Need Lt Summer/Early Fall weather Predictions for newcomer

Hi,
Our plans are finalizing for our move. We found a house in Duvall/Carnation area and we'll be arriving in WA August 19th. We have 1200 plants (Iris, Hosta, Daylily, Huechura, Lenten Roses, ferns/grasses) to bring with us that we'll need to plant upon arrival. We plan to order compost and plant raised beds shortly after moving in. I need to get an idea of what the weather has to offer me between mid August and October. How late in the year can you plant without worrying about loosing plants? Will it be really hot and will I need to water extra to help them through? Will I have to worry about the 'rain' washing away my raised beds if I don't build in a perimeter edge? Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Looking forward to starting gardening life in my new home.
Kris

It's really a crap shoot that time of year. We could have mostly sun or mostly rain. It shouldn't be too hot, mid-70s if we're having a late summer, likely cooler.

Average Temp
Aug: 74/55
Sept: 69/51
Oct: 59/45

Average rainfall:
Aug: 1.1 in.
Sept: 1.9 in.
Oct: 3.5 in.

Here's where I found that http://www.ask.com/web?q=climate+in+Duvall%2C+WA&qsrc=2420&o=2833&l=dir

Right now I do worry about losing transplanted plants to heat and lack of water. By then it should be fine. It will have cooled off, with some rain, and we generally don't get true freezes until Nov.

GEnerally in the NW you can plant anytime the ground isn't frozen. The plants you mentioned will do well here. September and October is the best time to do fall plantings.

YOU"VE picked a beartiful area Welcome. I've had raised beds for 20 years and they have never washed out. I live very close to the Olympic Mts.

This message was edited Jul 15, 2008 4:45 PM

Thank you. It sounds like we've picked a good time of year to move. By the time I get the house situated, it should be a good time to plant. Let's just hope the plants hang in there with me. We're looking forward to getting the plants settled.

Keep us updated on your progress.

Welcome to our world, all your babies should do find, I have a idea that we we'll have a Indian summer, just guessing mine you, just fells that way to me.
Enjoy
Tills
^_^

An indian summer would be wonderful. Now if we can just get all the plants unpotted, cleaned and wrapped for AG inspection before loading. I'll feel much better when we're all in the truck and on our way, that will mean the first leg of the journey was successful/complete.

Ladybugfan, that's so exciting. I'm just a few miles from Duvall toward Woodinville and would love to be of any help to you getting situated that I can.

We do often have an Indian summer and with that, September is quite pleasant. Fall is a good time for planting around here, though you'll have to tolerate some rain. Our rain generally isn't too torrential - more of a slow drizzle.

Our hot is nothing like your hot, so watering needs shouldn't be too much. And you may have some tall conifers giving you shade at various parts of the day, which will help. I so admire you, bringing your plants with you. That's fantastic.

"more of a slow drizzle" - from September to May or at least it seems like it sometimes. Then summer comes and we all want the heat to go away.

NO no!! I do not want the heat to go away. I am enjoying every minute of it! And ladybugfann will be used to having it much more humid than we have, so it will be a piece of cake to adjust. September should be beautiful, most of october as well. In my area (Tacoma area) the rains start toward the middle of October. So cool that you are bringing your plants! You'll have some awesome nurseries up your way. Katie 59 can help you scout them out.

Spoken like a true plant addict, Pix: "So cool that you are bringing your plants." and "You'll have some awesome nurseries up your way." in the same breathe.

Marvelous!!

I think zhinu just wants the heat to stay at something below 80. I'm with her - 78 is perfect.

It's just so nice to be warm after the past 2 winters...

How nice of you guys to give us a preview of the coming Fall weather. It sounds like we'll no trouble adjusting to the weather. I can leave the heat, 72-78 would be perfect. Here we have to ride the horses before 9 am to keep them comfortable.

The plants are my daughter's business - daylily hybridization - hoping to be the next Pat Stamile. A small portion are my favorites. We're hoping they'll do well so she can continue to afford to keep her horse in the style he's become accustomed. She's hoping to be an Olympic rider.

I'd love any suggestions on compost or compost combination delivery companies available out our way. I'll be needing maybe 3 truck loads (17 cu yd each). I wasn't thinking when we visited to check into a yellow pages to bring home. I'd like to get those ordered so we can work on raised bed building before school starts.

I'd also love to see area nurseries with you guys. Sounds like a personal tour invitation. That can't be beat. I'll let you know as soon as we're settled a bit and maybe we can work something out this fall. I don't melt in the rain as long as it's not freezing, so I'm game for most anything.

