A Shift In Growing Seasons

Lisa K
Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

After a discussion with @VermontCathy about starting my summer seeds in August and a conversation with a friend that lives in OH I decided to start a new post to see if anyone else is experience a shift in seasons (in So. Calif it is about 2 months) and is that changing when and how you are gardening? 

Comments

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The gardening season here in Vermont has been running about 2 weeks behind the normal average. Winter was a bit late letting go, but it was within typical variation.

    The summer has been dryer than usual, despite getting an inch and a half when Tropical storm Isaias swept through. It has also been hot, with many days above 80F. Again, this is not far from the monthly average highs which are in the upper 70s for this area.

    It's very important for all gardeners to remember that all those last frost date, first frost date, winter lows, average monthly highs, average rainfall per month, etc. are just averages.

    Furthermore, there is evidence in historical weather data showing that the 20th century was unusually mild compared with previous centuries. We all need to plan resilient gardens that can survive and produce in spite of unexpected, unpredictable weather variability.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

    To me there are many issues with the seasons shifting but one that was very obvious this weekend. I have a deciduous tree in my back yard which I have put many partial-shade loving plants under and the weather may have changed but the days getting shorter has not so my tree has started to shed its leaves which means more sunlight is hitting the partial-shade plants.

    This weekend we had (and still having) a major heat-wave and it was reported that yesterday my city hit 101 degrees which is unheard of! So right now my gardening strategy is to just keep what I can alive until this passes, I am doing that by watering more and when I can get near the plants (the bees have not been happy lately) I am trying to put up shade-cloth. 

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    We had a drier summer than usual. In August it was HOT and dry and even where I live in Oregon it will be HOTTER in September. Usually by now there is much less heat starting in the 80's and down. We are in the 90's and close to 100 degrees. I am keeping plenty of water on the plants. I decided to just let the kale and spinach keep growing.

  • Grounded
    Grounded Posts: 153 ✭✭✭

    We had a hot summer, but up until the last 3 weeks or so, we had some rain every couple of days. Some of the other gardeners at the community garden plots have said we are about one month behind this year. The trees are beginning to lose their leaves on schedule though. The weather is beginning to cool, and along with it some much needed rain. Rather than a shift, we might be just getting a shorter season this year. It seems odd to say that with the higher than normal temperatures, but while the days have been warmer, the nights are still cooler.

    I have an app on my phone for the weather and with it I loosely keep track of several cities/areas. This summer we were warmer than many areas of Florida and Mexico during the day, but we were still much cooler at night, by about 10-15 degrees on average. I don't know if that is normal or not I have not been following this long enough to form any real opinion.

    This year I supplemented my garden with quite a bit of bought garden soil mix and topped off the plant beds with a couple inches of compost/mulch mix and, for the most part, my garden has been pretty resilient.

    I too feel that the winters in our area have been milder and the summers a bit warmer. It has been the spring and fall that have been more unpredictable.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    We had a late start to season in New England, but we seem to be pretty much on the normal track now. The worst of the summer heat broke in early September, and I expect first frost will be the third or fourth week of September.

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭

    We had a HOT summer! I am looking forward to cooler fall days!

  • erikawinterton
    erikawinterton Posts: 98 ✭✭✭

    In utah. We had an extremely hot summer hitting more triple figure days, than I can ever recall. Many fires add to this craziness. We also had a couple freak storms come through. One was classified as a deracho. Which passed all the way from southern Utah to Southern idaho. It was a nasty storm.

    Just last night we had snow fall, and it stuck to the ground. This typically doesn't happen until late October early November.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I just check the 10-day forecast for my zip code and it is a little better than originally thought, instead of mid to high 80's the next 10 days will be high 70's to low-mid 80's. I may not lose as many plants as first feared, yea!

