Filed under: Heat Wave, Weather | Tags: Pacific Northwest Heat Wave 2009, Pacific Northwest Weather
It is 1 AM on July 29th, 2009 in Redmond, WA and I can’t sleep because it’s too hot! The temperatures across the country are as follows:
Redmond – 72 degrees F (This is usually what we call a hot day at noon!)
Seattle – 69 degrees F (Oh, nothing like living close to the water!)
Missoula, MT – 56 degrees F (I hate you. I really do mean that!)
Hoxie, KS – 60 degrees F (Grrr. I’d be able to sleep there.)
San Francisco – 54 degrees F (You make me REALLY crazy!)
Miami – 82 degrees F (with thunderstorms, no less. Thank GOD we’re not hotter than you!)
Nashville, TN – 70 degrees F (with thunderstorms. Maybe that is giving you cooler temperatures than us!)
New York, NY – 72 degrees F (but ha, ha, ha, about your 90 % humidity! Ours is 71 %. Ha, ha, ha…um…oh maybe not so much…who really notices 19%?)
Lexington, KY – 69 degrees F (Similar to us, but you are much more Southern than we are.)
Providence, RI – 69 degrees F with showers (are you throwing in the showers just to make Seattlelites feel as if they’ve lost their touch?)
Dallas, TX – 76 degrees F. (Umm…okay…I feel better, but as far as I understand, this is normal for you!)
Denver, CO – 56 degrees F. (Grrr. They are sleeping well there.)
Honolulu, HI – 76 degrees F. (All that and the ocean, too. I hate you!)
District of Columbia – 74 degrees F. (Ow! You should always be much HOTTER than Redmond, but at least you’re somewhat hotter!)
Albuerque, NM – 72 degrees F. (You are right there with us. That’s weird!)
Mexico City, Mexico – 54 degrees F. (Oh, well, aren’t you special?! What’s up with that?)
Los Angeles, CA – 65 degress F. (Grrrrrrrrr!)
Cairo, EGYPT – Okay, so it’s noon there and you are at 91 degrees F. Uhhh…Redmond will be 91 degrees tomorrow at noon, too!
Buenos Aires, ARG – 36 degrees F. Ummmm…what’s that about? Now it’s time to go to bed! I really can’t handle a South America country being cooler than I am right now, even with an air conditioner. Yes, it is THEIR winter, but still. This is weird. Update: Argentina is having a bad winter. Here’s a blog about that. Very serious stuff. I knew that looked strange.
Rio de Janeiro, BRA – 64 degrees F. This makes more sense, but I’m still jealous. That is nice cool weather right now to me. That’s what my new air conditioner is providing me tonight.
Well, after this world-wide weather report, I’m off to bed. Good night, Seattle! May you have better luck sleeping than I have had tonight.
UPDATE: A friend of mine slept on his roof last night in a hammock. He’s close to Elliott Bay downtown. It was 74.5 on the roof; 85 in his bedroom. It was an easy choice.
So, if you’re in the Seattle/Puget Sound Area and slept somewhere unusual to beat the heat last night, leave us a comment. We’d love to hear how other people are sleeping in Seattle. 
Filed under: Cool Weather Bed, Gardening, Harvest | Tags: pacific northwest gardening, peas, snow peas
I had gotten busy and not harvested snow peas for only one day. I was shocked when during my morning garden walk I noticed that the peas had an abundant crop ready for picking. I started picking and a few minutes later had over a pound of peas. Some of them were young and fresh. Others were quite frankly getting a bit past their prime; a little old and seedy as if they were ready to fall off the vine and become new pea plants. That’s not optimal eating for a pea pod per me. I like them fresh off the vine in the garden. I guess I’m a complete ageist when it comes to peas.
Still this harvest was so abundant, I’m going to start abiding the recommendation on the seed package which is “harvest daily”. Also, I won’t start keeping garden peas fresh in the refrigerator quite as long. If we don’t eat the pound I picked yesterday by the next time I harvest or at least within the next few days, I will freeze at least half of them. I would rather have frozen peas to throw into a winter stew than watch the peas I have grown become fuzzy with fungis from having been in the fridge too long.
