Spring Now Comes 2 Weeks Earlier... Thanks, Global Warming!

Early spring (4.00 / 6)

Aaaah!! I'm so behind on my garden!!!

---

by: Regina Terrae @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 at 20:10:39 PM UTC

Cue... (4.00 / 5)

Cue random moron here to say something like -

"nuh-uh!  It was cold last night!  Al Gore is teh sux!!1!"

Heh.

The book looks interesting, and yes, scary as shit...

---

by: JayinPortland @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 at 21:53:20 PM UTC

Couldn't tell it here in Seattle (4.00 / 5)

It's been coldish and rainy right up through a day or two ago. It's not raining now but it's still in the 50s.

I haven't paid much attention to the lilacs, though. Back where we lived before we moved into our current house there were some pretty good-sized liiac trees that always smelled like heaven in the spring. Now I don't think we have any in our neighborhood, which is a shame because it was one of my mother's favorites. Maybe the landlord would let us put in a lilac if we asked nice . . .  

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

---

by: Omir the Storyteller @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 at 22:28:10 PM UTC

You know, climate records are funny things. (4.00 / 4)

My husband used to work on Mt. Washington, home of the world's worst weather, as a weather observer; his uncle is a meteorologist studying global weather patterns. And there are cycles that put 1965 at a low-temp point.

I am convinced global warming is real. Ocean temps are rising.

but 15,000 years ago, where I live was covered by a mile of ice, too.

My fear here is that sensationalist claims that aren't based on scientific research are actually a hindrance to promoting sane measures to deal with climate change.  And I just happen to be suspicious, since I know the mid-60s was a particularly cool time in a 70-year cycle.

Much more alarming now is that the last ten years are each amongst the hottest on record.

And I feel like I've turned into the site's conservative wingnut now.  

---

by: zic @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 at 23:06:53 PM UTC

Factual information can be a real downer (4.00 / 4)

I was enjoying this spring two weeks early thing. I blamed my garden failures on it... now what/who can I blame?  

---

by: Curtis Abbey @ Thu Apr 16, 2009 at 23:58:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Mother Nature is fickle. (4.00 / 4)

She's always looking out for a new way to take advantage of your tasty vegetables. Blame her. Blame Ronald Reagan for not doing more to combat oil use. Blame me for being a wing nut.

But don't blame yourself and give up on your garden!

---

by: zic @ Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 00:14:32 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks (4.00 / 2)

I'm giving up on part of round 1 of this year. Moving towards round 2 with some well learned lessons. Not everything is ruined, my herbs are just fine and I have hopes that my cauliflower will flower one of these days. Ditto for the brussel sprouts. The bok choy failed, but the romaine is looking nice. My strawberries are better than ever with many flowers all over them and little berries forming. My boysenberries are flowering. The marigolds are getting eaten by something. I found a local farm that sells yards of (what I heard is) the best compost in da world. So hopefully I can get a couple yards and really take it up a notch in round 2. The disappointments so far have been my orange trees, which I'm certain came from Home Depot with at least two types of insects. I know because I went back and they have the same problem in the remaining trees. I had one red raspberry bare root that didn't leaf out, but many others that did. The bok choy and the radishes were the biggest failures, but I now believe I know why. Poor soil and overcrowding. I think I mixed in too much of the native clay, and too much on top. It really confined the radishes. Goddamn Reagan! Cheers thanks again for the encouragement.

---

by: Curtis Abbey @ Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 03:25:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

over crowding is always a problem (4.00 / 3)

for radishes, for rats, and for radicals.

But the reward for not giving up is knowledge, wisdom, and eventually, mastery.

But it is really hard to pull those little seedlings out so ruthlessly, isn't it?

Can't help with the orange trees, except to suggest that Neem Oil is a blessing.

---

by: zic @ Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 03:43:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]