Homesteading In The Pacific Northwest

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head ....

I've lived in Washington for almost 20 years now and for the most part I really haven't minded the clouds and rain.  But enough is enough!  These are the local calendars from Weather Underground ...




1 day of partial sunshine in the entire month of March!


2 days of partial sunshine and one fully sunny day in April ...


And 3 days with some sunshine so far on May ... that's 7 days where we have seen the sun in two and a half months!!  Did I say ENOUGH ALREADY??!!

And then I saw this today on Cliff Mass's Weather Blog ...


Yes, it's official ... the coldest spring on record!!  I picked the coldest, cloudiest spring on record to expand and improve my garden ... and then to add insult to injury, I finished the drip irrigation system for my raised beds on Friday ... and it started raining on Saturday and, according to Cliff Mass, "Many stations will break their daily records today and some may reach in one day their normal monthly totals. " 

OK!  Fine!  I just hung a fluorescent light over the tomatoes and peppers in my greenhouse and turned on the heater ... and I may just hang a light  from the hoops under the plastic in every one of my raised beds!  


 ...and I'm switching back to my "Shades of Gray" template!
Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble ...




6 comments:

  1. All I can say about this spring is UGH. It's the same scenario for me: the year I decided to expand and go wild in my garden... this. Last year was too good- it left me way too optimistic for this year! Ah well, there will be plenty more springs for us, we just have to be patient.

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  2. I'm another one with an expanded garden this year (up in Lake Forest Park, just north of Seattle) and I share your frustration with this weather.

    Oh well. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, I guess you just have to accept that not every year is a "tomato year". The garlic, onions and lettuce seem to be doing OK, so there's that.

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  3. It has been an odd spring this year. Even "sunny Eastern WA" is suffering from lack of warmth and sunshine. We got a few warm days last week, so I drenched my garden and the tomato pots yesterday morning....an extra good watering. Around dinnertime, we got a cloudburst. Go figure.

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  4. I've been too disappointed to check Cliff Mass for a while. I've known it though as my coop is nowhere near done in this weather and even my cool-weather crops are not growing. Insane!

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  5. Our last 24 hour period was a real soaker and it follows a long string of grey and wet days. Luckily I planted alot of brassicas and greens and they appear quite happy - even if I am not!

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  6. Funny (or not) that you mentioned the Cliff Mass post. Reading it last week really bummed me out. I was building an extra raised bed for tomatoes but I've been joking that I'm going to use it as a cranberry bog. This weather is crazy.

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