Manmade drought developing in Western Canada - No Spring means no crops!

drutter (69)in #garden • 17 days ago

We've only had a couple days of light rain so far this year, up here in Northwestern BC Canada. Everything is dry and Spring is postponed until the rain comes. Normally, it rains more days than not, being very close to the Pacific ocean, and the grass is long and green. This year, it's brown and crusty, with nothing but hot dry weather and wildfire warnings ahead of us. It's still frosty at night, but 18 degrees Celsius in the afternoons - too cold to plant the garden, but also too hot to plant it! It's simultaneously too early and too late for 2024 crops. Not a good situation for gardeners and farmers.

How it normally goes here...

After the last frost, there's supposed to be a couple months of mild, wet, Spring weather. This allows plants to germinate and vegetate (sprout and grow), before their flowering stage later on (generally Summer and Autumn). If you don't get Spring, you can't germinate plants, and if you manage to germinate them, you can't grow them nice and big. When Summer comes, there's nothing to produce a crop. The average person isn't aware of this, but you've got to have some Spring weather, or there's no food. At LEAST a few weeks. A long and/or sunny Summer is no good without a proper Spring first.

But we got no Spring last year, and it looks like we're not getting one this year, either. It makes growing food (or anything else) very difficult. It also harms wildlife and the ecosystem in general. It causes migration pattern changes, species movements, population instability, invasive species, extinction, and more. This level of climate/weather fluctuation is unprecedented. The government and state media blame "climate change" (caused by humans using oil), but fail to mention government geoengineering programs that alter climate and weather! Rain (and lack of rain) is created very easily by those with the technology and access.

Long story short, yesterday I planted a little garden patch of sunflowers about a month early:

I think I planted them in June last year, and they did fairly well. If they don't get killed off by frost in the next few weeks, this year's batch should get quite large by September.

Speaking of sun, here's the weather forecast for the next few days:

For those of you who aren't familiar with Celsius, 30 degrees would be a hot Summer day, while 0 degrees is the freezing point. 17 degrees is late Spring or early Summer weather. And we're getting that all week, with no chance of rain to dampen our parched region.

The media is already predicting (threatening?) a severe wildfire season. Sadly, we get 2 main seasons every year now: Covid season, and Wildfire season. You're on lockdown (can't leave) all Winter, and evacuation alert (must leave) all Summer. It would be funny if it wasn't so tragic.

Meanwhile back at the homestead...

I see the weeds somehow aren't bothered by the lack of moisture:

And on a positive note, with lots of regular watering, my apple cutting has come to life and is beginning to grow:

The $100 hose I bought 2 years ago snapped right off the tap today when I reinstalled it after the Winter, so I'll have to water by hand (watering can) until I'm able to replace it. Nothing is made to last anymore.

All that's left for today is the past few daily yard update shots:

As you can see the daffodils are starting to bloom in the bulb garden (left side of last photo). There's 15 or 20 of them coming up there, and several more in the front yard. Hopefully, they'll keep coming up every year, and perhaps even multiply.

Lastly, here's today's yard update shot, except taken in the afternoon instead of the evening, to show the intensity of the sunlight:

Keep in mind, I live up by Alaska! It's not supposed to be so bright this far North so early in the year. Believe it or not, I've already had a mild sunburn a few times this year! That's normally unheard of until June or July.

Go here for my previous garden update.