Weather Doings and Ancestral Ghosts

After a blazing August, with several weeks of temperatures above 105 F and the near-record of 108.3 F in our backyard, we now have overnight temps in the 50s, daytime highs in the low 70s, and, last night and this morning, a burst of needed rain!

It feels great; wonderful, fall weather. Just what I needed to make me stay indoors, work on the house, grade papers, and all the other little chores that all the mild sunny days of last week pushed away.

Overnight, as of 6:30 am today, we have had .71 inches of rain according to my little backyard weather station. Looking at the weather radar we should get hit with another ran cell in about 10 minutes. The last couple of cells that headed this way veered off to the west toward Glendale at the last minute, but I think this one has our name on it.

I took a moment during the lull (and in light of the impending rain cell) to pop outside and check on things in the backyard. I always miss putting something away for the first storm, but I sure didn't see anything this time. I'm sure something sodden will show up later though. (Grin.) Just the way it seems to work.

In any case, I find I am compelled to point out that to see current live-weather from under our Moontree, just look at the little box on the right margin of the blog. That's what's happening right now -- or at most a couple of seconds ago -- just outside our door.

To see more, there are two additional ways to check into the weather in our yard: (1) Go to the main Pasadena weather page at weatherunderground.com, then scroll way down, find Madison @ Mountain and click on "Make this my default location." Then when you go to the Pasadena map, you will get our weather on the top of the page, and the history of all the area stations at the bottom. Or you can go direct to our very own cool graphs page, which has 24 hour graphs of observations, links to weekly and monthly graphs and data, and a live feed box too.

I have spent all this time on the weather observations because that was precisely the sort of thing various of my grandparents, great-grandparents and one great-grand-aunt did when they made their own daily observations of their doings on their kitchen calenders and diary books. It's sort of a family tradition.

In fact, although my father and grandfathers are all deceased, I can't help but think they would be tickled by this technology. I can imagine my Dad sending me an IM bragging that the weather up on his hill was more interesting than mine down here in the flatlands of Pasadena; I can imagine long chats with my Grandfather Blumer about the underlying workings of this new technology, and the vagaries of the micro-climates you can spot on an area map of all the stations in Pasadena.

I imagine, even if the rest of our family is not currently living in town, that they might check-in from time to time, just to see what's happening here. I'm not really sure why they would want to do that, but it comforts me to know that they can -- and just might.

Ahh. Here comes the rain I was expecting.

Time for a coffee warm-up; why don't you click on over and have a peek in our backyard. It's good to know you're there.

..............

UPDATE: 7:30 AM raintotal up to 1.06 inches, and the rain has moved on.

Spring Results, and Summer Second Planting

Summer's second crop is in the ground and rolling right along. Alas, the digital camera is still dead, which is a great disincentive to writing at all. But great gaps in the record mean it is no fun to check the record next year, so will try to keep up.

The lettuce (ice berg, oak leaf) did well and provided salads all winter until we allowed several heads go to seed in June. Did not collect seeds soon enough, though, so we may have some volunteer heads next year. In any case, will try some starts from seed for the fall to see what happens.

Beans, Beans, Beans

Pole beans and bush beans, and flat-Italian pole beans all did nicely, but the yellow-wax beans didn't even sprout. The modest plots of so many varieties made it tough to have a meal's worth of one kind -- and they require various cooking times, another headache. But the experiment was helpful.

Have saved dried beans from the best ones -- the standard pole variety, from "Seeds of Change" -- and may also save some of the flat Italians. (Caught young, the flat beans were very tasty, but turn woody quickly if allowed to mature at all.) Next year, a larger planting of pole beans coupled with some edible marigolds and something shade tolerant in the row away from the fence are definitely in the plan.

This will be easier than it seems since the south-side chain link fence did indeed make an excellent "pole," and at our invitation, the neighbors enjoyed the beans on their side of the fence. White flies were a small problem, and (edible) marigolds planted late in the season have scaled the invasion back. Note to self: inter-plant the beans with marigolds at the outset!

