2-27-2015

Grass is growing way to fast.
Fruit trees  are pushing buds and plums/prunes are
blooming.
Daffodils are in full bloom, peonies are up 8 inches.
Iris are up a foot.

Garlic is up over a foot.
Grape and kiwi buds are swelling.

Looks like spring is approaching fast.

Filbert/hazelnuts are in full bloom, and the leaf buds
have broken and the first EFB spray should have
gone on last week.

2-23-2016

Monday February 22

Decent run of dry days, with some rain to look forward to as February ends.

A ridge of high pressure will hold off precipitation from the west for a few days and at the same time, set up a gusty east wind out of the Columbia River Gorge (plus, breezy through mountain passes) later today & Tue. Soils in some areas may actually dry down enough for tractor work. Don't expect rain to return until late Friday. Clearing Saturday ahead of a stronger, wet system pushes onshore from the west on Sunday.

Leap Day will be on-off damp before more steady rain, and wind, moves in Tue. It will be blustery & wet on through the end of the week and well into the first weekend of March. A short-lived rain break possible for southern 1/2 of OR on Saturday. Maybe. A blocking high pressure ridge is on the charts for Mon-early Thu, Mar 7-10; our next dry spell.

   

-Rufus

This week 2-20-2016

Spring is moving ahead but it is way ahead of schedule.

Central Oregon - lows 25 to 38;  highs - 47 to 64.  One day of rain and 7 days of clouds and partial sun.  Still chilly at night.  Pruning can still be done.  Usually mid February for central Oregon pruning.

In the Willamette Valley, lows  34 to 47 and highs 50 to 64.  6 days cloudy and partial sun with one day of rain.

The lawn needed to be mowed, and was almost too late in mowing for the first time - for February 20th.  A new fence was put in and the machinery tore up a big patch of lawn.  I reseeded the patch with a lawn mix WITH a "watersmart coating".  That patch was green all summer, with less water and the patch is already fully green.  Impressive.  The garlic is up almost a foot,  Gravenstein apple tree buds are pushing;  finish the pruning ASAP.  Apply a good copper spray to clean up the anthracnose, the apple scab and other fungus issues.  Watch the prunes and peaches as bloom color is showing on the buds already.

Pears are also pushing hard and will be showing color soon.

Today 1-14-2016

Pears are breaking bud so all apples. pears and Asian pears will need a copper spray asap.

Weather

Monday February 8

Models since late January hinted that February would be a wet, stormy, seasonal month. Well, that outlook has all but dried up. The trend toward a drier pattern started last week, and continues to show on the charts. As a result, a much drier forecast overall during the next 2-3 weeks is likely. Oh sure, there will be some showers for OR and even steady rain at times over Vancouver Is. the far NW corner of WA, but the general pattern for the entire west coast will be drier than we'd hoped for.

Details. High pressure, centered over ID & NV, will kick-up winds for CA and through the Columbia Gorge for the early part of this week. This minimizes fog in valley locations. Some showers may break through, esp over western WA overnight Wed into Thu, keeping much of OR and all of ID, CA dry. Western OR could get some precip, although not heavy, during the first half of the weekend ahead. Maybe.

-Rufus

2-4-2016

I observed rhubarb and peonies breaking thought the soil and being around 1 inch above the soil line.  Must mean that spring is coming.  Three more weeks to March.

2-3-2016

2016 is starting off pretty normal.  The snow looks good in the mountains and a lot of rain is filling the groundwater so it is getting back to normal.

For the central Bend, lows really not low but 29-33F.  Highs 36 to 59 F.    1 day rain, 7 days sunny to partially sunny.


For the Eugene area, lows 40 to 45F, with highs 46 to 66.  Any temps above 50 degrees the plants start to break dormancy - greater chance of freezing.  4 days more rain, 1 day cloudy and 3 sunny.

With the every now and then dry weather, soil is starting to be ready to till for the year.

Finish pruning of tree fruits and berries in the valley.  For central Oregon, unless you have a lot of trees, prune in March or early April.


Daffodils  up 6 inches.  garlic up 7-8 inches.  Blueberries have broken bud and peaches have broken buds.