Our spring usually comes about two or three weeks later than it does in Chicago. Our frost free growing season doesn't really begin until June, and even then you might have to cover your plants some nights. We had an unusually mild winter this year, I don't think the temp ever got much below zero, and what little snow we had was all gone by April. April temps were above normal, but May has been running 10-15 degrees below normal. This has caused a problem for the cherry growers around Traverse City. The warm weather in April caused the blossom buds to open early early, which made them vulnerable to the frosty nights we have been experiencing in May. It's too early to tell for sure, but they are predicting the cherry harvest might be pretty scanty this summer. Temps are predicted to be near normal for the next couple of weeks, which means 60s in the daytime and 40s at night. It's been dry for this time of year, partly because of the lack of snow last winter and partly because of the lack of rain this spring.
We've got lots of invasive species around here, but the ones you hear about the most are the aquatics. Round gobies and zebra mussels didn't turn out to be as bad as predicted because our local fish found out they are good to eat. The big worry now is those Asian carp that are trying to come up from Chicago. There goes the neighborhood!
No comments:
Post a Comment