Kelli said:I think once in 19 years we have had a killing frost. We will get some frost on the rooftops and on the grass that doesn't kill anything. The saying is, 'The good news is we garden all year. The bad news is we garden all year.' My husband thinks that the climate here makes people crazy. It is just go, go, go all of the time with no downtime. It doesn't even rain enough to give downtime. Most of the time, the rain is at night anyway.


They are calling for a high of 88F.

After a busy season of gardening, I am always thankful to have the snow come and cover it all up. I get to catch up on other interests over the winter and have some down time. I have never lived anywhere where I could garden year round, so can't comment on that!

Sally

The secret is that every increase of your elevation by 1,000 feet decreases the temperature by 3.5 degrees. We are only a few miles from Taos but it is 1,000 feet lower in elevation so we count on its being three degrees or so warmer there. We are six miles from mount Wheeler at 13,000 feet so with our elevation of 8,000 feet, our low last night of 42 means Wheeler was 17.5 degrees colder or not 24.5. We decided to forego the garden tour up there.

This is of course a rule of thumb and as such maybe subject to specific variables so it is entirely possible for Taos to be colder than us. The rule doesn't apply as distance increases. Houston is 8,000 feet lower than we are but often more than 28 degrees warmer.

Charley

Ok, I'm lost, what's a calibasas?

Sally the images are spectacular! Loved seeing them. The sky image is what I was seeing only my sky was darker and cloudy.

Speaking of cloudy, we were cloudy most of the day with just enough raindrops to say there were raindrops. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm always glad to put the garden to bed and have a few months off to do different things. Could not imagine gardening year round. This very long stretch of sunny, dry weather ( we did have a few brief rain storms) has me hoping we get 3 or 4 days of steady rain soon, not only because it is dry but so I can be forced to stay inside and get others things done!

Charlemagne said:Just got disturbing news, forecast low for Sunday is now 39.

Charley

Wow, that is bad.

Cooler weather is approaching, isn't it? We had a storm come through with rain & cooler temps for the next week. Supposedly it is the last of our 90s weather. I love fall, but I hope it doesn't get too cool too fast. I was in my garden, my poor tomato plants are dying & I finally found the culprit-those big fat worms! Don't know how I had missed them.

Weather was much cooler today and perfect for working outside. I wish we had at least one more month of summer. I need to work inside too but the outdoors just keeps pulling me out! Just not ready for snow and the cold. I much prefer the heat.
Sally loved the pics

Alilyfan I hate those worms. I take a Baggie and put my hand in to pull them off then smash the dickens out of them- they just make me mad so the squashing is therapeutic

Beautiful day this morning but much cooler. Only 57 at the moment.

I used to live in a town called Calabasas. It is Spanish or adapted from Spanish for pumpkins and gourds. I don't remember the original posting so I don't know if that helps.


It got up to 94F yesterday. Today they are calling for a high of 85F.

Char

A Calibasa is a wonderful southwestern summer squash enjoyed particularly in New Mexico.



It grows from tennis ball to bowling ball size and can be used just like zucchini. The favorite way to prepare them is called Calibacitas which is a vegetable stew with calibasas, hatch green chilies, onions, and corn. Spicy!

I'm making ratatouille today with heirloom tomatoes, calibasas, red peppers, onion, and eggplant. I will be at the stove and oven for about six hours, I love cooking.

Charley

Rained again after dinner last night, the low was 42f.. Today has been very cool, windy, sun and clouds, with a high of only 55f.

98 on the patio right now. Awesome Cumulus clouds over the mountains on the way home from church. The rest of the town is under blue skies and very intense sun.

We are forecast for cooler weather this week too, low 50's nights and 60 - low 70's days Now I can get the last of the garden work done without feeling like I'm in a sauna. The storms came through early this morning and dropped a whole 1/2 inch of rain....I was digging rejects out of the seedling bed late morning and it was bone dry. Woke to 68F, cloudy and humid now 61with the humidity gone, feels so much better.

The calibasa sounds wonderful, I love summer squash. The dark green netting pattern on it is really pretty too. The dishes sound delicious Charley! I will have to see if I can find seeds this winter so I can try it. We do the normal things with yellow and zuc and I like to make zucchini bread which freezes well. There is always an abundance of monster zucs this time of year so I also make a few batches of zucchini cookies, my Mom used to make them when I was a kid. Kelli, Thank you for the Spanish interpretation. We have a lot of pumpkin growers in this area, many of the pumpkins are shipped south for the city market. I usually pick up several large ones to make roasted pumpkin seeds....yum!

It is cool again this morning, 57. I am going north to my sister's for a week. She is right on Lake Huron and I bet it will be pretty chilly. Going to have to pack some warm clothes I think.

Hmmmm Calabasa squash .....used like zucchini......I wonder .......I was given seeds for what the person called 8 ball zucchini. I just harvested one who's appearance was identical to the picture above of your calabasa squash....gave it to a friend who likes zucchini . The others I have harvested are a somewhat darker green off the same plant . I wonder if what I am actually growing here is Calabasa squash
.
Char would love to hear how you make roasted pumpkin seeds .....I have tried and tried and they are horrible. Tough , stringy , not nice at all. Also never heard of zucchini cookies . Will you share your recipe please? would love to try them . Also wondering if anyone can tell me why some of my zucchinis are smooth while others are lumpy ( exterior ) I havent opened the lumpy ones up yet but have never seen this before .

They are calling for a high of 72. That is hard to believe. It is cloudy.

hot, hot, hot!

It's September 12th and the temperature was up to 85 F today...
Forcast for tomorrow and Wednesday: 90F

just unbelievable

Mayo

We had our first frost last night, when I got up the roofs were all white. Today is nice and sunny, quite breezy, which makes it feel cooler even at 57f degrees.

.20 of rain today. Others parts of town were hit with much heavier rain and lots of hail.

38 coming up Thursday night - .1 inch of rain today.

Charley

66°/75°56°
Scattered showers and T-storms, mainly after 10 am. Cloudy. SW wind 5 to 10 mph becoming NW in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Charley,
Interesting about the elevations. I love learning about where people live.


Mosquitoes in almost every square inch of air space. I'm lucky they don't take to the road too much, so I can walk, FAST, without having to spray myself.

Why I can't kill all the tomato hornworms. Hummingbird Moth.