Let's talk about how climate change is impacting how/when we garden - share some observations

[NRaleighLiberal]

This is something I've been pondering digging more deeply into for a long time. Some of us are long time gardeners, and some of us have been gardening in one particular area for a long time - so we are well positioned to think hard and process our observations through the lens of unexpected - possibly very subtle, but real - changes. It isn't so easy to do, because each garden season keeps us busy and I suspect many of us get too busy to be really detailed journalists.

I will start - we've gardened here for nearly 28 years...that's a LOT of gardens.

When we moved in, 1992, there was no way possible to grow plants like Bay, Lantana, many Salvias, certainly Oleander outdoors and have it come back in the spring. We were a solid zone 7. We didn't have Japanese Stilt Grass as a major weed pest. It was actually possible to garden most summer days without feeling like one was being stifled from unrelenting heat and humidity. There would be the odd late day thunderstorm, providing some welcomed watering. I had to keep young seedlings in my garage under lights until late March, because it was still pretty chilly "out there". Tomatoes did get some foliage fungal diseases, but it was not devastating.

Flash forward - 2019. We are zone 8. There is a 6 foot tall (only because we've topped it several times) Bay outside (we supply the neighborhood with Bay Leaf!). Oleander often winters over (not yet completely reliably). Some Lantana that are not Miss Huff (the most winter hardy) make it through the winter just fine. We are over run with weeds - Stilt Grass, Creeping Charley, Poison Ivy seems to be spreading much more aggressively. There are many summer days when it is simply too hot to garden. Tomato fruit set is compromised when temps get at 90 or above and it is humid, so there are gaps on the plants due to blossom drop. We just had a May that felt like solid 90 or above - with very, very little rain. I no longer even need the grow lights, because we get enough mild days that the seedlings go from my office window to outdoors after hardening off. Many gardeners around here give up on tomatoes because of the heavy disease presence. When it rains, it RAINS as in gully busters, multiple inch deluges (we are in a 5 day period where we may get 6 inches or more).

So - do I garden now like I did when we moved in? Nope - I time things differently, grow different things differently, am much more vigilant with removal of lower diseased foliage immediately.

What are you seeing, long time gardeners????