Category Archives: WEATHER

Freezing weather gone

Screenshot

Last week we had 2 nights in the 27-28 degrees temperature wise. Hope if you planted outside, you had covered your plants with medium weight row cover. (no-sheets don’t work to cover plants). I leave my row cover on but pull it back to expose plants when it is nice out in the day and cover them back up at night.

You can find med weight (.5-.6) row cover in some nurseries, or online. Don’t get heavy weight row cover (.9+ weight-too heavy). Row cover is best for springtime fickle weather when one night it might be 40 degrees and the next night in the 30’s or even colder. We call this the shoulder season with both the daytime and nighttime temperatures swinging wildly in the transition time from winter to spring to summer.

Here is the forecast-Don’t get caught off guard.

SPRING EQUINOX-get busy now gardeners

Today, March 20, 2025 is Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (that’s us here in Santa Fe). It represents the beginnings of spring and oh, how I long to see more ‘green’. The wind’s been particularly brutal this year in March. Hoping the wind and the juniper pollen will abate soon.

Spring Equinox is where the days and nights are equal in length so we will be getting longer days too from here on! I have written several posts on spring equinox that you can access here.

Weekly Weather Forecast-March 20

I’m getting a late start to starting my veggie seeds inside the house as I’m planting them by this weekend. Usually I start pepper/tomato seeds much earlier in March because they take longer to get to transplant size. But I just returned from a Paris and Berlin trip on Tuesday, March 18. Spring is just starting over there (a little, like here), not much budding yet.

But I did see one very inspiring garden outside Berlin while visiting my good friend Lava. I will write a post soon on this garden. It was fantastic.

Meanwhile the days and nights are still cold but the days are starting to get warmer this week. Yay! Time to shake off the winter blues and get busy in our gardens!

As they say, “Spring Has Sprung”, and I’m recharged and ready!

Winter Solstice This Saturday, Dec 21

Photo courtesy of agwaycapecod.com

Winter Solstice is upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere occurring on this Saturday, December 21 at 2:21 am MT in 2024. It is the shortest day and longest night of year in the Northern Hemisphere.

It will be Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere and is reverse in the Southern Hemisphere (summer).

The Earth’s has a tilt of 23.5 degrees off vertical axis (vertical would be from North Pole to South Pole.) This gives us our seasons. In the winter the sun is furthest away from us here in the Northern Hemisphere and in the summer (Summer Solstice) it is closest to us as as the earth is tilted either away or towards the sun. The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, it’s the angle that changes.

The most direct sunlight shifts between a band of latitudes, specifically between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropical of Capricorn, throughout the year, with it closest to the Tropic of Capricorn on Winter Solstice.

Here in Santa Fe, as a gardener, I always notice how far south the sun is in winter and how far north the sun is in the summer. This orientation affects how and where we plant our crops. And although most of us are not growing crops in the winter, it is good to note where the sun is for us.

We have a passive solar home where the sun comes in our southern windows all winter, heating our tile floors and providing extra warmth but in the summer the angle of the sun shifts north, shining in our north facing window and the south side of the home stays cooler not receiving any sun on our floors.

Many countries have celebrations surrounding Winter Solstice.

Pagan Traditions

Pagan traditions in parts of Europe celebrated the solstice through gatherings like the Germanic Yuletide, where the Wild Hunt was believed to roam the skies. Scandinavians honored the Norse god Odin during the festival of Jul (Yule).

Indigenous Traditions

Indigenous cultures, such as the Inuit and various Native American tribes, had ceremonies and rituals tied to the solstice. These often involved storytelling, drumming, and ceremonies to honor the change of seasons and the renewal of life.

While it’s dark, the day also marks the “returning of the sun,” and many celebrate the day as a symbolic time of rebirth or a time to celebrate light.

I look forward to longer daylight and use this time to rejuvenate myself and reflect on my gardens and plan the new gardening season.

Part of this post regarding the photo and traditions courtesy of agwaycapecod.com.

