It was 99°f yesterday afternoon (37°C).

For several hours before it set yesterday, the sun was a red orb in the western sky. That's true again this evening - after a brief shower of rain!

This morning, the air quality deteriorated to "unhealthy for sensitive groups." With the rain, it has improved to "moderate" but the sky sure doesn't look that way.

The official "trace" of rain for the month and the hottest average temperature ever recorded for August (140 years of records) isn't "doing it" for wildlife and forests. Fires in the Interior NW are somewhat in the characteristic areas as previous, recent years. The border of California and Oregon is burning up. And, the eastern slope of the Cascades, up near apple country, has 2 fires.

There is a fire in the Selkirk Mountains north of here, I'm guessing that the smoke is coming from 3 locations. Hopefully, some of this smoke will move out of the area and tomorrow - for a gardening day - may be better.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Sorry to hear about all your 'off' weather. Ours has been pretty decent. Almost back to old Colorado standards, just a bit hotter. But the air quality has been better since we haven't had much forest fire smoke this summer (yet). The last couple of years have been bad but this one not so much. Not thrilled with the continued heat though so it seems hotter than other summers. Hard to believe it is already Sept. though.

Really a late tomato harvest in 2022. Some varieties have done good while others have lagged.

It's not just an earliness or production comparison but how they have done in previous years and they aren't quite living up to that standard. Well, production looks fine but it's green tomatoes in September. They were behind in the Spring and then baked in mid-Summer. It's okay for us since there are plenty of plants and some have done okay. We will have lots in mid-September but we have had frosts by now, altho it sure doesn't look like frost will happen any time real soon in 2022.

Out there picking this morning and looking for the Porter fully-ripe fruit so that seed can be saved. Victory Seeds calls it "The Old Reliable," a Texan variety and Texas-born Grandmother Pearl's favorite. The two plants are just fine this year but the outrageous Yellow Jellybean plant (there's only one nearby) has grown over the top of both Porters! And, they are pushed up against the Bloody Butchers on the other side which is having its customary good year (& benefiting from not having the Jellybean as a neighbor ;o). Further in the row are others that are overloaded with green fruit and just now ripening some of them.

Depth to the bench, the coaches call it in football. It's good to have a number of varieties of most everything, because you can't count on conditions one year to the next.

Steve

By the way, Texas seed company Willhite says that Porter will be a "CROP FAILURE FOR 2022!" Wow, what's up with Texas?

Wacky weather in the foothills SW of Denver: 100 degrees yesterday afternoon, high today of 58!

Our tomatoes harvest has been meager so far: two! One Not Purple Strawberry from Tomatoz's swap seedling and one Better Boy before the July heat wave. There are a smattering of unripe greens but not nearly what we usually get. The first Sweet 100s are ripe and green ones are thick on the plants.

But I'll take gardening in Colorado over the Midwest any day!

And, it rains!

There wasn't one September sprinkle that added up to 1/10th of a inch of raindrops (after an even drier August). You know, those "storms" where not even enuf rain falls to actually run off the hood of your car. But today ..! There has already been 1/2" of rain in the distant garden's neighborhood and the clouds continue to rain at a steady rate.

Two days ago, the afternoon high was 92° at the nearest weather station - a new record for the date. I had the sprinklers going that morning but it was so windy that they did a better job watering the neighbor's lawn. Taking a break from the 3x/week irrigation feels good, especially since there is so little still growing in that garden. It hasn't froze there yet, altho we had a 38° morning here at home about a week ago. Strangely, it wasn't that cold in that big veggie garden where it usually freezes at the first opportunity ...

The warm September has been a blessing for the harvest of the warm-season crops. After such a late start, they have come thru nicely.

Steve

Very good. I love hearing about everyone's gardens!

I had a pretty good year in the greenhouse. Got lots of cucumber, zuccini, yellow squash, corn was really small, but yummy and some ears are still filling out from corn I sowed in July, carrots, kohlrabi, peas and tons of green beans. Melons are still ripening. I need to start them indoors and transplant so I can get some in August early Sept. I got a lot of tomatoes in the last two months too. Too many tomatoes.

I have roses and a couple dahlias that love the greenhouse and have been pumping out flowers which I cut and bring inside and I enjoy them thoroughly.

Sad thing is I have probably 30 bell peppers of various sizes that are not ripe and will not have time to "turn" color. I guess green bell peppers will eventually turn red? I don't know. I've never seen it and won't get to! ha ha. I sowed them from seed in late may. I need to start these indoors too.

October wasn't so Rocky, here abouts. Just a slow cooling - very unusual that we didn't have a frost until the very end of the month in the big veggie garden. In my protected backyard, the potted tomatoes at the foot of the backsteps didn't freeze and they even survived the first snow in November with only a little damage! They didn't survive what followed but I don't remember anything like this ever happening before. Easily as unusual as the 2 times we had a light August frost in the distant garden, several years ago.

