I started this little rambling place because I had been giving away starts of perennials from my garden and my friends wanted to know what they were, how to care for them, etc. As it turns out, my friends were all passive users. My blog has turned out to be a blogsite. Yep, the 20 something crowd told me that this is really more a blogsite than a blog.
I guess I grew tired of not hearing anything back in response to my posts.
But I am back dear gardening friends. And I've got a great new resource for you: Gardening in the Pacific Northwest by Carol W. Hall and Norman E. Hall. Published by Timber Press, it's not surprising that this book is filled with very relevant information that we all wish we had received years ago!
What's so great about it? It's the first publication I've read that discusses the effects of the ocean currents, explaining our weather patterns. Having grown up in the Midwest, I have spent nearly 25 years "translating" the seasons there to the seasons here. There simply is no translation. The oceanic effect has created a language of its own. Now it seems so simple: large body of water circulating cool currents means cooler air temperatures than one would expect. Warm currents, likewise. If those ocean currents shift early in the year---waa laa! So does our weather. And I hate to admit it, but they are right. In the Pacific Northwest we only have two seasons: wet and dry. Usually October to April are gray and wet. Usually May to September are drier and sunnier. Summer arrives somewhere after the Fourth of July. We get drought-like conditions during most Augusts and Septembers. Then we get rain, a killing frost, some chilly weather in November and December. In January we get a few "spring" flowers that start to bloom. Feb hits us with a stretch of sun most years and we all get out there and prune our fruit trees. Sometimes we get another patch of ice or snow too. Then a gradual, and I mean gradual, warming until we can finally plant seeds without having them rot in the ground.
Of course, we have all lived through these cycles, but if you are like me, you may not have put them all together. It's classic PNW weather. Not to be translated, follow a traditional calendar of seasons, but purely PNW in character.
And that folks, is just chapter one!
It's a great read and probably the most significant publication since Sunset Gardening came out. That gold standard now has a companion.
Anyway, that's my opinion.....
Tonight, clear and cold. Probably our first frost. Brrr.... Cover your tender front door pots or you'll be composting them in the morning.
Happy Gardening!
Nancy
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