That's the forecast for our end of Alberta for the next few days...I have POUNDS of tomatoes still out on the vines so I guess I will be doing a lot of picking tomorrow night...I will be covering the Datura and praying for the seeds to mature in the pods before I have to pick them..I was hoping for a week or two more of nice weather.
Possible SNOW by weekend...BRRRRR
Saskatchewan also had that loverly forecast but I now see the dirty deed is supposed to happen on Monday. Let's cross our fingers that the hurricanes/systems out in the Atlantic will push it back up north. I've got 80 tomato plants that are loaded like yours (as well as watermelons, cantelopes, and honey-dew whose fruit are getting to a good size)......I really, really, really am praying we don't get frost till October (actually late Oct. would be great (dreamer, nothing but a dreamer ;)
RE: Tomatoes
Sometimes I pull up the entire plant and hang upsidedown in basement till they ripen or in greenhouse if you are lucky enough to have one.
For the first few frost warnings I just cover plants with sheets/newspapers whatever (but not plastic)
Pam, can you leave sheets draped over your garden without them being stolen overnight. (Don't know what night time denizens of Moose Jaw are like).
inanda
We've done that before (re pulling whole plant) but am glad for the reminder Ginny. :)
re night time denizens our roto tiller has been out there all summer (as well as our wheelbarrow, tools, etc.) Our shovel and hoses have been borrowed a couple of times (we know cause they've been moved) but other than that nothing has been touched/taken by our fellow man.
We are eyeing our sheet supply too (I hate this time of year).
Oh no. If you are going to get snow the next couple of days that means we will be getting it next week. Don't like the sound of that. Although it was -2ºC last night.
I hope you are able to get your tomatoes harvested before the white stuff hits.
i hate to say it but i am actually looking forward to frost. this has been such a long growing season that the plants look a little tired and i just can't get excited about trying to spruce them up for another few weeks
harvested all my tomatoes yesterday in the sun and warmth. too often i wait til the last and wind up doing it in the dark and wet and freeeezing
pulled my corn last week because it was finished
will be very ruthless this year as to what comes inside - the nanas for sure and the ears and passion vines but i think the rest can meet their maker and i will start afresh another spring
Well we did the deed tonight and brought in all the tomatoes and watermelons and cantalopes. The potatoes have also bben dug and in the cold room.. I know I can cover but it just dosen't seem worth it..They are calling for -2 with rain and snow..Here is some of the produce before it went to the cold room.
Well here is the Calgary forecast for the next few days! No veggies to worry about - a few plants in pots that can come into the porch. My liles and peonies still have not arrived althought hat is not a real problem - yet! And I am not really finished with my renovations in the garden that I want to get done this fall. Well usually after some weather like this we have a nice fall - hope that is true this year - I have working out in the garden every day . Just put in a new ittle fountain - a bubbler really but did not bother to put in the pump and fill as I figured I would just have to drain it soon anyway! Ah well bound to happen soon!
carol
Mostly cloudy with occasional rain and a thunderstorm. Winds from the N at 20 kph. High: 8 C RealFeel: 5 C
Wednesday Night: Mainly cloudy and cool with occasional rain and a thunderstorm. Winds from the N at 16 kph. Low: 5 C RealFeel: 1 C
Thursday, Sep 14
Rain. Winds from the ENE at 25 kph. High: 8 C RealFeel: 2 C
Thursday Night: Cold with rain changing to snow, accumulating 1-3 inches. Winds from the NE at 16 kph. Low: -2 C RealFeel: -5 C
Friday, Sep 15
Breezy with periods of snow, then rain. Winds from the NE at 27 kph. High: 2 C RealFeel: -6 C
Friday Night: Temperatures falling to near the record of 25; breezy with snow and rain, then snow showers late. Winds from the NNE at 22 kph. Low: -3 C RealFeel: -10 C
Saturday, Sep 16
A chance for a morning snow shower; otherwise, sun and clouds. Winds from the ENE at 20 kph. High: 8 C RealFeel: 2 C
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy and cold. Winds from the ESE at 16 kph. Low: -2 C RealFeel: -3 C
My mom is from Ontario.
I have heard many stories about the Canadian Cold
(I was born in Vancouver, but lived in Oregon since 1962, at age 3 - so I've never lived in the northern cold)
Hope you get a break to save a bit more of your crop.
Thanks mdvaden :) Now since you are a Canadian I really think you should come up and experience least one of our winters :) (not BC tho.....their winter doesn't count ;).
p.s.Please join the rest of us in this thread: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/591228/ (link to map in first post).
This message was edited Sep 13, 2006 9:03 AM
p.s. Montreal, Winnipeg or Moose Jaw would give you a wonderful taste of winter :^))) ;)
Don't forget Cochrane, Lilypon. You really need to be here in Jan or Feb when the temp's can drop to the -50ºC's. Add a little windchill in there & your nose hairs freeze the minute you walk outside. I'm sure you experience that in Moose Jaw. When I moved up hear 40 years ago I quickly learned that you do not dress for style, you dress for warmth.
Sorry Linda Cochrane too! ;) The coldest Moose Jaw has dropped down to is -54ºC in the past 3 years...... :b -52 q: we've hit a number of times.
This message was edited Sep 13, 2006 9:52 AM
Try a Newfoundland winter with 600 cm of snow! Maybe not that cold, but you will have muscle on your muscle from shovelling!
