This week in Oregon

For the Willamette Valley - peonies are poking their heads out of the ground and we have a lot of winter left to go.  To protect them, cover them with mulch or leaves.  Use at least 6 inches of mulch or leaves.

Eugene area - lows 28F to 40F and highs 40 to 51F.  2 days sunny, 1 cloudy then 5 days rain with the temps slowing rising during the week.  Clear nights mean cold AM temps.

For Central Oregon - lows 9F to 32F,- cold.  Highs - 26F to 43F  5 partly cloudy days and 2 days at the end of the week when temps rise, rainy.

Greenhouse tomatoes still green and growing, but cool temps are starting to slow the plants down.

Any good weather the winter weeds grow, and grow, so don't let them get too big.

Take advantage of any place leaves are available to collect and bring to the garden.  They are a great mulch and resource to keep the soil in good tilth and worms happy.

11-24-2015

This week looks actually pretty good for the Willamette
Valley, with highs - 41 to45 and lows 25 to 31 so chilly. 
Early cold and later in the week cold but 5 days of sun,
which also means cold nights.  The roads are slick with
 road oil so be more careful.  If snow, let the crazies go ahead. 

Bend - really cold.  Highs  28-41 and lows  5 to 25,
snow early and then late in the week, two days cloudy
and 4 days of sun.

Final lawn mowing, rack leaves or use your mulching
lawn mower to pulverize the leaves and then place in
the garden or in the flower beds as protective much.

Many fruit trees are holding on to their leaves, so general
rule - wait until the leaves have fallen to ensure the trees
are dormant before pruning.

This week

For the Willamette valley
Lows 24-35 so cold;  highs - 41-47 so not very warm. 
Two days of rains with scattered clouds and sun.
Central Oregon - low 13- 38 and highs 26-48, sunny
with a few day of clouds.

Cole crops still kind of growing the in the cold weather.
Prolonged 24 will damage most cole crops. Evenings
need a hoop or green house of protection.

Continue to mulch tender plants.  Pruning can continue.
No. 24 - thru Dec. is growers vacation time.  Time to
kick back and rest for the year.

However, some will star the holiday market season usually
 starts right after Thanksgiving until Christmas on the
weekends.  Check local markets for times and places.

Check local farm stands as a few will be open through
the holidays.

Go to the OSU Lane County Extension web site for
 info on the local Core pesticide training times and
location for the local Extension offices.

This week

Cool weather again for the next 8 days.  Lows from 37 to 46 and highs from 47 to 56 degrees.  Good indicators that the growing season is coming to a close.

Most farm stands are closed but a few are still open.  Call to make sure they are open but mostly open during the weekends.

Pumpkins, winter squash, apples, pears and canned products.

Winter gardens still going strong.  Warm season veggies not doing well with the cold weather unless protected under plastic.

Mulch tender plants.  Mulch roses, blueberries.  Don't mulch raspberries as mulch will cause root rot unless for just a few cold nights.

Pruning tree fruits is in full swing.  Prune raspberries.  Wait until February to do grapes but depends on how much you have.  General pruning November thru March.

Drain water from equipment and add a little anti freeze.  Drain all irrigation systems now that it is raining.

Central Oregon - cooler; with lows 26 to 37 and highs 43 to 50.  Rained expected 4 out of 8 days and lots of clouds.

Kyrgyzstan 2015

Kyrgyzstan – November 2015

Our trip to Kyrgyzstan has been a great one.  We visit different villages each day and get to teach local growers and women how to care for their orchards and do budgets, make hand creams, lip balms and home products. 

While here (Bokonbaevo village on the south side of Lake Issykul, Kyrgyzstan) we visited a felt factory where they make high quality felt AND the felt for what I call REAL yurts.

Reality – we needed to get a visa off for our next coming trip.  The visa in a PDF and can’t be saved.  I got the Adobe Pro but it wasn’t working.  So to the local computer shop.  I had saved the PDF and it was mostly done.  We printed off the form by wifi in the computer office.  Then Kate filled out the form, we scanned the form so we could send the form off for getting the visa.  The form couldn’t be saved as a PDF so had to be saved as a Word document.  Then my Flash drive I was told had a virus but I checked it the day before, but who knows.

So, if we were at home this would have taken 5 minutes, it took almost an hour to get this done.    Kind of like walking back in time.  But it got done.  This cost 75 coms or just over $1.00USD.

