Monday, January 6, 2014
Time and Temperature: 11:35PM, 8 degrees below zero
It is currently 8 degrees below zero in Columbia, Missouri as registered at the Columbia Regional Airport and vacinity. The high temperature today was marked at 15:54PM, same location, and it registered at zero degrees Fahrenheit.
Time and Temperature: from 05:54AM until 07:54AM.....
-9F. This was the real and actual temperature registered, for the duration of two hours, at Columbia Regional Airport in Columbia, Missouri on the morning of Jan 6, 2014, this very morning. That is quite impressive considering how far south we are of North Dakota, or Minnesota and all parts north. Now that this has been established, I wonder how many grapevines I will have growing in late May of 2014. I wonder how many will survive this cold snap; I am pretty certain that the hybrids from the University of Minnesota's grape breeding program will come out of this unscathed. I can't hazard a guess, but I feel confident about the impervious ways of my grapevines, all of the varietals I have worked hard to grow in the past years. And that confidence helps in most situations. - Cheers to all!
Time and Temperature: 09:12AM, -7Fahrenheit
That is real temperature, not anything such as "...feels like negative 7 degrees.". Now, again, this is only little old Columbia, Missouri. Yet, I find it all pretty big news, actually. I suppose anything associated with the name or description 'Polar Vortex' is bound to be newsworthy. For my little internal gardener sensors, however, these are very interesting developments.
I haven't checked the temps in the past four hours, so I may have missed a cooler low that had been registered, but I have to reference NOAA's website to review those logged temps for the past four hours. I will do so after this publishing. .....developing.
Time and Temperature: 02:50AM, -4F.
Current conditions in Columbia, Missouri: 02:50AM, -4 Fahrenheit.
I work overnights and when I depart work at 730AM, the predicted temperature is slated for -10.
At -4F, it feels like -22F. For Columbia, Missouri, this is a pretty decent freeze we are set to encounter. Moisture levels this winter, thus far, have been pretty lackluster. A small amount of snow fell yesterday throughout the day, perhaps we accumulated 3 to 4 inches, I should confirm that with NOAA, but haven't.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
The Weather Is Breaking
The current temperature registers at 48 degrees Fahrenheit. There are the usual changes that one comes to expect from this time of year; they are there, I won't mention them.
I planted about 60 acorns two weeks ago. The reason I did so is because I planted about 10 acorns last year with considerable success. Squirrels plant acorns all of the time, it seems, and their success rates are remarkable for assisting with reforestation efforts.
I split up quite a few of my Bee Balm plants, in the past few weeks. I was really quite delighted to be engaged in such a process. I noticed that the Bumblebees truly enjoyed my Bee Balm plants at the beginning of the summer. The flowers expired pretty much by the end of June, and the Bumblebees found other places in the area to get their nectar thereafter. Only yesterday had I seen a single Bumblebee visit my Marigolds, it had been nearly two months consisting in zero sightings of the black and yellow colored flying friendlies.
And, with every passing year I am learning more and more about the cultivation of grapevines. Growing grapes is quite specifically about practicing patience, at least it is in the early years. This endeavor is many things, but patience is central, especially when trying to learn the skill of propagation from cuttings. It also is a practice of cultivating patience because grapevines do go through a period of adolescence; they have to grow up, in other words. Therefore, a good bit of my thoughts about my grapevines centers on watching how much they might have grown in a month's time, or over the course of a summer.
More words to come in the future. Feeling a little sleepy right now. Positive signs, though. Lots of good has come this year. It is no wonder that such an American holiday as 'Thanksgiving' exists. There is much to be grateful for, especially after a growing season.
- Cheers!
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Sunflowers Summer 2013
Quick update on a few sunflowers I started from seed. I believe these are Dwarf Sunflowers. Finally they took to blossoming in late July. They are little reminders of joy. For some reason, there is such a feeling of satisfaction I have whenever I can bring Sunflowers all the way to flowering during a growing season. And to be honest, I actually think they are very difficult to grow. How they do it so well in South and North Dakota and Ohio, and anywhere else, with their vast fields of standing Sunflowers, it is beyond me, but I absolutely love happening upon a field of sunflowers in bloom.
The grapevines are growing really well. Still trying to track down a parcel of land, but I worry not. It will happen in its own time. I actually thought I lost one of my Frontenac vines, but in the past 3 weeks two sprouts began to grow up from the surrounding soil where the old dead wood still protrudes from the hole that I planted it in last October 2012. Feels like such a victory to still pull off a recovery with all seemingly lost with this particular vine. Once again, I am a proud papa. Learning tonnes about using Kelp concentrates, Effective Microorganisms, etc., for my soils. Lots of perennials growing this year, which means I can split some and spread them about in smaller clumps. Design shall ensue. This has also been a pretty dramatic departure of a summer from the summer of 2012 with its limited moisture content, and extreme heat temperatures. On few occasions have we had temperatures nearing even 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Currently, the area where I live is reporting a total, thus far, of 32.14 inches of rain. That is a little over 5.5 inches of rain above the average that this area typically receives in a given year by this date. The rain slowed a bit during most of June, but the rains seem to have returned in the last three weeks. I actually cut the grass at my apartment once a week. I did so yesterday and was taken aback by how much I had to cut. Lots of growth in a mere 7 days time. Just as well, I feel better at the art of patience in gardening. Maybe most of that is because I am focusing more on root development. Trying to get perennials going from seed maybe projects a gardener into such fixations, and perhaps that isn't such a bad thing. My Common Milkweed did return this year from last year, but it still didn't put out its flowers. They grew tall and mighty, but still nothing in the way of seed. That doesn't bother me so much because I know I have the roots, and that means I have a growing season for Summer 2014, barring any extreme change in the rhythm of my heart.
The grapevines are growing really well. Still trying to track down a parcel of land, but I worry not. It will happen in its own time. I actually thought I lost one of my Frontenac vines, but in the past 3 weeks two sprouts began to grow up from the surrounding soil where the old dead wood still protrudes from the hole that I planted it in last October 2012. Feels like such a victory to still pull off a recovery with all seemingly lost with this particular vine. Once again, I am a proud papa. Learning tonnes about using Kelp concentrates, Effective Microorganisms, etc., for my soils. Lots of perennials growing this year, which means I can split some and spread them about in smaller clumps. Design shall ensue. This has also been a pretty dramatic departure of a summer from the summer of 2012 with its limited moisture content, and extreme heat temperatures. On few occasions have we had temperatures nearing even 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Currently, the area where I live is reporting a total, thus far, of 32.14 inches of rain. That is a little over 5.5 inches of rain above the average that this area typically receives in a given year by this date. The rain slowed a bit during most of June, but the rains seem to have returned in the last three weeks. I actually cut the grass at my apartment once a week. I did so yesterday and was taken aback by how much I had to cut. Lots of growth in a mere 7 days time. Just as well, I feel better at the art of patience in gardening. Maybe most of that is because I am focusing more on root development. Trying to get perennials going from seed maybe projects a gardener into such fixations, and perhaps that isn't such a bad thing. My Common Milkweed did return this year from last year, but it still didn't put out its flowers. They grew tall and mighty, but still nothing in the way of seed. That doesn't bother me so much because I know I have the roots, and that means I have a growing season for Summer 2014, barring any extreme change in the rhythm of my heart.
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