There sure is a lot of talk about the weather amongst gardeners, even though we know that talking about the weather won’t change it. In fact, many of us live in a place where everyone says “if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute, it will change”. We say that all the time here in Indiana.
But knowing we can’t change the weather doesn’t stop us from watching weather forecasts, thinking about the weather, worrying about the weather, and comparing weather notes with one another, not only door to door, but state to state and country to country.
Yes, many of us are weather obsessed gardening geeks.
You, too, might be a weather obsessed Gardening Geek if…
You have a rain gauge in the garden and regularly check it after every rain. Bonus points if you have more than one rain gauge and compare the amounts in each. Double bonus points if you have a weather station that measures rain to the hundredth of an inch.
You have a weather station to track all the weather data for your garden. Bonus points if you report data from your weather station to a local weather authority.
When a late freeze in the spring or early frost in the fall are imminent, you think it is okay to actually remove blankets from your own bed to cover the plants. Bonus points if you have purchased coverings just for your plants.
During a hailstorm, you’ve considered running out to the garden with an umbrella to protect your prize winning hostas. Subtract all bonus points if you’ve actually done this! It’s okay to think about it doing it, but not to actually do it. It’s dangerous to be out in a hailstorm.
You know not only your USDA hardiness zone, but also the expected last freeze and first frost dates for your area. Bonus points if even knowing this information, you’ve lost a plant or two due to a late freeze or frost.
You write down the high and low temperature each day in your ten year garden journal. Bonus points if you get the temperatures from your own weather station.
You buy an almanac every year so you can check out the weather information. Bonus points if you consult the almanac before making gardening plans.
You try to watch all the local news broadcasts so you can hear what each weather forecaster says about the weather. Then you try to figure out who is the most accurate. Bonus points if the The Weather Channel logo is burned into the screen of your TV because you’ve watched it non-stop since that bad spring of 2007!
And finally, you might be a weather obsessed gardening geek if…
You tweet about your weather on Twitter. Bonus points if you also read tweets about other gardener’s weather and reply back.
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If you aren’t a weather obsessed gardening geek, you might still be a general all-around gardening geek or some other kind of gardening geek. Check out these clues:
General all-around gardening geek, part 2
Olympic Games clues
Indoor Plant clues
Now who’s a gardening geek? And proud to be one!
(The hellebore pictured above has nothing to do with the weather, other than frost and freeze won’t bother it. I just thought it was pretty.)
I don’t twitter or buy almanacs but I do most of the other things you have mentioned. I have stood at the back door nearly in tears as the hail beat the new hosta I planted earlier in the day. I am sitting here this evening fretting about the freeze warning we are in even though I can’t do a thing about it. It is too windy for blankets. Sigh~~
I am! and proud of it!
-Cathy
I post about weather, but mostly to complain about it. Never considered taking data . . .
Yesterday it was 73 degrees and beautiful. When I woke this morning it was 61 degrees. Than came the rain and wind. By afternoon it was mid 40’s. Now it is 32 and SNOWING!!! West Virginia you got to love the weather!!! NOT!! LOL
Of course I have more than two rain gauges Carol – doesn’t everybody?
I love it!!! I was all out of sorts and finally realized it was because my rain gauge cracked during a freeze and I didn’t know the amount of rain we received for a couple days! At last! I have a new one…so far 1 inch for today.
Hey, Lynn in WV–it’s snowing in NC also.
And how about–you have the NOAA drought watch site bookmarked and check it weekly? Or you have the USGS site for the nearest official gauges bookmarked so you check rainfall and river flow after a shower? Or worse, you check the rain at the gauge closest to your parents’ house, 2 states away?
Okay, who is the spy on my household!!
It’s good to know we are not a lone species! 🙂
This point system seems slightly prejudiced, I’m sorry to say. Freeze days are hard to come by here in coastal CA. But last week I hung a bedsheet over the Japanese maple to prevent it from burning on the first days in the 70s (it’s fine after it has had leaves for a few weeks). Does that count?
Does it count that I have frost cloths for all my garden beds that might need them? And even though our last “normal” frost date is March 1, they’re still out, stuffed in a crate where they can be easily grabbed?
Oh, and I demand extra points for buying a vehicle because I can haul mulch with it.
I didn’t have to do your test to find out whether I’m weather obsessed; I’m Dutch so that’s a given. 😉
I don’t buy almanacs, don’t have a garden journal but I do most of the other things you wrote about.
I don’t watch the weather channel because I’ve got something much better: the rain radar. On the internet I check daily wether we’re going to have rain or not and if so at what time.
Oh I am a weather garden geek even if I don’t meet your criteria. First I’m a cheap garden geek, so after losing my min-max thermometer in the storm one year, I didn’t replace it. I don’t often watch the weather on TV, but on my browser I have a bookmark folder on my toolbar. It is filled with weather links to the local TV stations, to the weather channel and to the closest weather station to me that is listed in weather underground. I check them all at least once a day. At least. In the summer I’m not so bad, but in the spring and fall, I’m on them constantly. Not that it ever helps the weather.
When you live in Michigan, surrounded by the Great Lakes, constant changing weather fronts are the foremost topic of conversation, especially for Garden Geeks (my posts & tweets included)!
Weather or not, we’re together … Garden Geeks Unite!
I am! I get bonus points for having coverings specifically for the plants. We always have a late frost, it seems, and my tulips need protecting as they are my favorite thing in spring.
I’m a proud gardening geek. I don’t get all your bonus points but I’ve certainly got many. Now if YOU get all those bonus points, you must be the uber gardening geek! 🙂 With the record breaking late light freeze we just experienced last night, I did what I usually do on mornings like that – turn on the Weather Channel before I even get out of bed!
While deficient in some catagories (I need to get a real rain gauge & not just an old tuna can), I definitely qualify. The Weather Channel is the most watched TV around here (well, by the adults anyway).
I thought I was bad until I read the things I’m not doing. So now I feel much less obsessive. We had to have our roof replaced (!) two years ago from hail damage. Definitely don’t go outside during hailstorms.
I’m definitely a garden geek in very good company.
Like YE, I am more of a weather radar watcher online, with three sites bookmarked. A close in to my town, and the larger Southeast US to get the big picture. I especially like to but the maps in motion to see how fast things are moving/developing. Yes, snow here today too.
Frances
Ha ha! Good post!