Filed under: Back to School, Unemployment | Tags: Back To School, CAT, commissioner approved training, Training Benefits, Worker Retraining
For those 300,000+ unemployed Washingtonians who may be having trouble finding work, please consider taking advantage of the training benefits the state of Washington makes available to you. Since I have recently been through the experience of going back to school after being laid off, I thought I would share what knowledge I have regarding this with my readers. For the latest information that applies to your particular situation, contact your local WorkSource office.
- If you are on unemployment benefits and you would like to go to school to update your skills, you will need to apply for permission to do so. You need to apply for Commissioner Approved Training (CAT).
- Within 60 days of your application for unemployment benefits, you need to apply for Training Benefits. If approved for these benefits, you can possibly extend the period for which you can receive unemployment benefits. This could come in handy if you want to complete an educational program to upgrade your skills.
- The applications for both CAT and TB are fairly complicated. It is a good idea to get some help filling them out. Bellevue College Worker Retraining offers an excellent class to help you fill out these forms. The class is free to the public and takes place weekly while school is in session.
Filed under: Gardening, July Planting | Tags: pacific northwest gardening, pacific northwest winter gardening, rutabagas
Today I planted the last three rows of rutabagas in the Very Back Bed. The rutabagas I planted in early July are now coming up. I have to look closely for the little plants but they are there. Thus far, the slugs have not gotten the seedlings. I have observed slugs don’t appear to have a taste for rutabagas.
Rutabagas are a root vegetable similar to a turnip. They have occasionally been described to me as kale or cole plants gone underground. This root can grow in poor soil and, from what I’ve observed, with relatively little sunlight, doing reasonably well in partially shaded areas of the garden. It can stay in the garden for the winter but you must harvest it before spring. I usually harvest the remaining winter rutabagas around Easter.
Rutabagas originated in Northern Europe where the winters are long and the growing season can be short. They are great in hardy, winter stews. Since this root is low maintenance, grows reliably and can stay in the garden through winter, I am planning on growing a lot of them this year. I will need to discover or create some tasty recipes to get the most out of the crop.
Filed under: Berries, Gardening, Harvest | Tags: blueberries, blueberry, pacific northwest gardening
This morning I went out and harvested our first blueberries of the season. I will admit it was a fairly sparse harvest but the blueberry bush is still under three years. Apparently, blueberries need a little time to “get warmed up” before they produce in abundance. I was surprised that it was a bit difficult to pick the ripe blueberries from the ones that weren’t quite ready. I may have been rushing it a bit but I wanted to get to the berries before the birds did. Since there were no more blossoms, I assumed that the blueberries on the bush were all we were going to get.
We do have blueberry ambitions: we planted three more bushes, two in the front yard and one in the back. The other two in the front yard seem to have died for unknown reasons. The one in the back is doing fine but not producing. I’ll need to show that patience that is a requirement of being a gardener. Then again, maybe the blueberry in the back yard is a late season bloomer. Wonders like that do happen in a garden. I’ll keep an eye on it and let you know if it suddenly produces in August.
Filed under: Gardening, Potatoes | Tags: fresh garden potatoes, growing potatoes, organic potatoes, pacific northwest gardening, pacific northwest winter gardening, Planting Potatoes, Potatoes
This is the third year I’ve planted potatoes in my garden, so I’m still learning. The first year I tried potatoes was a bit of a fluke. Tomato Man loves potatoes. He will take them in any of their various forms: baked, mashed, fried and boiled. We always have a lot of store-bought potatoes on hand to feed his hunger. Sometimes those store-bought potatoes don’t get used up quickly enough, sprout and end up in the compost.
On one such occasion, I chose to plant the sprouting potato in the garden just to see what would happen. In a few weeks, I had a potato plant and a husband filled with great anticipation for the end product. Thus our love of garden fresh potatoes began.
I began to research ”how to plant potatoes correctly”. Here is the process I came up with from multiple gardening and seed potato resources:
- Use seed potatoes, preferably from an organic grower. You can use the sprouted store-bought potatoes but they very well might have a “growth-inhabiting” spray on them that may impact the number of potatoes they will produce. My observation was that the seed potatoes from the organic grower foster an abundant crop of potatoes that grew in season and then naturally overwintered as my Potato Miracle entry described.