(I have just eaten the last tomato off one of those plants and thought of this thread. :o)

Single digitS on a couple of recent mornings and the snowflakes that fell the first week of November are gaining some companions. I shoveled about 5" of snow off the walkways about an hour ago and we have gained another couple of inches since. Difficult travel but this is welcome snow for our evergreen forests and rivers after such a dry Summer. There was 15" at the nearest Snotel station before this snowfall started and the teevee just showed about 10" in someone's backyard up, nearer the BC border. Good stuff and saved our environment the last couple of years - snowy winters.

I hope everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving!

Steve

November was darn cold here

Hi!

It is snowing. Our coldest weather came on the very first days of Winter. January has been unusually warm. Above freezing temperatures most afternoons so that the piled snow along the driveway and in the shade was all that was left here in the yard. Any of the light January snowfalls melted after only a short time. Nothing added to the piles ...

The Weather Service says that cold wind will begin today and typical January temperatures near or below zero will show up for the final days of the month. Maybe this will mean that there will be Sunshine for February and the South Window will become a useful location for the seedlings for a Springtime Garden.

Steve

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying warmer temps, Steve! I almost posted here a few weeks ago, but I was, and am, deep in cabin fever. Sniveling alert! We've been under continuous snow cover for about 50 days and this has been the coldest, snowiest winter I can recall in 20 years. I've enjoyed not having to drag hoses out to water, but there's about 3 inches of black ice under the snow.

I highly recommend Yaktrax, a traction device that fits over your boots. I bought a pair after I fell hard on the ice a few weeks ago. I'm ok, but realized my hiking boots just weren't going to cut it for my twice daily trips to the barn. If you have to be outside in snow and ice where there aren't sidewalks, they are a life saver!

We are in our second round of sub-zero temps. -5 here this morning with a windchill of -13. The first round was before Christmas, one of those tree killing 70 degree drop in temps. We were high 50's one day, then the next it was -25 with a -35 to -45 windchill that hung around for what felt like a week. This time it's just for a couple of days and we're supposed to get into the mid 40's by the end of the week. What's different this winter is that we haven't gotten warm enough for it to melt.

One of the wonderful things about living in Colorado is that even in winter, we usually get a few days a month of 50 - 60 degree temps. The snow melts and you can get outside and soak in the sunshine. That hasn't happened this winter. Lane, we also had a much colder than normal November. The electricity bills tell the story!

I'm making decisions on what to sow for spring, organizing my seed box and have started gathering pots and trays to wash and disinfect. It's almost time to begin for 2023! I'm starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Barb

This winter has felt very long. Still a long way to go, too. Was -20 again here yesterday. Hopefully we don't get too many more arctic outbreaks!

Like Barb said, we had a wicked, violent temperature fluctuation in December (?). I am morbidly curious to see what got damaged.

agreed this winter has been frigidly cold. we had -14 here this morning, though its up to a balmy 15 now! all my plants in this yard are less than 1 year in the ground, so I’m crossing my fingers that the snow has been enough to protect them from these cold temps. Hopefully this cold weather means that we will have a lovely summer instead of two months of 100 degree temps (at least thats what it felt like last summer.) the Problem with this weather is its waaaay to easy to buy plants online. haha. hope all my boxes arrive when my husband is at work so i can secretly plant them. ;)

Hey Up!

While we have had mild Winter weather for weeks & weeks -- there was a only a single day above 50°f (10°C) since very early November. Yeah, just after we had lots of snow. Some of that November snow is still under a pile of white stuff at the corner of the driveway and under the pile that slid off the carport roof. Those piles and a little in the shade were all that was left now & then, thru the weeks. I've added a little more to those piles at times, including this morning.

March snow isn't unusual but it IS unusual for snow to be staying around from early November. Misleading too because, as I say, it's been a mild Winter.

Plant starts in the South Window, onion seedlings in the unheated greenhouse, and plans to set up the temporary hoop house sometime! Now, if the snow clouds will just blow away and let some sunlight shine on those seedlings. AND, melt the snow & thaw the ground where the hoop house stakes need to be driven in!

Steve

Very cold here still

Well good grief. It is April 22 and we've got three inches of snow this morning and 28 degrees. Not supposed to get over 60 degrees for the next seven days at least. I know Colorado springs are always volatile (at least in the 30 years I've lived here)...but does anyone else feel like Spring is especially late this year?

I don't think it is just this year. I started growing roses about 6 yrs back. Since then I learned not to prune till Mother's Day. First few years it would get warm and I had the roses pruned. Always got more die back due to cold and snow. I've lived here 30ish years and never noticed the late winters as much until I started growing roses. I think we had them, I just didn't pay much attention.

This has been the most consistently cold winter and spring I can recall.

