by George Collins » Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:04 am
If we were basing that map on this years temperatures, my portion of zone 8a would be upgraded to zone 9b (low of 25 degrees).
We got down to 25 a couple times back in early December. Just cold enough to ruin a fall crop of English peas. Now it's so warm pear trees are in bloom. What's more, there is no realistic possibility that we've seen our last frost which means that for a whole bunch of folks, this year's fruit crop can already be chalked up to a failure.
This is certainly the warmest winter I've experienced since starting to pay attention to such things. My 74 yo father says that he remembers winters like this so I'm not quite ready to throw my weight behind the the whole global warming thing. For us, seems to be that rainy/cloudy weather means warm temps; clear sunny weather means cold temps. And this January has been VERY wet.
My biggest concern is that the weather will be insufficiently cold to successfully stratify black walnut seeds which I have a few thousand of in pots. Fortunately we have two refrigerators so there are a few hundred stored there in buckets. Hopefully, if the ones in the pots outside fail, the ones in the fridge will provide enough raw materials to plant an acre or two.
"Solve world hunger, tell no one." "The, the, the . . . The Grinch!"
"If you can't beat them, bite them."