Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Cliff Mass says our summer will be warm & sunny (ok, so I'm paraphrasing)
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April 15, 2010 at 2:50 pm #594502
WSMomParticipanthttp://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=382972701898
Cliff Mass says “Good tomato weather”…these words make my heart have hope.
“The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center provided the following forecast for this summer (June, July, August) temperature and precipitation. To create the forecast, NWS forecasters use many tools: El Nino/La Nina, historical trends, an ensemble of long-range weather forecasts, and much more. You note that they are going for above-normal temperatures over the western U.S. and below normal precipitation over Oregon and Washington. Good tomato weather.”
GOOD TOMATO WEATHER!!!
Now, to be fair, he also said this: “Let me begin by being honest: forecast skill for summer made this far out has only marginal skill.”
But I’m holding tight to the words “good tomato weather”!!!
April 15, 2010 at 3:52 pm #692530
MargLMemberOh yay! Even before I clicked on your post I read the headline and started singing to myself
“I like to eat. Eat eat eat. I like to eat tomatoes and zucchinis.”
April 15, 2010 at 4:12 pm #692531
dawsonctParticipantBetter start saving water. My rain-barrel ran dry by June last year, and my August water bill (even with drip irrigation) was astronomical.
April 15, 2010 at 5:25 pm #692532
JoBParticipanttime to get serous about putting my garden together:)
April 15, 2010 at 5:27 pm #692533
JoBParticipantdawsonct..
i bathe every day. i live in a rental and am trying to figure out how to get my bathtub water out the small window 3/4 up the wall and into a barrel below.. thus cutting down on water use. the “safe” soaps i bathe in will act as natural pesticies.
any practical advice here?
April 15, 2010 at 7:30 pm #692534
dawsonctParticipantSyphon?
April 15, 2010 at 8:53 pm #692535
JoBParticipanti thin that may end up being the answer… preferably aided by a pump.
that’s next weeks project:)
April 15, 2010 at 9:16 pm #692536
ALSParticipantI would love to start using a rain barrel. I have been trying to be more eco-friendly and with all the rain we get here, it seems silly not to use a rain barrel. For those of you who use rain barrels, where do you get them, and how much do they cost? Any other tips?
April 15, 2010 at 9:22 pm #692537
kParticipantthe city sells them for $75. anyone know of a cheaper option?
April 15, 2010 at 9:51 pm #692538
KBearParticipantYou can get them at McLendon’s. Keep in mind that the City’s rain barrels come with almost everything you need to set them up (hose spigot, overflow spigot, debris screen, etc.) If you buy elsewhere, you may have to purchase those parts separately (and drill holes to install them.)
April 15, 2010 at 10:50 pm #692539
dawsonctParticipantYep, don’t go half-assed. Big difference between a rain-barrel and a mosquito nursery. I imagine the marginally handy can jury-rig their barrels with parts available at most hardware stores and instructions from the net.
Mine is fairly primitive; I just have a screen floating on the water to disrupt the bugs, and I have to dip out the water into watering cans to use it, but it’s 50 gallons extra after the last good rainfall of the summer (July 4th), so I don’t mind. It’s better for the house plants, too.
Wish I had a couple more.
April 16, 2010 at 12:34 am #692540
The Velvet BulldogParticipantA bit of travel, but Ed’s Surplus and Marine in Lynnwood (196th SW) is selling 55-gallon barrels for twenty bucks. http://www.edssurplus.com/
April 16, 2010 at 1:48 am #692541
JiggersMemberI hope we get into the upper 90’s again, maybe even a hundred. Camping season is here.
April 16, 2010 at 5:48 pm #692542
dawsonctParticipantIf you plan on being in Cashmere anytime soon, Tree-Top used to give away the huge apple concentrate barrels. Don’t know if that is still the case, but those things are perfect for storing disaster water (they are food-grade, after all), I’m sure they would make good rain-barrels also.
April 16, 2010 at 5:52 pm #692543
dawsonctParticipantYou can HAVE those 90+ temps. Jiggers, but HELL YEAH it’s time to camp (and hike, and backpack)!!
April 17, 2010 at 12:23 am #692544
shed22ParticipantCommunity Harvest of Southwest Seattle is hoping we will have an ubundant summer. Don’t forget to donate your excess harvest to those without access to fresh fruits and vegetables. And to increase your vegetable variety, come visit us this Saturday at South Seattle Community College.