 

WINTER IS COMING! This week!

first freeze 2021

cold-clip-art-clipart-coldthermometerOur first freeze will be on this Tuesday, Oct 12 which is pretty normal for Santa Fe. So I’ve been out harvesting like crazy as everything will either die (annuals) or go to sleep (perennials). In fact this whole week will have killing frosts so, for those of you who are waiting to finish harvesting, you got one more day before it gets bitter cold. The whole house is stuffed with all the crops from the season but it is good I finished up today and now can relax. I am done-finito and so is the garden. I will still have to compost or dispose of the plants but I can do that later. No sense in getting out in miserably cold weather this week unless necessary so I will cozy up inside with a nice fire!

FREEZE ALERT!

Tomorrow night a freeze warning has been issued for our area in Santa Fe.

It could get colder or it might miss your garden, but to be safe, I will be putting row cover over any veggies/fruits I still want to protect and harvest.

The weather people have been changing the forecast everyday and sometimes several times a day lately. They think it will be above just above freezing but the wind chill will drive down the temperature to feel below freezing and I’m not willing to take that chance after spending all these months growing veggies. If it does go down to freezing, my garden will be protected. I think it will be a new record low if it does hit 32°F as the previous record for our first freeze was in October, but never in September. What a weird year-record heat one day and threat of a freeze the next day!

Medium or heavy weight row cover will give your veggies protection to several degrees below freezing. The problem is, if you don’t protect them, and we get an Indian summer where it turns warm again for quite a while, then the crops could have the time they need to finish ripening before we get more cold weather.

Remember to remove the protection in the morning so the plants can get warmth and light from the sun. I have lost many crops by not protecting them during these early freezes. I will be prepared this time!

Weather FREEZE Alert!

The next few nights are going be below freezing here in Santa Fe area. Tonite (Sunday) is not too bad only 30°F but still below freezing and Monday and Tuesday will be in the low 20’s at nite so protect your veggie plants with row cover (preferably with winter weight or 2 layers of medium weight) for those tender transplants you may already have out. Prepare now and protect those plants! Hate to see them wiped out especially since all nurseries are now closed due to governor mandate.

And of course this cold snap comes right as our fruit trees are flowering-ah poop!

Monsoons are here for real-take off row covers!

Monsoons are here! Last nite we got just under 2 inches of rain at the farm here in Santa Fe! And more to come today and the weekend. I was waiting for the rain to hit us and boy did it! I’m taking off the tomato row covers this weekend!

Yay! Finally we can enjoy looking at them!

Winter is here early

Fall harvest-tomatoes, Tahiti Butternut squash, Bradford watermelons and Craupadine beets

I just heard last night’s snow was the earliest on record for Oct 14th in Santa Fe. The weather apps have said it was going to be 27°F last night. Woke up this morning to a light snow, ice and the temperature was 24°F here. Harvesting has been intense the last few weeks. Why is there always so much to pick in the end? The only annual crops left are a few kale, beets and cabbages outside in the main garden and greens in the greenhouse and cold frame. I’m not sure how they fared as I wasn’t able to go out and check today, and in truth, with 34°F for a high, I was in no hurry to see if they made it. They were covered with winter weight row cover with the hopes they make it and I will check tomorrow. I was more concerned the barn animals were ok with this first cold snap and made sure all the heaters in the water tanks were working and the chickens had their heat lamps on. I guess winter is here.

100 degrees in Santa Fe today!

I would encourage everyone to water their veggie crops 2x a day here in Santa Fe while we are having this extreme heat wave. The heat is really taking a toll and many plants are stressed to the max right now. Do not fertilize anything in this heat as that might add to their stress. Instead you might water with sea weed and SuperThrive or Vit. B which are good for plant stress. Don’t plant any seeds right now while the heat is on, rather wait till it is cooler and the soil can be kept moister.

Also adding row cover or shade cloth over plants should help. If you have any fencing, you could cut a piece and open it over your bed and put the shade cloth or row cover on top of  that which the plants will love even more as the cloths will not rub on them but if not just put some medium weight row cover over them which won’t weigh too heavily. I would not use heavy weight row cover as it will not breathe and the row cover should not be tight over them.

Once we are over this period, you could go back to watering 1x a day and take off the row cover once the monsoons come-hopefully in the next few weeks but leave the row cover just to the side of the bed in case we get a hail storm, then I put it back over the bed again. This is of course assuming we get the monsoons!

UGLY WIND!! UGH!

