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Post by countrymom22 on May 16, 2023 22:32:40 GMT
Today is May 16 and I just picked my first quart of strawberries! Now you might ask what's so surprising about that? I live in NJ and strawberries aren't ripe here until the second week in June!
Is anyone else seeing early or late harvest dates this year?
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Post by Woodpecker on May 17, 2023 16:40:17 GMT
Everything bloomed early here, the daffodils, tulips, the apple & pear trees, everything!
I saw they have very ripe looking strawberries for a couple of weeks at our Market here, but too expensive for me. $4.99 . I bought a 1/4 of a watermelon last week to try, I was surprised,,ripe and delicious!!! Maybe it’s just in our areas?
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Post by Jolly on May 17, 2023 17:02:28 GMT
I'm having a lot of trouble with field peas this year. Stunted growth due to cool weather and too much rain. Got so much rain, my sugar pea vines rotted. Had a freeze that probably means no figs this year and wiped out my early sweet corn.
Weather has been very unusual...
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 4, 2023 22:14:20 GMT
I'm having trouble getting my green beans to sprout. I'm going to give them a few more days and then replant. Our weather has bounced around from low 40's overnight to 90 during the day. That may have something to do with it.
On the other hand, I picked the first raspberry of the season a full 6 weeks before they are usually ready. This growing season has been really strange so far!
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Post by Jolly on Jun 5, 2023 13:50:41 GMT
Well, God must have heard my post up above, because we got our first rain since then on June 3rd. I've been having to water, just to keep the garden producing. At least my sweet corn is coming in. What I planted after it froze, that is...
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Post by Melissa on Jun 5, 2023 14:30:42 GMT
We need rain here in Ohio. None in the forecast until Sunday.
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Post by Woodpecker on Jun 5, 2023 15:19:32 GMT
Same here countrymom22, it was in the 90's last week and this week it's to be in the 70's, 50's at night. My pear tree is loaded with tiny all red pears! I don't recall the pears being so red when they're first starting. I'm going out there today to cover what I can with netting. The birds love them! I want my pears this year, they were soooo delicious!!! Things here are growing so oddly, actually for the past few years. Primroses are starting to bloom very early too!!!
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Post by Woodpecker on Jun 6, 2023 15:28:22 GMT
The smoke from the fires in Canada has just arrived here on Long Island..it is very obvious and the haze is extreme! On my walk I could smell it big time, yuck!!!
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 6, 2023 23:37:08 GMT
Yes Woodpecker, the smoke and stink made it here today as well. I ran around closing all the windows. The dogs wouldn't even go out! Now we've got our own brush fire going on in Jackson, NJ. About an hour from us. It's just way too dry out there. Called my Mom and aunt to see how they are doing with the smoke. They both have COPD and emphesyma. Told them not to leave the house until later in the week. So far so good.
My green beans just started coming up today! Hopefully I'll get good germination and won't have to replant.
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Post by Woodpecker on Jun 7, 2023 16:17:57 GMT
Yesterday afternoon we had a severe thunderstorm with hail the size of quarters!!! It came down so hard and made a racket on the skylights. Thank God the cars weren’t dented, at least. The roses kind of crinkled up, but the buds didn’t fall off.
So many leaves fell off, my deck and yard are covered with them. This cannot be good for our vegetable gardens, but my tiny pears, mostly held on tight to the branches.
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Post by mogal on Jun 9, 2023 15:56:28 GMT
We haven't had enough rain to fill a thimble all through April and May. I had a week's laundry on the line one day last week when we had a hard brief shower. Plenty to get the laundry wet enough that I had to put it all in the dryer but not enough to even dampen the soil. Cracks about an inch wide in the yard. Electricity isn't cheap to run our well but buying enough water from the local water district to keep the garden and fruit trees/bushes alive would be cost prohibitive as some of our neighbors have learned.
We have friends in the next county, 87 next month and 81, who depend heavily on their garden. They have a small pond and a tank that catches rainwater from their roof and outbuildings. The outlets for both are so low that the water can't gravity feed any longer so the husband is carrying it bucket by bucket to the plants that need it. The wife told me the other day that if they don't get a good rain and soon, they would have to pay dearly for district water to keep the garden alive. That county doesn't allow private wells.
