El nino or La nina?

weather man tells us now we are moving into a La nina phase.....we had 3inches rain approx 1 week ago which is the best fall we've had in a very long time...so nice to actually hear rain on the roof again...had forgotton the sound....they tell us that the el nino usually breaks in the autumn/winter and this is in keeping with predictions....keeping my fingers crossed on this one.We usually have our rain in the summer with a dry winter but for the past number of drought years we've missed out altogether...weather patterns have changed...anyone else noticed the change in weather patterns/seasons..is it just a cycle thing or global warming?sorry... I don't want to get too indepth on this one ...but it would be interesting to see how others are faring..

Yes I have noticed a lot of plants are right out of whack...many stone fruit failed this year and the spring flowering plants now think it is spring...etc .My persimmons are always reliable as a rule but stayed very small this year...for the past few years many of my tropical things have been growing better in the Winter....crazy stuff!
but then I think our weather has always been willful "of droughts and flooding rains " remember?.The one thing I notice the most is that 30 years ago I could go for a half hour walk in the day(Summer ) and now ten minutes sees me back in the house as my skin starts to react and feels like it is burning...I wonder if it is the same for some plants.

Hi brical1, it aint just your continent that has noticed changes, everywhere seems to be suffering different weather paterns, in Scotland, West Coast, we had a heatwave as a spring, March/April, now we have got cool wet windy weather instead of our warmish summer, down south in England, they are suffering floods and many people have lost their homes etc, these are floods where there is usually water hose bans, so whatever the cause is, it varies depending who you speak to, like my elderly aunt 92 yrs old, say's if we had'nt sent them spootnick things up to the moon, we would'nt be suffering now, my 7 year old granddaughter said we have to stop using deoderants, YEH RIGHT, imagine the pong from all those you know whats, and my 17yr old granddaughter says we have to stop being greedy and not throw so much crap away, so maybe it is all or some of these things in a simplistic way, better find out soon I guess, or mybe our grandkids wont have the pleasure of grandkids themselves, but my own gut feeling is the whole world is changing like the ice age and other changes that just happen naturally, we just have to learn to either change our ways, adapt our ways or prepare for the next generation sort out our mess if you understand what I mean, happy gardening. Weenel.

I am with you Wee Nell we were not using deodorants,sending rockets to the moon....and we were not throwing away rubbish when the dinosaurs were wiped out or when things like Pompei were being destroyed....when I was a child it was the atomic bombs...that were changing the Earth.No doubt we don't respect our beautiful World enough! and the climate seems to be changing....I have never seen the plants and animals behaving so strangely.....but in 1960 I read an article (as a child it scared me and so I never forgot it) that said the Earth was moving slowly off it's current axis and in 30 years we all would have moved....in relation to the sun and moon....so perhaps that could be a clue...it also said that NSW would be experiencing a much more tropical climate by then .....and it is!.Our scientists say that our love of meat is causing the problem as we clear the land to raise beef and while that "beef is living" it expels far more ozone destroying gas than we
ever would with our industry.The debate could go on and on..all we can do personally is garden for dear life...grow lots of green stuff
and recycle!...live as "green " as possible.
Back to the garden ....what is happening in your gardens that is unusual?
Example. Last year we had no plums and very little stone fruit
...not enough chill?
Persimmons that always are huge and plentiful.....fruit size smaller by 50%
passionfruit ripened in the winter!
So what strange things happened in your gardens last year?

I'll go more for the natural event of El nino/La Nina. End of Elnino and beginning of La Nina. We humans seem to have short memories and are too easily swayed by the theories of global warming.
Having lived in a new area these past 4 1/2 years, with a very different weather pattern to my previous area, I find it hard to make comparisons locally.

There is often a pattern of heavy rains and flooding after a period of drought.

I agree that a change in local vegetation (large scale) may affect the weather pattern of an area or it's nearby neighbour. Even something as simple (small scale) as growing more trees to create a sheltered area to grow frost, wind and sun sensitive plants gives an indication of the way vegetation can change the productivity of an area. In a sense the effects that the weather patterns will have on my garden will change as my trees grow. Though the weather patterns themselves may stay relatively the same.

The arguments put forward in the global warming debate have too many disparities.

Global warming!!! Bl**dy heck it is 0 here today at 7.15 ...coldest day in twenty years!....I think the stone fruit will be ok this year!
and now that we have had so much rain....most things will be OK
Hi Rozie 1....it must be very different gardening where you are
where did you live before? and what sort of things will you grow there?....in regard to the weather....what on earth would we all talk about if the weather was always perfect and to a pattern.....I have just emailed a nephew in Japan...re a nasty Earthquake....and the beat goes on .....and on!:)