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I've included my answers in green. Hope this helps too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by banyaboy
All of that sounds very acceptable.
Early to mid September is what will probably work best for us.
Here in Maine the coast is very touristy and traffic is terrible along route one. The best time for us locals to enjoy the coast is after the tourist leave, which coincides with the start of school. Is this true in your area?
I definitely think this is true. Bend does draw tourists in the winter as well, but because of Sunriver and other resorts in the area, it doesn't seem as crowded with tourists as the summer does.
Those temp swings in the summer are amazing, good indication of low humidity and no cloud cover I am guessing.
Those winter conditions are very acceptable. For my wife and I, growing up in northern climates, we like snow, but in your face winter for about five months of the year is tiring to say the least.
If you are gardeners, you will that growing summer vegetables is Bend is tricky, to say the least. There are many microclimates around Bend, and typically the east side is better for gardening than the west. Even with that, you will need some type of frost protection by about mid-August. Right now, I have tomatoes and peppers under hoophouses. I wish I had a greenhouse! We even had a frost in August this year.
Here, once the snow melts and the ice goes out on the lakes and ponds it stays somewhat cool and wet until early June. Although last frost usually coincides with the last full moon in May. I do remember, years ago, having to light a fire to warm the house up on July Fourth. Summer starts sometime after the fourth.
Summer starts here after the 4th as well, at least my idea of summer. Anytime before that is still pretty chilly, with frosts overnight and quite a bit of rain still (at least that's been my experience in the 3 years I've lived in Bend).
That is perfect! Winter, with snow in the backyard, and a very manageable sort of winter in the front.
Yes, the winter here is long but not nearly as bad as New England or east coast winters. My husband grew up on Lake Erie and it seems like whenever we visit his parents over the holidays, we experience lake effect snow. It rarely snows that much here in town.
Everything Delta said is spot on. I'm pretty surprised to hear, actually, that Maine's winters last as long as ours.....very interesting. I think you'll be right at home here, tbh.
As Delta mentioned, September is a great time for a visit. Summers are the high tourist season without a doubt with the town pretty overrun, imho. Winter is a much longer season, so the tourists trickle in rather than flood (plus Sunriver takes some). It's just more spread out......The best months here, imo, are our hump months May/June & September/October. They offer us still great weather and hardly any tourists.
As Delta mentioned, gardening is tough here. It can pretty much frost any month of the year - although, it is pretty rare during July/August. Again, as Delta mentioned, it did frost mid-August when we got a 3 day cool front (60's in the day 30's at night). I'll be starting my own garden next year (just have to figure out how to get away with a sloped garden - I don't fee like paying to having it leveled). I'm going to try and stick to less temperamental plants at first and then work my way up to tomatoes and such. Any advice is appreciated.
As Delta mentioned, summers here tend to start after July 4th, too. I'd have to disagree with Delta, though, in regard to rain as it relates to the OP - Delta is from Colorado so she's used to western dry rainless climates. To the OP and their rain perspective, they won't find a single day in Bend to be rainy all year as they're used to, imo. The east coast is so totally different than the west in terms of rain, rain downpours, etc. it's not even funny. It hardly EVER rains here like you're used to. If precipitation does fall, it spits at ya', never a downpour like we're both used to, OP. Hardly ANY days where it's too rainy to go outside. This said, there are many days, especially in the spring it seems, that the weather seems to threaten rain. There will be a dry overcast in town, with death clouds just at the mountains edge leaving you to believe tons of precipitation is on it's way. You come to realize real rain hardly ever makes it over the mountains and the threatening clouds are just that, a threat. It definitely takes some getting used to.
What the OP might find strange is cloud cover for a week at a time......don't be fooled by all the hype, it does happen here, but no where near to the degree of the valley to our West. That said, winters here are sunnier than where I was from: Baltimore, MD, but much less sunny than Colorado and portions of the South West. It's all relative.....
Last edited by kapetrich; 10-18-2011 at 11:00 AM..
Everything Delta said is spot on. I'm pretty surprised to hear, actually, that Maine's winters last as long as ours.....very interesting. I think you'll be right at home here, tbh.