Kris

Today's pretty good, a little cold when the wind comes up. Ideally during the summer I'd want two days of light rain a week, with the rest of the days to be 72-85. Not going to get it, but it's a nice dream.

I'll get you some names of nearby nurseries, etc. tonight.

Classic Nursery is a small nursery on Avondale Road (I-522 becomes Avondale east of Redmond) and it's where I've gotten my soil in the past.

http://www.classicnursery.com/gardencenter/gardencenter.html

Dejong sawdust and shavings is close by:

http://dejongss.com/whatwehave/

Their chicken and chips is a great soil admendment for clay and works as a great mulch that doesn't dry out, as well. My neighbors swear by it.

Molbaks is a well-known nursery in Woodinville

http://www.molbaks.com/

Flowerworld is a big and inexpensive nursery about 15 minutes away from that

http://www.flowerworldusa.com/

Kate swears by Wells-Medina nursery, where you can find a fine selection of things you can't always find elsewhere. It's in Bellevue:

http://www.wellsmedinanursery.com/

And our DG Favorite, which is on the Peninsula and is and hour and a half away, but well-worth the ferry ride is Dragonfly Nursery in Kingston. Heidi, Cattledogs is on this list!!

http://www.dragonflyfarmsnursery.com/

Great information. Sounds like I need to do some visiting when we get into town. I'm sure I can find something at each of these places that needs to live at my new house. Thank you for the links. I'll make some calls and see if I can set up delivery of soil for planting. I'll keep watching the thread to see when the next garden visits will be and join in so I can say 'thank you' in person.

It'll be fun.

Did you see that we also have a calendar post at the top of the thread? Inside this post is a link to an online calendar to which we have posted various events taking place around here. If you want to ask that something be added, you can just post there.

I did check the calendar to see what was there. I'm trying not to book too far in advance. Need to get moved in, plants in the ground and animals/kids situated and starting school. Then I get to play. It is a very nice feature for the area, you guys are pretty organized and very inviting. I'm looking forward to making new gardening friends.

"I'm sure I can find something at each of these places that needs to live at my new house."

LOL!!! She's 'one of us' already!! Oh yes, we've got quite a group, in spite of the fact that we live fairly far from one another and all have our own lives that are busy. We do try to get together a bit and just have a good plant time.

What age are your kids and what type of pets?

I have 4 kids, 22 (Boy, final yr at U of MI), 13 (Girl, daylily hybridizer/hopefull olympian), 10 (Boy, Pokemon King/heirloom veg grower) and 8 (girl, perpetually smiling). We also have 2 horse, 2 great danes, 2 havanese and 3 cats (1 ferral rescue, 1 neighborhood reject and 1 senior lady). Trying hard not to acquire more to move with.

Kris

I have a 7 year old step-daughter.

Wow. Your house sounds like tons of fun!!!! You have a little city there. LOL

It might not always be fun, but it is entertaining and very busy. We will be living at the top of a very big hill and the last house at that. Great place for drop off animals.... guess we'll be adding to the crew without even trying. Rescue kid has a habit of finding new family members. Wish us luck.

I'm sure my DSD would too if we let her. Though the last ones were my husbands fault. We ended up capturing and turning over for rehabilitation 3 ducklings. Found them wondering around on their own, couldn't find the mother and they kept heading for the road. Then kids showed up and were trying to catch them.

Awwwww. How cute is that? So glad you found them and found someone to take care of them.

My DH and DSD wanted to keep them and name the Huey, Duey and Luey. If we had acreage...

Perfect names . . .

Zhinu - late to this thread. Do you still have the ducklings?
I have a friend with 5 acres & she is looking for Ducklings.
Please let me know if you still have them.

Katye - No, but if you contact animal services they can probably put you in touch with the person that would take them in your area, and you might be able to get some from them. Especially if your friend was willing to take ducks with special needs.

Kris, don't know when you'll ever get around to reading this, but by my calculations, you're arriving at your new home about this time. It's raining cats and dogs, just like the folks back home warned you! But have no fear, the week-end promises to be nice. Just plant away whenever the ground isn't too saturated, and load up on some sort of slug bait you deem safe for kids and pets---beer? Nothing will wash away unless teeny tiny. A bit of bark or strategically placed rocks can help. My battle is against the squirrels, who will often excavate. I surround my new plantings with rocks a little bigger than a fist just to discourage them until the plants get really established. After that I remove them to discourage the bugs that might shelter there. Welcome home!

