Wind, Wind and more Wind !!! Yuk !

Here in NE Okla. the wind is driving us crazy. 28 to 35 mph winds all day almost every day. It's getting old. There's so much I'd like to get done outside as the temps are so mild and nice, but the darned wind makes it miserable. If I stay out and try to get anything done, I end up with chapped lips and wind-burned face. And if you try to do any digging or tilling, it blows dirt in your eyes. Grrrrr. We are used to having this thru March, but it usually ends and turns nice in April. It is so dry and windy here..........reminds me of the movie "Grapes of Wrath" about the Dust Bowl Days, and all the Okies migrated to Calif. The fire danger is still high, and there's a state wide burn ban. I'm thinking of running off to Calif. too !
Anybody else having more wind than usual ?

Sorry, I should have posted this under the Weather forum.....................but it's messing with my vegetable gardening. My tomatoe plants look like rags..........all beaten up by the wind.

This message was edited Apr 13, 2006 5:33 PM

We had that kind of wind yesterday, but not daily. Today the bees were able to work the plum and peach trees. Last spring was quite windy here.

Peggie, seems like every part of the country has their own source of weather woes and I've just learned about one of yours. Those are pretty high velocities. I don't reckon you can get much done outside. Hopefully, it'll cut back soon so you can get on your garden. I'm anxious to get mine started end of next week.

Hi Peggy - Believe me, I know what you mean. Last night we had 70 mph winds and they've been that bad AND WORSE the whole month of March and up until today. I planted and planted today.!! Luckily my garden is a little more protected than the house. But it's practically impossible to do anything. It goes down to 40's at night and mid 90s during the day. !! And the driest winter in 125 years!! This state (NM) is extreme! But I love it (except for the wind)

Prissy Jo

Sure can relate. You think I would have had a clue before moving here when I saw signs warning about "Dust Storms" and saw the valley spread out before me with hundreds of square miles of - sand. The wind wipped up in to the 50 MPH catagory this winter, stinging everything with sand. Not quite the Carlsbad caliber, but for a tenderfoot suburbanite from Ca., this move to the High Desert has been quite a challeng. But I'm loving it - I'd rather live here on 4.77 acres of dry, dusty, sandy, wind-blown sage and tumbleweed than on my suburban lot in the San Francisco Bay Area any day. Not sure how my veggies are gonna survive, but drip irrigation goes in soon... good luck!

Awe gee too bad your tomatoes are being blown down. We here in Montana haven't even thought about what kind we are going to buy this year in 2 months. LOL I hate the wind, we have Chinnoks all winter in Great Falls and they are steady between 25 and 40mph. You learn to park with the passenger door facing the wind so you can get out of the car and not loose the door.

The "tomato spirals" thread on the tomato forum has been the best way for me to deal with the relentless early spring (Feb-March) wind we have. I have big, strong plants because wrapping them around the spirals worked so great to keep them from getting wind whipped when they were small. We'll see if they become an impediment when the plants are large (so far 3-4" and no problems).
Debbie

Are any of those woven or otherwise fairly-opaque fences possible windbreaks, or would they just blow down? Can you plant a windbreak on the prominent "blow" side? If I could, I'd have my garden walled with 6 ft stone all round it.

row covers made with concrete reinforcing wire (see "DIY row cover" in the Organic forum) will withstand very strong winds. Even if they've only got a thin layer of material, it will keep a lot of that wind out.

hope it subsides soon, Peggie.

I use a series of Acer Glabrum windward of my Japanese Maples so they don't dry out from summer hot winds. They grow rapidly and are easily controlled. They grow only about 10 to 12' tall and are bush like. Beautiful red bark in the winter.

Thanks you all for your comments. Sounds like you know where I'm coming from on this. I was beginning to think I was just turning into "the cranky old lady that's always working out in her yard". (Everybody knew one of them when they were a kid, didn't they ?)

Today the sun is shining beautifully, the grass is turning green, and the wind is HOWLING.

Our house sits on a bit of a hill, and only a few trees, so the wind just races across. It takes anything you lay down , even for a second, seed packets, gloves, pails, plant containers, and sends it sailing across the road to the neighbors yard. I keep chasing all my stuff over there.

We are having the dryest spring on record for Okla. and with these winds it's turning into a dehydrator. I worry that if the winds and the jet stream don't change before we get hot , hot weather that it will have devestating consequence for our area. Most of the ponds are dried up on the small cattle farmer's places around us. It's bad.

I've been out watering my peas, broccoli, potatoes, onions, radishes, every since the first day I planted them. My garden is a dusty, dry mess except for the raised bed boxes I've watered.

I need to go out and water today, but the wind is so miserable, I hate to go out there and fight it. Grrrr.

This kind of wind will turn your skin to leather. I don't see how some of you folks that live in normally windy areas do it. Here's to ya ! You got more grit than I have. Speaking of grit..............my spinach has plenty in it too........thanks to the wind. Chucklle......Snort :-o Y' all have a good day, and don't pay any attention to me...........I'm cranky. The wind will die down and my gardening world will be all rosey soon....................I hope.

I've been waiting such a long winter for Spring to arrive.............. I'm ready to be outside. Go AWAY WIND !

My tulips bloomed pretty, but the wind blew all their petals off.

Well....I believe we can all feel for you....the wind's blasting here today too...just not as bad, but then again, who wants to be out in it for any reason....I just hope the weather doesn't get any worse as we're supposed to be having a nice spring snow storm rolling in this evening through approx Sunday....I have a truck load of trees and shrubs coming this afternoon and I want to get that all done and then I suppose it can rain/snow all it wants so I won't have to water them for awhile at least.

Hope everyone can get to the chance to play in the dirt soon enough....

Ed

Hey Edder you are one of the few from Montana on the site. Where are you in Deer Lodge? Is there a radio station there? My friend from Seattle has a son who is suposed to own a radio station there. I have been through several times since and didn't hear any local one.

Hello Soferdig....right in town I am....yes, the local FM station is 96.9 KQRV...owned by the Tooles...

And, am one of the few Montana folks here....but, we don't wanna let too many people know about it...they might want to come join us for the winter months...LOL