- Cut the seed potatoes into chunks that have three eyes or sprouts per chunk. This will increase your number of potato plants as well as making sure each plant has enough room to grow all the potatoes it can.
- I plant potatoes one foot apart in all directions. This is an intensive gardening method that has worked well for me.
- For each potato, dig an 8 inch hole.
- Place the seed potato in the 8 inch hole and cover it with 3 inches of soil.
- Check each “potato hole” each day to see if the sprout has come up through the soil. When it does, cover it with another 2-3 inches of soil until the 8 inch hole is filled to the top.
- As the potato plant grows to the surface, continue to hill up the soil around it to encourage growth of potatoes.
When the potato plant flowers, you can dig around the soil at the base to see if there are any baby potatoes to eat. Potatoes take about 90 days to mature. The longer you leave them in the ground, the larger they will get. Before the first hard frosts come, pull up the plant to harvest the potatoes.
If you leave potatoes in the ground for the winter, they may sprout in the spring as my potato miracle proved! This year I plan to experiment with overwintering so as to be grilling fresh potatoes earlier in the season next year.
Filed under: Back to School, Gardening, Unemployment | Tags: pacific northwest gardening, rain, watering the garden
If a gardener overwaters a garden, the plants won’t grow strong roots. Plants are just as lazy as we humans are. If there is enough water on the soil surface, there is no reason to bother growing roots six inches down in search of moisture. If there is no reason to strengthen our roots, why bother doing so? Strong roots take work.
Thus far this year in the Pacific Northwest, it has been unusually dry. I expect it to be dry in July and August, but this year June was dry. That’s unheard of around here. It’s been a very dry summer for the economy, too. Nothing growing; no jobs being created. So, I just focus on growing my roots deeper, going back to school, thinking in new ways for this new economy, this new age.
Still, metaphors aside, I welcome the rain today and absorb it into my world with great joy as does my garden. We will grow from this.
Filed under: Flowers, Gardening | Tags: pacific northwest gardening, pacific northwest winter gardening, roses
At a Fourth of July party this year, I was extremely impressed by the hostess’ rose garden. Some women at the party mentioned that roses are easy to grow. I could not believe a flower that beautiful was easy. After the party when the hostess posted pictures of her lovely garden to Facebook, I asked her, “Are roses easy to grow?” Much to my surprise, she answered yes. Apparently, roses are low maintenance if they have enough sun exposure.
Whoa! Roses are easy to grow! So, I’m going to start thinking about getting some rose bushes for our very bare front yard as it does get a lot of sun. The soil in the front yard is marginal but compost should fix that.
I’m too busy this summer, but my friend advised that the best time to plant roses is February/March as bareroot. She thought at that time of year I will have a better selection of rose bareroot to choose from than now.
Excellent! Anything that I can put off until February/March gardening-wise works for me right now. It will give me time to research what roses would work best in our front yard; an extremely dry, barren area under four big fir trees.
Now, I am totally NOT about flowers. I’ve tried to grow wildflowers in the front yard to no avail. Maybe roses are a better place to start or maybe this will turn into a huge comedy as I bumbling my way through “Roses 101”.
Filed under: Gardening, Monthly Updates, tomatoes | Tags: growing tomatoes in the Pacific Northwest, pacific northwest gardening, Tomato Man, Tomatoes
As of this morning, Tomato Man is proud to report the two tomato plants have seven tomatoes. “Those pessimists amongst you, those close-minded southerners who show their bigotry by doubting that a good tomato can be grown at all in the Pacific Northwest, may now eat humble pie,” says Tomato Man.
This particular pessimist says, “Not so fast, Tomato Man.” We still need to see these seven tomatoes ripen. There is a chance the birds will get to them before we do and a good chance September will bring cool enough weather that the tomatoes won’t ripen at all. So we will see what we will see in August and September.
Tomato Man is undaunted. He is confident he will march forward into the late summer to a stunning tomato triumph.
