Oh No. It's way too early for that! Mother Nature needs a shot of something, i think!

Fingers crossed for you and your gardens, Sharon!

We had that threat last week or so - then right after that it got to 32C. Didn't you just mention it was 37C in the last day or two? What wonky weather.

I haven't dared to go out and check this morning - I forgot all about it last night, although I did hear about it earlier in the day. Need air conditioner in the day at work and then worry about the f* word thing the same night! I'll be interested to hear if anyone had any damage.

Whew, thank my lucky stars, all is well, no "f" last night, however it did dip down to 5C.

Yes this weather is wacky this year, but isn't it every year Pudge;) LOL

Our weather forecast is cool all week, a high of 12C on Friday, whoooo!

Have any of you folks seen the KFC commercials on TV lately, where a leaf falls on the guys' shoulder and he shrieks and brushes it off with his hand, his friends look at him like he has gone mad... they also had something of the same last year where a girl sees a fallen leaf on the sidewalk and she screams like she was in a horror film. LOL. Well thatÂs how I feel when I see my first fallen leaf, I just can't believe how fast this summer is going :(

But chin up we still have lots of time to play in our gardens ;)

Sharon

Exactly! I saw that commercial last year and really could relate. We've been going out looking for blueberries (and not finding many), and the landscape is definitely looking like "early fall". Sigh...

Sharon, I totally freaked when we got back a few days ago and my tree in the backyard had yellow leaves. My daughter was asking why on earth there would be yellow leaves in the middle of summer. Yup, from the mouth of babes!

I can SOOOO relate to those KFC commercials!

I am glad that your gardens are OK. I had seen that warning on the News the other night and yelled at the TV "Noooo Waaaay!" I cannot believe this weather. It does seem stranger then normal -- but then I haven't lived around here all that long yet, so maybe the past few years were "not normal" and this is closer to normal????

SHH! The weatherman here heard you! Today is cool, tomorrow is too and both nights it's supposed to be less than 40F! I have a couple hundred green tomatoes, cukes, my beloved zuchini, beans that are FINALLY beginning to flower.... And all my mom says is "Friday looks like a good day for canning," and laughs! I have 25 lbs of cukes to pickle and a ton of beets to can, and it would be a cool day to be in the kitchen, but I want MORE!

No, this is certainly not closer to normal, Ang. We usually have a really nice August, just like July "usually" is. We normally don't get this kind of stuff until mid Sept. This definitely feels cold and I, for one, don't like it. I'm going to stomp my foot and make it go away.

Did it go away, yet?

Shauna

please please PLEASE don't send any *F* weather into the center of B.C...it doesnt seem possible it could happen already :-(..a few years ago we had -5 on August 5th + 6th..everything in the garden was toast...savona

Shauna, I'm glad this isn't "normal" weather! I'll stomp with ya there, maybe we can get this to go away...

Here's hoping our "Stomp Feast" will have some effect soon. All the vibrations should shake things up! LOL

Savona, I can't believe -5 in early August! That's truly lousy. Fingers crossed that we can keep it away this year.

Ang

Of course, -2.1C last night in the garden according to the min/max thermometer, it was 4C at midnight so I knew it would be bad. Got up just before 3:00 and turned the sprinkler on the veggie garden and it looks like it worked, no damage.

Okay, it seems that we have a risk of f. tonight in calgary. As such, i need to ask about the water thing....do the plants only get damaged when the sun hits the f? Also, do you think being a block off the bow river would mean that you're more likely to get f, or less likely? I would think that the river would help moderate the temperature, but i haven't been gardening here long enough to know. Thanks!

I read that the leaves turn black because ice crystals form on the leaf and desicate the leaf. When there is a severe frost there is cell damage. You can water the soil before nightfall, moist soil stores and conducts heat. If you are going to cover, you are to cover before dusk to try and trap the heat. Sprinkling keeps a thin film of water on the plants and prevents temperatures beneath the film from dropping below freezing.

We tried the damp soil route and got frost damage on the pumpkin leaves, next we tried running the sprinkler, had a lower low and no damage. We do not know if there was no damage because of the sprinkler or if it was because it wasn't cold for as long or if there was not such a fast drop in temp or what, hard to say.

I would think your location near the river would help. The damaged leaves do not show up until mid-morning or so with light frost. Last year, everything was black earlier because it was a heavier frost.

I suspect your location in the river lowlands will help too. (On the other hand, not meaning to scare you, but I've seen frost on the grass down by the river in every month of the summer - sheesh, whatta place!) We're up on a hill, on the relative NW outskirts of the city, so likely a greater chance of frost, but at least a light frost won't hurt the perennials (trying to put the best face on it!)

Errrrrrrrrr.......1 degree this morning .......had to scrape the car window.....had a quick look at the garden to see if I could see how much damage......couldn't tell yet.

It was darn cold here yesterday...had to wear a coat.....so we thought there might be a frost. Oh well not much you can do about it. :-(

Sierra

Thanks for the info! The sprinkler theory makes sense to me, and since everything was wet from all the rain we've been getting, i didn't even have to do anything. I didn't see any f. this morning, but i did see neighbours that had chosen to cover their tomatoes.