Out in the field we have run across some traditions that are not good traditions.  1 – many people STILL think that pruning their tree will kill or hurt the tree.  I have tried for 50 years to kill a tree, any tree.  Not been successful yet.  So they are very timid at pruning.  They ARE pruning but very timidly. 2- They irrigate the trees right against the trunk.  So the trunk and roots are wet a good portion of the time, PLUS they dig a hole to hold the water right at the trunk so we are seeing root rot AND what is called crown rot.  We explain that the tree roots that absorb the water and fertilizer are out at the drip line and the water and fertilizer needs to be absorbed at the drip line, not near the trunk.  Fortunately I see a lot of nodding heads.

Weather from around the area

From Rufus

Chilly start to a wet week ahead.

 The center low of our Friday the 13th storm is now

 progged to move onshore much farther north, this system 

will pack quite a heavy rain field. Windy, too, although 

not as strong as original expectations. Western WA will 

get the most impact from the storm. Brief interlude during

 the weekend before the second strong storm arrives overnight 

Sunday. HEAVY rain in western WA, with OR also getting

 moderate rain, as well. Breezy. Chilly and damp in the PNW 

Tue/Wed Nov 17,18 with plenty of mountain snowfall. More

 rain with the third system due in Thu.

Uncertainty remains for the weekend of Nov 21,22. The trend

 has been for drier days, but with the potential for a northerly 

flow aloft to usher in the colder air mass of the season.

Easy to get an overall picture of the next couple of weeks: on 

and off rain, with great mountain snow. Borderline concern

 remains for localized flooding - mainly for the coastal streams

/rivers in western WA. Even CA will get in on some of the

 precipitation.  Rufus

For Eugene Springfield - rain 7 out of 10 next days, with

 lows 33 to 47 and highs 48-58.

For central Oregon, rain 3 out of 8 days;  lows 33-43 F, 

and highs 43 to 58 F. 

So according to weather guru's similar temps in the 

valley as in central Oregon.

With the rain, the irrigation systems can go away.  With

 the cooler temps, begin to protect roses, camellia, and 

mulch strawberry and blueberry plants.

November thru March - time to prune blueberries and 

tree fruits.  If you have only a few plants, it is best to 

wait until March.

This week

It looks like our great Indian summer has come to an end,
with mostly rainy days, lows in the high 30's and highs in
the mid 50's for the Willamette valley.  Central Oregon looks
similar with a bit less rain, and cool temps; lows in the high
 20's and highs in the high 40's. 

Our long run of warm season crops are over.  As we get more
 colder temps, time to mulch any "tender" crops or plants.  For
the valley, cole crops are still doing well.

Time to put the irrigation systems to bed.  Drain they systems
 to prevent freezing.  I still think we are going to get some more
warm weather so keep on hose out or in a handy place.  Start
winterizing tools and equipment.  As in Bend the low 20's
freezes any water quickly.

Raspberries can be pruned.  Now that we are i n November,
 the typical pruning season is November thru March.  As long
as the leaves are off the trees and bushes.

Weather upcomings - be prepared

Monday November 2

California is getting much needed rain from the leading

 edge of our Halloween weekend storm which dumped

 a lot of rain the Eugene – Springfield area. The system

 provided an amazing volume of water in a short period 

in many areas of the PNW, causing localized flooding 

including INSIDE a Portland light-rail train. For most of 

the days this week in the PNW, showers will pop up here

 and there. There remains the potential for FROST, should

 the sky clear overnight Tue or Wed.  Watch AM temp forecasts.

LOTS OF RAIN and mountain SNOW is coming. In fact, 

flood issues may very well be a key attribute of the upcoming 

wx pattern. The WET system following behind Thursday's

 'maybe rain' disturbance will arrive by Fri night. Colder air 

behind the storm will usher in a good amount of snowfall in 

the mountains, along with rain & progressively heavier 

showers in the lowlands on both sides of the Cascades. This 

is modeled for late Fri on through Monday night, Nov 9. 

'Southern and eastern OR could be slow to experience this 

particular storm serious, but by Sunday, everyone should be

 in on the action. Current charts do NOT indicate the weekend 

storm to be as wet as our Halloween Day storm.

Next will be a stronger front, timed to drop down from the 

NW Tue/Wed Nov 10,11. WINDY with heavy rain. A lot more 

SNOW in the mountains. It will turn notably colder at the 

surface for everyone. By Friday the 13th, a strong, windy, 

VERY WET "double punch" storm surge will arrive. With

 moisture training from Japan all the way across the pacific 

directly into the PNW, moderate-to-heavy rain bands will 

repeatedly slam into the region. The winds will be moderately

 strong, as well. Depending on which model run we accept, 

winds could approach damaging levels Sat/Sun, Nov 14,15 

esp given what will be saturated soils by that time.

-Rufus