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 9, 2023 21:38:54 GMT
Woodpecker, while I'm jealous that you got some rain, you can keep the hail! My garden couldn't handle that right now. The leaves are turning yellow and falling of the trees already. Looks like fall out there. the ground has big cracks in it and the grass has all died, even though we don't trim it too short. We usually leave it long cause I would rather see long green grass than short brown grass. They say we may get some rain beginning of next week. I'm thankful for our well. I wouldn't be able to garden if I had to pay for water.
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Post by Woodpecker on Jun 12, 2023 18:39:58 GMT
We are very dry here too, except for the hail. This evening is to be heavy, hard rain. We need rain so that's good, but since the hail storm neighbors Oak tree leaves filled up my front gutter. I can see them coming up from the bottom of the gutter, overflowing.
Prayers my basement doesn't flood like that one time with hard rain a couple years ago...
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 13, 2023 21:45:02 GMT
We did get .66" of much needed rain last night. I was hoping it would rain all night, but I'm happy with what we did get. No lightning or damaging winds. And certainly no hail, thank goodness! That's the last thing my poor garden needs!
I hope your basement didn't flood, but I think you probably ended up with less rainfall then me, if the Channel 7 news can be believed.
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Post by Woodpecker on Jun 14, 2023 20:19:56 GMT
The weather forecasters have been really “off” lately, more than ever it seems. You’re right countrymom22, we didn’t get hard rain the other night, just a sprinkle with a lot of thunder. This morning they said showers on and off today and tonight. I was at the Market buying a plant when it started to rain 🐈’s and 🐕’s, couldn’t pop open my umbrella. Not sure if it’s broken or my arthritis in my fingers are too weak, so I waited a few minutes and the downpour stopped to a drizzle, so made a dash for my car. It’s almost 80 outside, going down to the high 50’s tonight. Strange days indeed.
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 14, 2023 23:27:28 GMT
We did get a bit more rain today, but nowhere near what everyone north and south of us got. We seem to be in that spot that is constantly over looked. The storms just seem to go around us!
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Post by mogal on Jun 15, 2023 18:32:39 GMT
Over the weekend, my friends in the next county got upwards of 1 1/2" of rain. We barely got 1/2" but any is better than nothing. The WX guys are taking rain again this weekend to ruin Father's Day for a lot of folk.
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 19, 2023 22:58:26 GMT
What rain we did get last week made the grass grow. We haven't had to mow in weeks, but that's what hubby did on Father's Day.
I'm sure he would have been happy to have some much needed rain, even on Father's Day.
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Post by Woodpecker on Jun 20, 2023 16:58:40 GMT
Yesterday and the day before the smoke was back, but too high up to cause breathing problems. I didn’t hear today’s forecast about the smoke. It’s only going to be high of 70 today and a shower. Every day it seems they call for showers, but we don’t get them. It’s very dry here, too.
The squirrels dug up my Petunias in pots on the front porch! Every year they would dig up my marigolds,,so I didn’t plant them, but they must love petunias too! 😖
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 22, 2023 22:39:01 GMT
The rain is still avoiding us as well, Woodpecker. They said we had an 87% chance of strong storms last night so I didn't water the garden yesterday. When I woke up this morning, it was bone dry. We didn't get a single drop. We have chances of pop up showers for the next 6 days but I'm not holding my breath.
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Post by mogal on Jun 23, 2023 13:24:19 GMT
Same here, Countrymom22. The drought report that came out yesterday morning (June 22) showed 71% of Missouri counties under some degree of drought. I set hoses and sprinklers in the main garden and walked back to the house past an apple tree I've been watering. You could see the dark wet soil and just outside that circle were cracks so wide and deep, I would worry about losing a small dog down them. Fortunately, we don't have small dogs and the cats aren't little ones. We feed the cats well.
Only a 20% chance of rain Saturday night and I won't hold my breath either.
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Post by countrymom22 on Jun 23, 2023 21:43:56 GMT
mogal, as I'm sitting here typing this, it is finally raining! Not a gully washer that would just run off, but an honest to goodness, slow, soaking rain! I pray that it keeps up all night. And I pray that you get some rain as well. It's funny how gardening reminds you to appreciate the small, everyday things that so many lose sight of.
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