As per usual, when Alberta turns cold, the east turns warm. 21 C in Halifax today which is suppose to move into Newfoundland for Thursday...we are suppose to be 16-20 C for the next 6 days. Great news if any plants survive Hurricane Florence!
LOL for some reason or other I expected that my missing those who get lots of snow would come back to haunt me too. ;)
echoes
Sep 13, 2006
I don't even want to think about snow. Seems like only a few weeks ago it finally all melted. I guess in a few days, things could really change for us weather wise. Maybe summer is over for now.
*finger in my ears* nah-nah-nah-nah
echoes
Sep 14, 2006
chuckle out loud. Hope that helps.
We got our first snow here in Montana today. The tops of 7000Ft mountains were covered on the top 1/3rd. It did rain a cold rain all day and it made the garden joyous. Maybe it will put out some of the fires that are burning up your way.
Hey! Don't cancel out us B.C.ers. We don't all live in a banana belt I'm looking at snow covered peaks at the 5000 ft level and its near frost at nights. Have an iris Touch of Heaven that has decided to put on fall blooms, guarding it with my life from the frost. Lynn
Well it has finally stopped raining after two days but no snow in town - yet! Lots out in the mountains apparently.
Ive been able to get the dogs out for walks both mornings but the rest of the day they have just had pee breaks and a few sessions of chasing toys up and down the living room!
And I got the basement tidied up ( although not really cleaned up!) and some computor things done and today I guess I will be baking to use up the last big zuchini!
carolvan
Hmmm, I concur with you Lynn. Our low here last night was 8 C. A little too nippy for my liking. I have about a dozen Brug buds that I want to see bloom yet. Time to get my Clerodendrum ugandense plants out of the garden and into the house. They are blooming their dainty little heads off and I'd hate to see them get too cold.
Don
This message was edited Sep 15, 2006 7:43 AM
Well we may not have quite the bitter winter they were forecasting for the Canadian prairies and Central Canada.........
El Niño climate pattern forms in Pacific Ocean
Updated 9/14/2006 1:20 PM ET
By Rene Pastor
NEW YORK — El Niño, a warming of equatorial waters in the Pacific Ocean that wreaks havoc with world weather conditions, has formed and will last into 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday.
El Niño has already helped make the Atlantic hurricane season milder than expected, said a NOAA forecaster.
"The weak El Niño is helping to explain why the hurricane season is less than we expected. El Niños tend to suppress hurricane activity in the Atlantic," said Gerry Bell, a hurricane forecaster for NOAA.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said the El Niño probably will spur warmer-than-average temperatures this winter over western and central Canada and the western and northern USA.
It said El Niño also will cause wetter-than-average conditions in the Gulf Coast and Florida, and spark dry conditions in the Ohio valley, the Pacific Northwest and most U.S. islands in the tropical Pacific.
In Asia and South America, the last severe El Niño killed hundreds of people and caused billions of dollars in damage as crops shriveled across the Asia-Pacific basin. This El Niño has caused drier-than-average conditions across Indonesia, Malaysia and most of the Philippines.
The CPC website said surface temperatures were substantially warmer than normal by early September in the Pacific. Scientists detect formation of El Niños by monitoring sea-surface temperatures with a system of buoys.
"Currently, weak El Niño conditions exist, but there is a potential for this event to strengthen into a moderate event by winter," Vernon Kousky, the chief El Niño expert at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said in a statement.
"The latest...predictions indicate El Niño conditions for the remainder of 2006 and into the Northern Hemisphere spring (of) 2007," the CPC website explained.
El Niño, which means 'little boy' in Spanish, hits once every three years or so. Anchovy fishermen in South America noticed the phenomenon in the 19th century and named it for the Christ child since it appeared around Christmas, and it normally peaks late in the year.
El Niño hinders hurricanes
One immediate impact of El Niño is during the current Atlantic hurricane season, which follows on the heels of the record 28 storms and 15 hurricanes which struck in 2005.
Last year's storms included monsters like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. But this El Niño apparently has helped hinder storm formation in 2006. So far, there has only been seven tropical storms and two hurricanes halfway through the hurricane season, which begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
Scientists said El Niños disrupt storm formation because it allows wind shear to rip apart thunderstorms in the center of the hurricanes, reducing power and intensity as a result.
Northeast could be in for milder winter
An El Niño also usually leads to milder winter weather in the Northeast.
Bell said scientists will have a better idea in the fall how long this El Niño will last. "There's no way to say at this time how strong it is going to be. It's too early," he said.
The last severe El Niño struck in 1997-98. The weather phenomenon caused searing drought in Indonesia, Australia and the Philippines while causing rampant flooding in Ecuador and Chile.
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Still without f*r*o*s*t here (knocking on wood) ;).
about 1/4 of our pickins........... + 20 pumpkins, 40 acorn squash, 30 Butternuts, and about 3 times the below of ripening tomatoes that we picked prior to this. If frost doesn't hit tonight we will be stripping the Rhubarb chard and I'm sure we missed a tomato plant (or two)......always exciting picking in the dark. ;) Off to drag the tropicals in now. I'm going to have the loooooooooooooongest hot tub ever after this. At this time of year I think we all are insane! ;S
Ah I see Dave's is still having problems loading pics.