Highalt 2011

[highalt]

The peppers spent their first night outdoors last night, and survived just fine. The official low was 41 degrees, but I think it was a couple of degrees warmer than that here at my house. Plus, being on the porch, I think the concrete, and the heat from the house, may raise it up even more. Tomorrow is another red flag warning day though, so may have to bring them back inside if the winds get too crazy.

Some of the peppers could really use a larger pot, but since they will be going in the ground in the next week and a half to two weeks, not sure if I should bother. Seems like the stress of transplanting twice so close together, would be more than the stress of being in a pot that's too small. Any thoughts?

 

[highalt]

So the plants have been outside for about a week and a half, and the cool temperatures and lack of sunshine are starting to take their toll. No noticable growth, and the leaves aren't as deep a green as they were while under the grow light. Due to the house guest factor though, I've just had to deal with it. Anyway, we finally had a sunny day with a high temp in the 60's, and lows are predicted to be above 40 for the next week, so I decided to take a chance and plant some out. I got 13 plants in the ground, which is all my tiny garden will hold once the tomatoes get their place. Hoping to fill the two Earthboxes this weekend, and then what's left will go at the community garden.

Here are a few pictures taken today:

Czechoslovakian Black

Georgia Flame

Ancho San Luis

Sandia

Lemon Drop

Chilhaucle Rojo

Serrano Tampiqueno

This Alma Paprika is going to stay in a pot, but I have a couple more that will go either in the Earthbox or comm. garden.

The others that went out today, include Fresno, Jalapeno M, Santa Fe Grande, Cosa Arrugada, Kalocsai V2, and El Oro De Ecuador.

A bit concerned about the winds the next couple days, which are forecast to reach 30 - 45 mph, but I did brace each plant with a wooden skewere, so hopefully they'll be okay.

 

[highalt]

Acckkk!! Now the forecast is saying gusts up to 55 mph ... hope I didn't mess up by planting yesterday!

 

[RedtailForester]

Very nice looking plants Bonnie! Is there anyway you can shield them from high winds?

 

[Pepper Boys]

Build A WALL!!! 55mph is ridiculous!

 

[highalt]

My fear is if I set something on the west side of the garden to block the winds, that it will get blown over on top of the seedlings, which would certainly cause more damage than the winds themselves ...

As far as something permanent, my veggie bed is located in the front yard, and I live in a neighborhood with an HOA, so it would have to be somewhat decorative.

 

[highalt]

Dodged a bullet today! The winds only reached the 25 - 35 mph range, instead of the 40 - 55 mph range predicted. I lost a leaf or two, but nothing major.

Breathing a sigh of relief!

 

[highalt]

Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. Winds currently 30 - 40 mph!

There was no wind at all this morning, so decided to plant 6 more peppers. Fortunately they are in an Earthbox, which is safe inside the garage until the winds die down.

These are all sweet/mild peppers - Jimmy Nardello, Gourmet, Alma Paprika, Frank's, Giant Szegedi, and Pasilla Bajio.

Please don't judge me for my poor man's Earthbox cover

Frank's with Jimmy Nardello in the background

Gourmet

The other Earthbox needs some engineering before I plant anything in it. DH made a homemade trellis for it last year, but it doesn't have the legs for stabilization like the Earthbox version does, so it toppled over in the wind last year. Once that's done, I'll get what's left of the mild stuff planted, and take the rest to the community garden.

 

[wayright]

Your plants are coming along nicely Bonnie!
That is some crazy wind yall are getting up there!
Best of luck keeping them upright!

Kevin

 

[highalt]

Pretty standard for this time of year here. They'll die down once the heat of summer finally arrives ... or maybe I should say if.

 

[armac]

I am dealing with the same winds, I feel your pain. Only difference is here, South Texas, the winds are year round.

You have beautiful plants.

Over 100 degrees here and 30 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph.

 

[highalt]

Armac, we still get the occasional windy days in the summer, but it is not constant like it is in the spring.

Well, I went out this morning, while it's still calm to assess the damage. All of the plants in the ground seem fine, but this poor Alma Paprika that was on the porch took a real beating. When the winds start back up today, I'll be moving it to the garage.

Do you think it will recover?

On a happier note, found a couple things blooming in the perennial beds today. Hope I don't get kicked off the forum for posting flower pics : )

First Poppy 'Double Tangerine Gem' bloom of the season. It won't survive the winds, but there are plenty more buds on the plant to take its place.

Geum 'Mango Lasi'

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

 

[highalt]

I know to those of you dealing with tornados, I probably sound like a big whining baby, but the wind is getting OLD!!!

I copied and pasted the following wind speeds from the NOAA website for my area. The top reading was taken an hour ago, and I'm pretty sure we've passed the 50 mph point this past hour. The sky has turned a brownish haze from all the dust in the air. Now the forecast says 50% chance of rain/snow in the early morning, and a low of 35 degrees tomorrow night!