The bush peas grew well, and we ate them for several weeks, then let the last of the crop go to seed. Almost enough planted this time to easily make a meal, but would work a little better with about double the planting. Seed dried and saved for next year.

Watermelon

Having had no success planting watermelon from commercial seeds, spent $3.99 on a flat of starts, and they are going great guns. This was a second crop for the summer, and the first flowers have just now appeared. But given the long, hot SoCal summer, we should be getting melons in August / September -- just right for around here! A couple of extra plants put down in the front-yard garden, since they were extras, and the possibility of vanishing watermelons less distressing.

Front Yard Garden

Last summer, received some Yacón from a member of the San Gabriel Valley Freecycle Network, and planted it in the newly expanded bed in the front yard. Anticipating a first crop this fall, and it seems to be quite healthy and growin' up a storm.

Added several varieties of potatoes. Seed, once again, from food items sprouted before we could eat them. (Now we have large white baking potatoes on one section, and replanted Russian fingerlings.) The post-freeze crop did not do so well, and they were dug early too. That six-foot plot currently has some struggling volunteers, but the other patches are going well.

Just for fun, tossed a handful of sunflower seeds from last year's volunteer flowers into the bed, and *zing* up they sprung. After only three or four weeks they are nearly 5 feet tall and ready to make an impressive block of flowers. Looks like we might get to roast a few seeds this year after all.

Apples. Oranges, and Berries

The boysenberries came in nicely, with this second year expansion bearing significant fruit . . . now we are nurturing the runners along to cover the fence line -- providing both berries and a natural anti-intruder fence. (Berry thorns are pernicious.)

The pole apples nearby are producing well enough, but have not been impressed with them. The dwarf apples have a significant crop, much better than last year, but at least half of our flower clusters did not set fruit.

Mandarin oranges set a modest crop, to be ready in December and January, but have had to water more than usual due to the mere 2 inches of rain last winter instead of the 11 or so we would expect (and certainly less than the record 39 inches the year before!)

Weird weather everywhere.

Spring Planting, Budding & Bees

A couple of weeks ago I quadrupled the 3' x 8' potato patch I had cleared in the front yard last fall; the Mantis Tiller we acquired made fast work of that chore! Today I planted about 3' x 12' of potatoes -- reds, purple and yellow steamers and Russian fingerlings.

All "seed" came from the market -- some as food we intended to eat but which sprouted, some bought as seed expressly. These should be edible by late summer and fall, and fall potatoes can go in again come October or November.

We just finished eating the last of the forced-harvest of potatoes after the Great Freeze of '07. Had the freeze not come, we would be pulling those first 'taters now, and the rest of the crop in May, June or so. But 'twas not to be.

South "Forty"

Also planted out the rest of the South Forty (forty linear feet that is, 2' x 20'). Two kinds of lettuce, spinach, some green onions all going great guns. Cauliflower has given up its three tiny heads, and in the morning the failed cauliflower patch will be planted in bush peas.

Also tonight put in two kinds of pole beans, standard blue-lake and something called "Italian" pole beans and marked "rare," both from the organic, sustainable folks at Seeds-of-Change. The pole beans are right beside the chain link fence, so no polls needed I hope. Two kinds of bush beans are along the front of the planting bed.

Of course, the last time I planted beans and peas it didn't work out so well. The peas were scrawny and vexed by the heat, and didn't get planted in enough quantity despite knowing that a pea patch did not do well on two or three plants. Last fall's beans never sprouted at all. (Or maybe got eaten. We shall see!)

Garlic Greens

Meanwhile, the horse trough is planted half to garlic and some green onions; in a few more more weeks I will plant the other half to spread the maturations. I like having garlic greens and even young green garlic for summer cooking.

If you have never tried garlic greens, you owe it to yourself to try 'em in salads or any place a green onion or chive would go nicely. Mild garlic flavor and a little crunch is quite yummy. You can snip them of with scissors judiciously and not harm the growing bulbs. You could even plant a few store-bought cloves in a little clay pot and snip greens all summer without worrying about the clove development.