  • It is currently 61 degrees, what my daughter calls "hoodie" weather. We don't typically see temps this low in the evenings until late Sept. or Oct. The summer was hot and very dry but this last week we have had 8+ inches of rain and it is raining again now. The cracks in my yard from last year's drought had not fully healed so there were some significant, break your ankle if you're not looking, cracks. I literally could not see the bottom on some of them (we have heavy dark clay). With the temps tonight I'm wondering if we will have an early winter. I'll have to start thinking about ways I can protects some of my plants if we do.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

     Way back when summers ran from July through September with fall starting in October, however, the last several years July has been a grey and cool month with heat and humidity starting in August and running through October and early November.  

    So it was a surprise when about 4 am Sunday morning we had a lot of lightening and some thunder then I heard the wonderful sound of rain! It did not rain long or hard but at least it was something and unexpected since the storm was forecasted for the mountains only and was not supposed to reach the coast. Unfortunately this morning it is very hot and humid even along the coast.  But I will take anything since we are officially in a drought.

    The storm also got me thinking that maybe the year and a half of the COVID shutdown may have given the earth some time to repair itself and we have at least for now are back to our seasons being in the correct months. I guess only time will tell and how long it may last.

    Have you noticed any changes to nature since COVID?

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @Lisa K I think that with climate change the weather is less and less predictable. Hot spells then all of a sudden cold spells, rainy... I have been noting the weather in my calendar for about 10 years. This helped me with gardening. Now I stopped. The weather goes haywire. One has to adapt to every new situation. This year I planted everything at least two weeks, sometimes even up to one month later as last year.

  • MaryRowe
    MaryRowe Posts: 736 ✭✭✭✭

    I'm having a similar experience in west-central Missouri. So far this year we have not experienced the really severe weather extremes like the heat dome, drought and wildfires in the West, but the weather year-round is becoming increasingly unpredictable. I have been gardening here for about 30 years, and in the last two years I too have given up on my weather records because they are just not much help any more. The growing season may be getting shorter-- last frost dates do seem to be getting later, but first frost dates not so much. Spring is generally colder and wetter than it used to be, and the summer humidity higher for longer.

    Weather has always been changeable in this area, but in the past the extremes--thunderstorms, tornados, hail, periods of heavy precipitation or dry spells-- were always much likelier to happen in certain months and not at all in others. That is not true any more. In terms of raising food, we are just going to have to be much more flexible and ready to adapt to whatever Nature throws at us. That means better rainwater harvesting, crop covers, greenhouses and everything else you need for year-round gardening, and I think especially permaculture techniques that make gardening more adaptable and resilient.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,936 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe I have done something similar to your calendar, I have a spreadsheet with planting times and it takes into account what the weather pattern was the year before with the understanding it might change from month to month.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @MaryRowe I agree that we have to be more adaptable, more flexible. I do not weed my vegetable beds during the dry and hot period, because the weeds help the soil to stay moist. I plant different plants together, so that some cast shade on others. It somehow works. During the rainy days I weed out what I not need. One somehow has to catch moments rather than plan activities.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2021

    We have a later spring so you have to be prepared for cold and have a plan in place if we get late frosts. I have gone to cold frames to help with this.

    Our falls are much longer. Our first frost many years ago always happened on Labor day (first week in USA) now its October 15 and often later. I enjoy fall planting. We seem to have less bugs.

    I pretty much grow 12 months out of the year anymore. Its taken a bit of planning and learning but I know I at least have some fresh veggies on hand.

    I plant all my crops really close together. Part of that is for more food ina a smaller place but it also cuts down or almost eliminates weeding. I pull very few weeds in a growing season. And those I pull are usually edible.

    Yes, being adaptable and flexible seems to be the way to go now-a-days and I expect that trend to continue.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Monek Marie Lucky you! I wish I could get my plants to choke out the weeds. For some crops it works, but some of the weeds that plague me will happily grow in the shade under potato green, or between onions.

    Onions don't like competition because they don't develop good root systems, so you can't grow them too densely.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @VermontCathy I space onions out with room to grow but plant lettuce varieties around them to shade the soil and choke out weeds.