WEEK V
June 8 - 11
According to Environmentalist David Suzuki "...the likely causes are complex: a stuck jet stream, the Pacific El Niño, natural variation, and climate change. Even though it’s difficult to link all events directly to global warming, climate scientists have warned for years that we can expect these kinds of extremes to continue and worsen as the world warms. Some hypothesize that the strange behaviours of this year’s jet stream and El Niño are related to climate change, with shrinking Arctic sea ice affecting the former" (Welcome to an extreme, warming world, David Suzuki Foundation Web).
Some of the field observations we collected and discussions with gardeners point to a general stunning and early blooming of some crops, such as peppers and basil, and poor performance of peas and carrots. Most feel it has been a challenging season.
We came back to the Orchard and continued working on zone B.
Although the soil was tilled the week before, we found areas of high clay
content and extreme compaction. We had to use the broad forks and shaves to
double dig some of these areas in order to plant the corn and squash.
The squash planted a couple of weeks before in the first set of rows showed good germination.
The season is still is unusually dry, with no effective precipitation taking place anywhere in the Lower Mainland.The soil and most of the vegetation is extremely dry, temperatures averaging the high twenties for most of May and June. Some farmers report 40% germination success in their fields, and many had to bring and install their irrigation systems significantly earlier than any other growing season in history. Many are incurring additional and unexpected irrigations costs on top of the losses!
According to Environmentalist David Suzuki "...the likely causes are complex: a stuck jet stream, the Pacific El Niño, natural variation, and climate change. Even though it’s difficult to link all events directly to global warming, climate scientists have warned for years that we can expect these kinds of extremes to continue and worsen as the world warms. Some hypothesize that the strange behaviours of this year’s jet stream and El Niño are related to climate change, with shrinking Arctic sea ice affecting the former" (Welcome to an extreme, warming world, David Suzuki Foundation Web).
Some of the field observations we collected and discussions with gardeners point to a general stunning and early blooming of some crops, such as peppers and basil, and poor performance of peas and carrots. Most feel it has been a challenging season.
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