George, you’ve asked a question as to what kind of a summer we have had in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, WA) USA.
I’ve posted one of the CHUCKLES IN THE GARDEN here on this Topic as an answer to your question. This Chuckle was in the newspaper this worming, so it’s right up to date. I planted some corn in my vegetable garden last May; it is now approximately 18” tall. It should be bearing fruit by now, but of course, isn’t.
We did find some green produce to purchase locally, at a road side stand that is featuring some vegetables and fruit from farms in the State of Oregon, just to the south of Washington. We love seeded watermelon, but most stores locally handle only seedless, which to us is terribly tasting, has no flavor at all, but this seeded is delicious. I also purchased while at this market some corn, greens as in lettuce, spinach, and other fruits such as cantaloupe, red cherries and strawberries. It is very good stuff, the only thing wrong is that it wasn’t out of my own vegetable garden.
My strawberry plants looked great in early spring, very large healthy appearing plants with a lush crop of white blossoms. Same with my raspberries, a large abundance green leaves covering the canes, and an abundance of blossoms, too. One thing I noticed at that time though, was there were no pollinators available either on the strawberries or raspberries. So eventually there was no fruit!
Our weather has been bitter cold at night. With most days start with clouds, then the sun comes out in the afternoon and warms us up almost to unbearable temperatures. The weatherman’s projections for the next 5 day’s highs/lows are thus in Fahrenheit: 72/56, 71/53, 73/56, 72/56, and 77/56. Its also morning clouds, and sunny afternoons that’s projected for the next 5 days. .
I decided with deep disappointment not to plant any direct seeding for the rest of the year for my vegetables. It would be expensive and a waste of time on my part
But I can still make hay while the sun shines. I plan on taking my vegetable beds, let them go fallow, and concentrate on making homemade compost, and also plant cover crops several weeks before our first frost in October. And then, turn the whole batch of amendment material, including the compost, back into the soil in early spring of next year.
I’m taking that crop of weeds and grasses and other accumulated waste materials that grows everywhere on my property, dig or pull it up, and run it through my chipper/shredder and try out a layering method of low-grade compost making. I am reading two books written by Steve Solomon, an author and vegetable gardener that writes about the local area. He covers the topic of making your own compost, quite well. The book titles are: ‘Gardening When It Counts’ and ‘Growing Vegetable West of the Cascades’. (Cascades is the mountain range in which Mount Rainier is located). Mr. Solomon now resides is Tasmania, with his wife, is they grow vegetables there!
This whole procedure is nothing new to most gardeners, and is known as Permaculture. It’s all about giving back to the soil those nutrients and other important elements that were used up in raising your crops during the past growing season.
There is another aspect that I don’t think anybody has mentioned pertaining to these mixed-up weather pattern(s) we’ve been having. That is the effect that these changes have had on our own body parts. It may be just because my physical body is over 65 years of age and retired, but I‘m noting that I’m having so many new and different aches and pains this year. My back hurts, my legs ache, and I seem to be always tired. From what I have heard, it is because our physical bodies are not getting sufficient time to adjust to these rapid temperature changes. Anybody else out there have these complaints, or is it just old age creeping up on me?
- Toby