As Delta mentioned, September is a great time for a visit. Summers are the high tourist season without a doubt with the town pretty overrun, imho. Winter is a much longer season, so the tourists trickle in rather than flood (plus Sunriver takes some). It's just more spread out......The best months here, imo, are our hump months May/June & September/October. They offer us still great weather and hardly any tourists.
As Delta mentioned, gardening is tough here. It can pretty much frost any month of the year - although, it is pretty rare during July/August. Again, as Delta mentioned, it did frost mid-August when we got a 3 day cool front (60's in the day 30's at night). I'll be starting my own garden next year (just have to figure out how to get away with a sloped garden - I don't fee like paying to having it leveled). I'm going to try and stick to less temperamental plants at first and then work my way up to tomatoes and such. Any advice is appreciated.
As Delta mentioned, summers here tend to start after July 4th, too. I'd have to disagree with Delta, though, in regard to rain as it relates to the OP - Delta is from Colorado so she's used to western dry rainless climates. To the OP and their rain perspective, they won't find a single day in Bend to be rainy all year as they're used to, imo. The east coast is so totally different than the west in terms of rain, rain downpours, etc. it's not even funny. It hardly EVER rains here like you're used to. If precipitation does fall, it spits at ya', never a downpour like we're both used to, OP. Hardly ANY days where it's too rainy to go outside. This said, there are many days, especially in the spring it seems, that the weather seems to threaten rain. There will be a dry overcast in town, with death clouds just at the mountains edge leaving you to believe tons of precipitation is on it's way. You come to realize real rain hardly ever makes it over the mountains and the threatening clouds are just that, a threat. It definitely takes some getting used to.
What the OP might find strange is cloud cover for a week at a time......don't be fooled by all the hype, it does happen here, but no where near to the degree of the valley to our West. That said, winters here are sunnier than where I was from: Baltimore, MD, but much less sunny than Colorado and portions of the South West. It's all relative.....
Kapetrich, you are absolutely right, it's all relative. The spring, for me, is the hardest because while other areas of the country (my native Colorado included) are experiencing days in the 80s with abundant sunshine, we rarely see that until July. The rain isn't that bad though, as you've stated, especially to someone used to a rainy environment.
In regards to gardening, I'd highly recommend raised beds, as the native soil here is pretty bad and the raised beds will also increase your soil temperature. I suggest you look into the gardening classes at COCC that are offered during the winter/spring. I took one last year that was offered through the college by a master gardener. While I feel pretty knowledgeable with gardening, and I've had some great success here in C.O., I learned a thing or two (such as Bend only has 9 true frost free days, ha). It was well worth the price!
Kapetrich, you are absolutely right, it's all relative. The spring, for me, is the hardest because while other areas of the country (my native Colorado included) are experiencing days in the 80s with abundant sunshine, we rarely see that until July. The rain isn't that bad though, as you've stated, especially to someone used to a rainy environment.
I have to admit, the long and late spring/winter weather definitely got to me around late April/May this year. Luckily I'm big into winter sports which helped a lot (it's tough to be upset when you get multiple 6inch-1.5foot powder days on the mountains in May), but my biological clock didn't want any part of that cool/pretty overcast May this past year. I'm used to May being in the 90's.......but, I did move here to thaw out.....so no reallll complaints, yet, anyway.
When I'm more stable financially, I'm going to try and take vacations during the end of our spring season. Seems like the harshest weather period considering the relative warmth the rest of the country feels by then.
Quote:
Originally Posted by delta07
In regards to gardening, I'd highly recommend raised beds, as the native soil here is pretty bad and the raised beds will also increase your soil temperature. I suggest you look into the gardening classes at COCC that are offered during the winter/spring. I took one last year that was offered through the college by a master gardener. While I feel pretty knowledgeable with gardening, and I've had some great success here in C.O., I learned a thing or two (such as Bend only has 9 true frost free days, ha). It was well worth the price!
I'll look into raised beds and a class at COCC. Did you build your own raised beds? Was it very hard? Where you put them was the ground already flat? I'm taking two COCC class right now -Baking 101 and Weather 101 - so I'm not sure why taking a gardening class didn't dawn on me..... Thanks! And.....9 true garden friendly frostless days! Is it even worth trying to grow tomatoes without cover?