Here’s the blog link with more information:
https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/get-at-start-on-your-spring-garden
April 17, 2010 at 6:06 am #692545
ghar72ParticipantI’m fairly certain you’re supposed to use the water from rain barrels only on perennials, not veggies. Anyone able to confirm this? I don’t think the barrels are made from food grade plastic. We received ours from a friend who had an extra, so I’ve never seen any literature the city might hand out with the barrels.
April 17, 2010 at 2:40 pm #692546
JoBParticipantApril 17, 2010 at 4:14 pm #692547
dawsonctParticipantI’m already surrounded by a man-made chemical soup at home, I feel the benefit I derive from planting and eating ULTRA-local offsets whatever chemicals I am already being exposed to.
I think a few micrograms of plastic poured over my garden every year is probably better for me and the environment than all the petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides being used by corporate family-farm destroying mono-agriculturalists in our country and around the World.
April 17, 2010 at 4:17 pm #692548
dawsonctParticipantSeriously. Think how much petroleum was used to provide you with Chilean grapes this Winter.
April 17, 2010 at 4:34 pm #692549
anonymeParticipantI heard tht SPU will soon be offering cisterns as well as rain barrels, so you will be able to store much larger amounts of water for our droughty summers. I have two rain barrels, which is not nearly enough.
As for a sunny summer, bring it on! Ninety to a hundred degrees I can do without, but jalapenos – hooray!
April 17, 2010 at 5:47 pm #692550
ghar72ParticipantJoB, When we put in a veggie garden last year I searched out a hose that is drinking water safe. I know there’s some term for it, but can’t recall. It kinks, which drives me crazy, but supposedly safe for drinking out of.
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The other reason I’d be hesitant to use a rain barrel to water my edibles is b/c the previous owner put a strip on the roof to reduce moss (I think zinc??) which I’m fairly certain isn’t something I’d want to be ingesting. Haven’t researched extensively, but in my search for something safe to get rid of the moss on my roof (the zinc only stops the stuff that would grow directly below it), the only “safe” method I found was to get up there and scrubbing it off.
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Dawsonct…I hear you on how surrounded we are already by chemicals and plastic. I try to buy as local as possible. And you can’t get anymore local than your backyard. If I can keep those veggies and fruits as organic and free from chemicals as I can, I will.
April 17, 2010 at 7:14 pm #692551
JoBParticipantghar72…
in the world we have created by consumerism it is nearly impossible to eliminate all petrochemicals from our gardening. even if the hose you use is petrochemical free.. petrochemicals were used in it’s manufacture.
and that drinking safe water you got from your drinking safe hose arrived at your door through parts of a city water system created nearly a century ago.. and repaired since then with an amalgam of materials deemed safe at the time.
and the dirt you planted your veggies in has almost certainly been exposed to petrochemicals of several varieties on it’s way into your organic soil…
my point is that we all have to make compromises… and that doing something.. anything.. is better than doing nothing at all.
if the amount of zinc on your roof peak is not adequate to kill the moss on your entire roof.. you might wonder how much of it would actually reach a rain barrel.. and how much of that would settle into the inevitable sediment in the bottom before you drained or dipped it to use…
we don’t think of what’s on our roof or in our gutters.. but a quick look at the bottom of a rain barrel after a season is illuminating… there is a reason you see saplings growing in gutters that haven’t been cleaned and it isn’t just the leaves blowing in the wind.
i suspect there are things in that sediment.. including the pollutants washed from the sky by rain that would worry you far more than the zinc on your gables.
it’s more work to dip from the top like dawsonct does.. but you get much cleaner water that way…
in this case.. i wouldn’t throw the environmental baby out with the bathwater…
sorry i couldn’t resist…
over possible zinc contamination from roof strips designed to limit moss…
April 17, 2010 at 8:23 pm #692552
dawsonctParticipantI hate to think what falls from our skies after it has been pumped full of untreated filth in China and the rest of the Far-East. We get first crack at that stuff after it’s Pacific passage.
Oy, we have so far to go, but we have started to work toward a less chemical-dependant society. Awareness is the first step. Doubtful any of us here will see tangible results, but it needs to start somewhere.
May 16, 2010 at 3:59 am #692553
2brownchicksMemberIf folks are still looking for rain barrel sources, my partner and I make barrels from once-used, food-grade barrels. We clean them out, attach aquarium grade fittings and lead-free hose bibs to them to make them friendly for your garden. If you’re interested, check out http://www.2brownchicks.org. We store a lot of our barrels in West Seattle in our family’s garage, so are happy to meet folks near the community college who are looking. $50-60 per barrel. 10% off for a truck load (6 or more).
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