Yes, this is unusual weather. August should be hot and dry. And what's with these thunderstorms?

Hope you arrive safely and soon.

So I heard from Kris and she's here. They are just busy trying to get everything in order for autumn. I'm hoping that she and I can meet up and she can come to the plant swap at Gordon's.

I'll pester her periodically. :-)

Hi everyone. Thanks for keeping tabs on me. We did arrive on the 18th of August after an interesting ride with all the pets, kids and plants through the mid west, Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone. My how things have changed in 35 years. Wanted to create some lasting memories for my crew but was fairly disappointed in the changes since I'd been to both places. Kids were duly impressed and that's what counts.

It took quite some time to get a land line thru Verizon and we just manged to get Hughesnet hooked up this past weekend. So now everyone is back from the stone age. We've unpacked all the immediately necessary boxes for clothes and living supplies. Lots more to get too sometime soon. We started with the outside work and are still at it. We've built 3 raised beds, 24" deep, 6 ' wide by 90 ' long for daylilies. Hauled 60 yards of compost/garden mix so far with another 40 for this weekend. Planting for the next several days before dirt arrives in an attempt to beat the next rain my neighbor keeps threatening is coming. I'd forgotten how much I could hurt from such fun work! We will be starting on younger son's garden boxes for spring planting... planning to do those lasagna style as he thinks that will work best. My guess is he's tired of hauling dirt with the wheel barrow.

Working on adjusting the builder's idea of border gardens around the house. I like green but need contrast and color too. It's kinda like my kitchen, functional but not enjoyable. Me thinks there are too many irons in the fire already.

Horses arrived yesterday so now everyone is here safely. Katie59 did invite me to the swap at Gordon's (thank you) and I'm working on being available. I won't have anything to swap but would love to put names and faces with DG names.

I've decided not to use chemicals as I've got a couple of dogs that will eat the bugs, the bait, the rocks they crawl on and the grass they hide in. I'm paying younger kiddos to hand pick them - 5 cents a piece right now, soon to be 10 cents. We're making a dent in the population and kids have money for the farmer's market bakery booth on Tuesdays. I haven't seen much in the way of squirrels but we do have several deer that think we belong to them - that will prove to be a problem long term as they'll think the plantings are dinner. Don't know if our raised tunnels are moles or voles just yet.... guessing I'll not be fond of either. I'll know more this weekend when I clear the planted area and start on redesign.

Thanks for ordering the wonderful weather. It rained most of the first 10 days but has been fabulous since. I love the cooler weather and fairly consistant breeze. Your 72 feels much like NC 85. Haven't figured out why, but it isn't as different as we'd imagined. Glad we're here and looking forward to making new gardening friends.

Kris

Kris - you'll definitely fight slugs in the warmer months. I pick and toss; many people use Sluggo. Voles are worse this year than usual (even in Oregon, according to my brother). They'll munch on the plants and you'll find tunnel openings under any pots or big rocks you put down. The moles will be active all winter. Mine are worse in the winter, probably because we're not out there. I have heard that used kitty litter put down each hole will make them abandon that area.

Sounds like you're working very hard - and will have at least another week of nice temps. If this is a typical September, the rains aren't due for another couple of weeks.

Looking forward to seeing you at the swap (which is really more of a get-together).

Yes, you do sound like there is much on your plate! Glad we were able to order actual summer weather for you. Isn't it just lovely out there?
a couple of my chemical free slug fighters: ammonia water in a spray bottle - won't hurt plants, kills the slugs, and runs down into the crown of the plant to get the baby slugs, too.
Scissors (yuck)
bucket of salt water (also yuck)

Welcome, Kris - glad to know that you had a safe trip & everything arrived here in one piece.
Pix - you forgot Shovel for the dispensing of slugs. Long handled is best - you want to be as far as possible away from flying residual (the result of impact). Eco-friendly & safe for your back - no bending, and the pieces are easily covered with soil. Do not perform this with a trowel unless you are able to duck with lightening speed!

I think I'll go for the ammonia water, kids like the salt water. I'll skip the smashed or chopped slugs as the dogs think they are dessert. Yuck.

Double yuck.
Kayte, where do you throw them? I've been known to throw slugs to the middle of the road, but I fear they always find their way home to my house. Ammonia water is my personal fave. Only problem is that darn repetitive motion injury that I keep getting to my wrist due to all the bottle squeezing! Hey, I know! How about putting it in the garden sprayer - the kind that pumps up? I could spray a whole LOT of slugs with that baby!