I hate this wind we have been having the last few days. Typical spring weather here in Santa Fe. Today winds sustained at 25-30 mph and tomorrow projected to be 40 mph! Just terrible for a gardener chomping at the bit to get out in the garden. But I refuse to go out in it (I’m not that nuts!) so I have to be content to stay inside and dream about what my garden will look like this summer. They say the spring winds wake up the trees from winter and if this is so, they should be wide awake by now.

I did start my tomato seeds 2 weeks ago and they are mostly up inside, under lights on heat mats. I keep moving forward towards the garden even though the wind wants to move me backwards. Ugly Wind-Ugh!!!

Hot! Hot! HOT!!

hot sun pic

Yesterday was a new record high for Santa Fe for Sunday, June 19, 2016. It hit 102°F  in Santa Fe but it hit 104°F (40°C) here at the garden. Too hot to work outside unless it is in early morning or later towards sunset when it starts to cool down. So I am waiting today till about 5-6 pm and praying we get a few clouds overhead which would cool things down a bit and I can get a few hours in outside. Photo courtesy of http://cliparts.com

 

Wow! Lots of snow here!

SNOW STORM

Wow! We got substantial snow out here on Tuesday! Blizzard like conditions for a while. The picture above was taken while driving home (I stopped to take it!) Just when you thought we were going to have an early spring. But those of us who have lived here for some time know better. We always get snow after a warm spell  (we just broke some record for warmest day last week) and it seems to be that way every spring.

snow storm Feb 23, 2016

The picture above was about 5 inches at the time I took it during a break between storm cells. I ran out to take a picture and the birds ran out to the feeders between storms to feed too. It was about half the amount we actually ended up with. I measured 9-10 inches when it was all done but in town hardly any fell. What a delightful surprise for the trees and perennials plants out here who were getting thirsty!

First REAL winter storm Nov 16

winter storm_ Nov 2015a

Sure we had some light snow on November 6th but it only lasted a couple of hours and promptly melted off but it still felt like fall. This Monday November 16th we returned a day early from the San Juan River fishing trip because of a storm coming in. Didn’t want to be caught hauling an RV trailer on icy roads. Good thing we did as it turns out we had our first major snow and now it feels like winter. This pic was taken about 4 pm on Monday after coming home. We got about 5 inches total by Tuesday morning. Yikes! The garden is dead but isn’t out yet. I have to get it out soon before the ground freezes!

Stella’s view

Stella's view

One of our indoor cats, Stella, always sits by a particular window looking out. I’m sure she’s looking at the birds outside and sees a mouse now and then too. It’s like it’s her TV. Yesterday, when I looked out her window with her,  I understood why she always looks out this particular window. The view was stunning with the yellow leaves of the aspen trees and the snow falling softly on the ground. We didn’t get much snow, maybe a half an inch but between the cold wind and the snow, it made me pause to look out with her and enjoy the view.

Windy ugly!!

wind

Today was what I call windy ugly! It is just blasting outside which is exactly what our Aprils’ are about out here in Santa Fe. I thought we might not get it this year as we’ve had beautiful weather up till today. Spring is my least favorite season because it almost always is windy-really windy and the wind makes me crabby! I read that is because all the positive ions the wind whips up. Negative ions (like when it rains make us feel good and positive ions make us crabby!)

One year, about 11 years ago, the roof blew off my hay barn-literally the roof just lifted up-all 14′ x 24′ of it and landed on my neighbor’s property. When it hit, it left a 12″ deep dent where it hit the ground and exploded from the impact as pieces flew everywhere. Luckily nothing was damaged-no people or property. Just before the event, Elodie and I were down at the barn tightening up any screws on the roof (she was holding the ladder and I was on top of the roof and I had just gotten off the ladder when the wind came up and up and up. Elodie said “Well, this will be a good test” when a 70 mph micro-burst came into the barn, we heard a huge rip as it tore the roof off and the thing flew up in the air like one giant kite. Made me think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when her house was lifted in the air. Elodie said, “That could have been you! You were just on the roof!” to which I chanted, ‘It wasn’t my time! It wasn’t my time!

PS: When I rebuilt the roof I put hurricane ties on the rafters so hopefully that won’t happen again. Today reminded me of that windy day!