Last edited by kapetrich; 10-18-2011 at 01:55 PM..
I'll look into raised beds and a class at COCC. Did you build your own raised beds? Was it very hard? Where you put them was the ground already flat?
Raised beds are very easy to build. Just be sure to use un-treated lumber. Treated lumber is frequently treated with arsenic.
I use four, four foot pieces of 2x6s lumber, and a 8 2-inch wood screws. Screw the lumber together into a square shape and you're good to go. You can double the height and secure with cheap brackets. $100 of supplies built me 8 beds two years ago.
Soil is a combination of potting soil, home made compost and dirt from last year's garden, about 1/3 each. Add in some organic fertilizer and I'm good to go.
I also use old tires for raised beds, but mostly for potatoes and peanuts, or invasive plants such as mints.
I highly recommend "Square Foot Gardening" as there are raised bed plans in the first chapter.
I'll look into raised beds and a class at COCC. Did you build your own raised beds? Was it very hard? Where you put them was the ground already flat? I'm taking two COCC class right now -Baking 101 and Weather 101 - so I'm not sure why taking a gardening class didn't dawn on me..... Thanks! And.....9 true garden friendly frostless days! Is it even worth trying to grow tomatoes without cover?
We were lucky and had most of the raised beds here when we bought our house, although we did build 4 additional ones. Hamellr did a great job of explaining how to build them.
The gardening class I took is usually offered during the winter community learning offering. I think it was sometime in February. Growing any frost sensitive plant without some type of cover is risky. Our first year in this house, we didn't have to hoops built on our raised beds and resorted to using sheets to cover the garden. It worked okay for the short term, but in order to get any type of tomato crop, we realized quickly that we needed to build the hoops. You can grow cherry tomatoes pretty well without anything, but other than that, you will probably only get a handful of tomatoes unless you plant in pots or have cover. I lost about 6 plants worth during the first year. We got snow on Oct. 3 and they were all frozen, even with the sheets.
The hardest part is the fact that it's pretty risky to plant anything before mid-June. Also, our low nighttime temps in summer aren't conducive to plant production (I learned all this in that class). So, even if you are planting a shorter season variety, such as early girl, you still have to add an additional 14 days to maturity due to those nighttime temps. My first tomatoes this year were around the 1st of August and now I'm finally getting a plentiful crop. I've been covering my plants every night since mid-August.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hamellr
Raised beds are very easy to build. Just be sure to use un-treated lumber. Treated lumber is frequently treated with arsenic.
I use four, four foot pieces of 2x6s lumber, and a 8 2-inch wood screws. Screw the lumber together into a square shape and you're good to go. You can double the height and secure with cheap brackets. $100 of supplies built me 8 beds two years ago.
Soil is a combination of potting soil, home made compost and dirt from last year's garden, about 1/3 each. Add in some organic fertilizer and I'm good to go.
I also use old tires for raised beds, but mostly for potatoes and peanuts, or invasive plants such as mints.
I highly recommend "Square Foot Gardening" as there are raised bed plans in the first chapter.
That book is great! I've read that old tires are not so good to use for gardening due to them leaching chemicals into the soil. But, I've also heard quite a few people do this. I've never tried.
That book is great! I've read that old tires are not so good to use for gardening due to them leaching chemicals into the soil. But, I've also heard quite a few people do this. I've never tried.
I've never had any problem with them in 20 years. But I also limit what I put in them too.
My wife is also from KZ and we are in Bend right now looking around to see whether we like it or not. Have not heard or seen a Ru speaker yet....! Did you move to Bend?
Two Russian speakers will be at my ballet class this afternoon - there are several in the Bend area, but it's unlikely you'll hear much Russian spoken on the streets as a visitor.
My wife is also from KZ and we are in Bend right now looking around to see whether we like it or not. Have not heard or seen a Ru speaker yet....! Did you move to Bend?
Sorry I have not been around. Still looking and still plan on visiting next year.
Tienshanman, what do you and your wife think of the Bend area? My wife has been in KZ, Ust-Kamenogorsk, now Oskemen, for the last two weeks. She is coming home today, yahoo!
I really would like to hear your opinion, and definitely your wife's.
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