Max. Min.
29 16:53 S 37 G 48
29 15:53 SW 22 G 41
29 14:53 SW 28 G 36
29 13:53 S 18 G 43
29 12:53 SW 23 G 37
29 11:53 S 29 G 37
29 10:53 SW 22 G 45
29 09:53 S 26 G 44
29 08:53 SW 23 G 31
29 07:53 W 14 G 28
29 06:53 S 10 G 17
29 05:53 E 3
29 04:53 S 13 G 18
29 03:53 SW 12 G 18
29 02:53 SW 21 G 33
29 01:53 SW 18 G 37
29 00:53 SW 20 G 35
28 23:53 SW 24 G 37

A day or two of wind is one thing, but this is four days straight, and there aren't many leaves left on some of my plants. When things calm down, I'll try and get pics of what's left of my plants.

 

[highalt]

Well, the winds howled ALL night and continued in the 25 - 45 mph range again ALL day. We were out of town most of the day having a little family fun, and when I got back and checked the forecast, they've changed tonight's predicted low from 35 degrees to 31, and have issued a freeze warning.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, by May 7th, the probability for lows at/above 32 degrees is 90%, and for low temps of 36 degrees the 90% probability changes to May 24th. We are a little higher in elevation, but not much. So I guess the odds of a frost this late are less than 10%, but then again, this spring has been cooler than usual. I've read that the snow pack in the mountains here is way above what should still be there. Instead of the Colorado river cresting from the snow melt in late May/early June, they are now saying it will be mid to late June.

If you're interested in checking out the frost free dates for your area, check out this website:
http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/climatenormals/climatenormals.pl?directive=prod_select2&prodtype=CLIM2001&subrnum%20to%20Freeze/Frost%20Data%20from%20the%20U.S.%20Climate%20Normals

My oldest son helped me run out there in the dark to put a row cover over everything. I don't have hoops to keep it off of the plants though, so if the winds pick up again, it will just beat the plants up some more.

Oops, thought I was done, but forgot about the ones in the Earthbox, and still in containers waiting to be planted. They are all safely in the garage for the night. Whew!!!

 

[highalt]

Official low last night was 34 degrees. Even though there was no hard freeze, I'm still glad I covered the garden, and brought the containers in last night. After the beating the plants have been getting from the wind this past week, they needed an easy night.

Tomorrow and Thursday are supposed to be "breezy," but at least the temperature is predicted to break the 80 degree mark. Yippee for some heat!!!

 

[highalt]

Over the weekend, DH attached pieces of a 2" x 4" to the second Earthbox, so I was able to fill it today - College 64, Joe E. Parker, Peppadew, Aji Panca, Chimayo, and Kalocsai Vs.

Couple of close-ups:

College 64 (has both cat and wind damage to some of the leaves)

Aji Panca

See how some of the leaves are curled up? They were doing that on the ones I put in the first Earthbox, and now those look fine.

Earthbox #1 (prior to installing trellis)

Both Earthboxes side by side. The one on the left has the trellis system purchased from Earthbox, the one on the right has the trellis system DH built.

DH's system may not be as pretty, but it was built with scraps we had on hand, so it saved me $32.95 + shipping.

I'll get some pictures later of the damage from the wind to the plants in the ground. Wanted to focus on the positive today.

 

[highalt]

Here we go again ... sigh.

A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM MDT THURSDAY.

* TIMING...THURSDAY FROM NOON UNTIL 9 PM MDT.

* WINDS...SUSTAINED SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS
OF 45 TO 50 MPH CAN BE EXPECTED. LOCALIZED PEAK GUSTS TO 60
MPH ARE POSSIBLE.

* VISIBILITY...LIMITED VISIBILITY FROM BLOWING DUST AND SAND
WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS DESERT AREAS...ESPECIALLY SOUTHEAST
UTAH ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70.

* IMPACTS...STRONG CROSSWINDS WILL MAKE TRAVEL DIFFICULT
ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES.

 

[Phildeez]

Well, it's already happened. Our house guest left the bedroom door open long enough to go to the restroom, and found the cat in there when he got back. This morning, I noticed a couple of plants had been chewed on. Not major damage, but enough for me to conclude that the plants may be safer on the porch than in the guest room ...

You could make them a clear plastic cold-frame and leave them out on the porch with some ambient warmth from the house.
It should be really easy to make a funky temporary one for a small area like that. Just a thought.

 

[highalt]

You could make them a clear plastic cold-frame and leave them out on the porch with some ambient warmth from the house.
It should be really easy to make a funky temporary one for a small area like that. Just a thought.

Thanks for the idea! Not sure what could I make that would stand up to the winds here though. They blow right across the front of the house where the porch is. About half of the peppers are planted out now, so only about a crate and a half left to worry about, but I could start planning for next year.

 

[highalt]

This morning, when the wind gusts reached 47 mph, I brought all of the Earthboxes, and other containers into the garage. The winds stayed in the 20 - 45 mph range from about 7 am this morning until around 9 tonight. Finally, it is calm outside!!! The plants will be spending the night in the garage though, just because it's late, and I'm tired.

For now anyway, the forecast has no high wind warnings over the next 7 days. Yippee!!! Plus the highs should reach the low 80's, and lows in the 40's.

Guess in the morning I need to see if any of the plants that are in the ground need replacing, and then, whatever's left can get planted down at the community garden. Still don't have the tomatoes in. This has to be the latest I've ever gotten the garden planted. It will be interesting to see what kind of harvest I end up with this year.