patio was warmer. Sunday night WAS supposed to be warmer. But none of the lows are great right now.
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Post by woodeye on Apr 23, 2023 16:12:55 GMT -6
I didn't bring my tomato and kale plants inside night before last, but I probably should have. I brought them into the sunny end of my garage yesterday though. I had my house shut up yesterday with no heater on and it only got up to 63° in here, my feet were cold all day so I know it was not acceptable outside for my plants. Today has warmed up, and I have moved my plants back outside, but I'm bringing them back into tonight because I don't trust any of the weather guessers on TV one iota...
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Post by macmex on Apr 24, 2023 5:47:41 GMT -6
Jerreth came home yesterday, after being away nearly 3 weeks. Wow! It's good to have her back! We worked together in the afternoon and got the main garden plowed. Then, while she worked on supper, I did chores and covered my squash plants. The forecast was calling for 38 f. I figured that the forecast is running a few degrees warmer than what actually occurs at my place. I was right. At 4:30 this morning it was 34 f and we had light frost.
While driving out to pick Jerreth up at the airport yesterday, I drove past a patch of wild blackberries in flower. I thought, "It's blackberry winter." Local lore says that there's always one last cold snap when the wild blackberries start blooming. I hope the "last" part is correct!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 24, 2023 17:21:54 GMT -6
Here at our house, the outside temperature seems to consistently read about 4° cooler than the current weather report says it is in Tahlequah. (Probably because we live in such a big hole). I think my garden is about 30' feet lower in elevation than the the County Road at the top of our hill. Sometimes, in the evening, you can feel the cooler air rolling down the hillsides, traveling along our dry creek channel. In summer, if you're wearing shorts, sometimes the cool air in that channel is so much cooler that you can feel the difference in temperature between where your feet are and where your face is.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 24, 2023 17:56:32 GMT -6
That’s interesting, heavyhitterokra, that you can feel the cool air in the dry creek channel. I’ve felt that phenomenon in houses with wood stoves on a lower floor where the cool air flows down the staircase, and the warm air moves up to replace it. I’ve felt cold breezes outside but not air moving along a dedicated channel like your creek. That’s just really neat. We live on the back side of a hill, and our neighbors live up at the top. We’re not at the bottom, just partway down. I remember a freeze a few years ago where I covered up basil and sweet potato vines in frost cloth, but they died completely even with that protection. My neighbor’s habanero peppers were unscathed. Some of it may have been the hardiness of the plants themselves, but I also wondered if it had to do with cool air moving down the hill.
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