Yes, it's the consistency that I'm thinking of. I agree with mmm, you always get that one "gotcha" freeze in May, and you're running out to cover the fruit blossoms etc. That hasn't changed. But there's been an almost complete lack of really warm days (like maybe one a couple weeks ago), which seems unusual.

gardengrl, I think you and L Clark are right. It does seem like the winter was overall colder than normal. The -20 was also pretty unusual. I had plants die in my yard (brooms and phlox so far) that I thought were just fine in our climate because I had them for 15ish years.

Today may have a record high afternoon temperature.

April 2022 was 5° below normal and the growing season seemed to be 2 weeks late. I talked about that with a local farmer and he agreed. April 2023 -- the temperatures were below normal until - suddenly - they aren't. We hit the first 70 degree weather and the first 80's in the same week.

Three months of slightly below normal. December & January, above normal but if you think about it -- that means mild month after mild month after mild month ..... It felt as tho we were truly in the PNW up here near 49 Degrees North. MiLd. Now what? Will we be in the Wild West for another Summer of dryness and record heat?

Steve

Right now the weather is pleasant and the air is clean. I sure hope we don't get another smoky summer. They are the worst!

We had our record high afternoon temperature of 82° and the highest morning temperature in 2023 with 51 here at home. Now, it's back to clouds and an afternoon high of 71°. Quite a change and yet more heat is on its way. I wonder about the possibility of thunderstorms with this sudden turn to 80 degree weather.

Another feature of the Spring weeks has been the lack of rain. I suppose that's our contrast with the coastal PNW.

I'm with you mmmm12CO. There has been so much stress on our lower elevation forests.

Steve

Changes,Changes.

We are finally getting some rain breaking the series of daily record high temperatures. The storms are sliding up the Rockies from the south, more or less following the crests and then flowing off towards the NW. That turn brings some rain to this western side before it moves on into Canada. Quite an unusual weather pattern ...

Suffering through a precipitation deficit of about 50%, 33%, 25% over the last 3 months, we are coming close to an inch of rain already in May. As this growing season begins, it is very welcome by this gardener although Winter snow melt at higher elevations is happening very rapidly with those recent temperatures and now some rain.

The change has delayed completing tilling the final part of the Big Veggie Garden but that's the Winter squash part and those plant starts are just emerging in the greenhouse. I am on a "normal" schedule for starting seed and it just might work! Onions, shallots and leeks have been set out. Some peas have been direct sown. Celeriac transplants are in. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant look ready to go but I am not jumping any gun and cooler weather with the clouds should slow those plants until we can move into the second half of the month.

Anyway, thank you Utah and Wyoming for sending western Montana, Idaho and northeast Washington some rain!

Steve

Digit, I'm very glad to hear you're getting precip.! Our whopper of a winter has receded into a dry spring. There have been some thunderstorms over the last few weeks, but they are hit or miss. I was lucky enough to get between 3/4-1" of rain 10 days ago. It was enough to fill the rain barrels. Skybird lives 15 miles due south of me and she got a 10th of an inch from the same storm. We did get some snow storms in March, but seem to have dodged the heavy March and April snows that are so important for spring growth. We have gotten snow storms mid to late May in previous years, but there don't seem to be any in sight, yet!

What I find interesting this spring is the behavior of my fruit trees. I have a Manchurian apricot tree, it was in full flower April 6th last year. I went through some older phone pics and in 2020 it was in bloom on April 10th. It flowers so early that it gets zapped by our spring snow storms and freezing night temps every year. I average about 3 apricots a year from it. I spotted 3 flowers on it the other day. This morning the flowers are gone, but it's starting to leaf out. The Spring Snow crabapple is in full bloom, the chokecherries are leafing out and look like they'll bloom in the next week. The fruiting apple trees have not flowered yet, but are leafing out. I'm speculating that the long, cold, wet winter kept them in dormancy longer than usual. I'd hoped that our lack of cold April snows might yield a better chance for a fruit crop this year. Now I really don't know.

I've gradually come to measuring the soil temps with a goal of 60 degrees before planting out tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Some people here have already reached that. I haven't checked yet, as it tends to occur late May/early June. I am going to do that soon. This may be a year when warm weather crops can go out earlier than usual.

Every year weather is weird in Colorado, it's just a different kind of weird each year!

Barb

@treebarb Z5 Denver, that is interesting about your fruit trees - I am having a very similar experience. We have two peaches and a pear, and as you say some years they bloom and then get zapped by a late freeze. But this year, because it has been so cold they weren't blooming and I thought "this is terrific, we are going to get lots of fruit! because they won't bloom till it is more warm and settled!" But the peaches never did bloom and now they are leafing out - in my experience the blooms always precede the leaves. So this may mean no peaches? The pear had three clusters of blooms (usually it's much more) and is also leafing. Obviously I still don't understand what makes my fruit trees tick...

Supposed to get some rain along the front range (and maybe snow in the Laramie valley). We need the moisture so hoping it materializes!

Getting good rain. maybe .75 to an inch. yay!

We never had a big spring snow storm, so the ground was super dried out. Much welcome