Another crazy weather thread!

[CathyA]

Some of my garden is under water. My tomato and pepper plants are on the porch, waiting to be planted. It's going to be awhile.

[RosieTR]

It's hard to believe it was snowing and cold in Co. at the same time it was broiling hot here in Calif. Well, don't worry, we are sending our heat to you guys soon :-)!

I know, I'm totally going mountain biking on Sunday when it dries out! But I think the jet stream is sort of stuck...it keeps going up and over the west coast, so y'all are dry and hot, while we are having fairly normal storms for this time of year.

[RosieTR]

Some of my garden is under water. My tomato and pepper plants are on the porch, waiting to be planted. It's going to be awhile.

:-( Maybe raised beds for next year? I think we sent you our wet, cold stuff. But we're getting upper 70s so in a couple days you should get warming/drying too!

[Tradd]

We had SNOW here today. Mostly mixed with rain, but some of my friends who lived in further out burbs posted pics on FB of lawn furniture being covered, snow on the grass, etc.

[RosieTR]

Thinking things had gotten back to normal, but tornadoes in the mountains (and the airport!) and now flooding in the some of the same areas as Sept. Got to experience all the emergency phone alerts this week, sigh.

[awakenedsoul]

I liked that article, Rogar. I'm glad to hear that next year will be another El Nino year in CA. I was here for the one in 1998. I plan to mulch heavily. This year it's been dry, but I've made adjustments. I feel fortunate in the winter, because my heating bill is so low. I have a lot of windows, so I take advantage of the sunshine. In the heat, I can keep the curtains drawn. They still let in the light. I've got shade trees that keep the house cool, even in our hot summers. I generally don't need to turn on the air until about 3:00 p.m. At night, I can open the windows and cool down my cottage before bed. The ceiling fans help, too.
To conserve water, I'm just growing veggies in my small front garden now. (I used to have a couple of plots in back for pumpkins and melons.) A couple of months ago, we got over 4 inches of rain. I had to mulch my porch, front yard, and the easement in front of my house to soak up the water. My next door neighbors were flooded. The straw acts like a sponge.
I still feel very fortunate with CA weather. I knit an alpaca blanket for my bed in the winter. No need to put on the heat at night. The trees I've planted have changed the climate of my yard. It's cool, with lots of oxygen. As I get older, I really appreciate it. (Especially when I read about winter heating bills, snow, and ice in other parts of the US.)

[RosieTR]

Mulch is awesome! Awakenedsoul, did you ever see the video "Greening the Desert"? It's on YouTube if you want. Basically they heavily mulched deserts in the Middle East and were able to really turn things around.

[awakenedsoul]

RosieTR, No I'll check it out. Thanks. I agree about mulch. It really changes the whole feel of the garden. It keeps the soil cool. It makes the plants look more relaxed and protected in the heat. When I bought my place the garden consisted of a bunch of Bermuda grass, foxtails, and weeds. (surrounded by chainlink.) The heat was blistering. You can really change the climate of your property with landscaping. A guy down the street from me planted a row of redwoods and has done the same thing.