Speaking of chives -- they are a perennial, and I didn't have a spot to dedicate to 'em just yet, so they were planted in a large pot on the patio. So far, no sprouts, and I would have expected them by now. With any luck they will be up by next weekend.

Weather has been mild, 30's and 40's at night, 70's during the day. A little rain last week and the week before. One useful trick is that I can now double check to see what the rain and temps have been like all week not just relying on intuition. Our backyard weather station is online at WeatherUnderground.com by clicking here.

Bee Buzz

Spring is always a time we anticipate the bees (a good thing) and maybe I'm just paranoid, but they seem a little sparce this year. Boysenberry and apple blooms usually bring them in in great droves, but the visitation seems a little light. Hope this is just my imagination and not a sign of the greater bee-catastrophe that is bothering commercial bee keepers.

Frozen Food, The Old Fashioned Way

Speaking of the great freeze (mentioned last post) we lost a few food crops and some ornamentals. The philodendron out front and what was left of the lawn were damaged pretty well, as was the night-blooming jasmin. Only the jasmin matters, since we planted it and like it, but they all look like they are bouncing back.

The potato patch did the big death, though, and was not going to recover. Planted last fall, the potatoes were well on their way to a bumper crop starting in spring. With the tops dead, we got about 10 lbs out of the whole plot.

For every harvested potato I saw 8-10 tiny future-potatoes that could have been harvested. Very frustrating, but since we don't rely on these for food, only disappointing.

The bell papers that nearly croaked in the summer heat, and have been producing prodigiously all fall and winter, simply keeled over due to the freeze, dead, dead, dead.

Interestingly, the lettuce and spinach made it just fine; eventually we figured out that the raised bed is next to the house on the south side. Not only is it warm and sunny due to the southern exposure, but the house reflects light and heat back during the day and radiates it at night. (Not such a good thing in summer though.) In addition, the crawlspace has two vents right there, and the heater and the water heater were burning all night down there -- venting above-freezing air right onto the bed.

Serendipity for sure.

The Mandarin Orange crop was meager to start with, with only two dozen fruits on the whole tree, but the tree and fruit survived. I also started a good fire in the portable fire pit next to the lemon tree, then let it burn down and sit as coals all night. Don't know if it helped, but the lemons made it through just fine too.

The Weather Outside May Be Frightful, But at Least the News Arrives Wirelessly

The Great Freeze of '07 is over, and now it's Summer in February. Ninety degrees in the backyard yesterday; a mere 89 degrees today. What is the world coming to? Apparently these February temperatures are breaking records -- most last set in the 1970s -- much like the record cold of a mere three weeks ago!

As weird as it is, the warm weather makes for easy gardening, helps one get stuff in the ground early enough to enjoy it for early summer. Of course a warm February usually means a cold, wet, even snowy spring around here and the local mountains. Except when it means a warm dry spring, or the occasional warm wet spring. See, our weather has always been a little, well, variable. Just not quite this variable.

Well, if you are interested in the weather in our backyard, now you can check up on us anytime you feel like it. With some Christmas money this year I indulged in a long standing wish and installed a small, professional grade weather station in our back yard. ( I went with Oregon Scientific WMR 968 largely because of its solar powered sensors.) Temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, rainfall etc. all reported wirelessly to the base station in the house, along with indoor temperature and humidity.

The wireless receiver with all the readouts is cool enough, but it attaches to the home computer and feeds its data to WeatherUnderground.com. So if you want to see how the weather is over here, you can check for yourself online.

Click on over to www.weatherunderground.com and search on "pasadena, ca" or just use this this link. If you like charts and graphs (I find the barometric strip chart particularly interesting) go view our historical data page here. The weekly and monthly charts are pretty fun!

It's nice to be able to get the weather info from inside the house, without having to run outside to get the rainfall information from a physical meter, or read an outdoor thermometer. And it's kind of fun playing with all the features of the weather software.

Wonder what the weather will be like next week? Tornadoes?