Good morning, and now for something completely different.  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

When I last posted garden blogging on 8/2/08, Denver was in a record-smashing string of days with 90°+ heat (the string ended with 24 days, besting the previous 18-day record by almost a week).  The day before — August 1 — saw a high of 104°.  We'd gone from early June to late July with just a few spatters of rain falling on Casa de Frankenoid.

On August 8, a thunderstorm finally hit our neighborhood — leaving almost 2.5" of rain behind.

And yesterday, August 15, saw a new lowest maximum temperature, a mere 59° (the old record was 68°, set in 1880).  That 59° occurred just after midnight; during the daylight hours, we got to a whopping 52°.  And it rained.  All day.

Today is to be a repeat of yesterday.  WTF?

It is, definitely, official.  The weather is extremely weird this year.

Good morning, gardeners! I should be out picking because of the bumper crop from 70-odd plants but here I am, comfortably perched in front of the computer, resting from my canning labors: 56 pints of pizza sauce this week! Frankenoid has graciously ceded her regularly scheduled programming so I can bring you "Can Talk: Pizza Sauce Edition." (With apologies to Tom and Ray!)

Ed. Note: Parts of this diary are taken from its previous incarnations here and here. This year, we're talking about making your own pizza sauce and preserving it using water bath canning. Pictures can be found at the links, as I'm trying to be kind to our dial-up brethren. Savvy readers will note that pictures are from several different canning runs.

Good morning my lovelies!  As monkeybiz is guest-hosting Saturday Morning Garden Blogging this fine morning, I'm going to take this opportunity to spread the word about the

SquareState/Garden Blogging Open House

I've opened the doors of Casa de Frankenoid for several parties over the last couple of years, but I have to tell you: I'm looking forward to this one more than any other.

This is not a fundraiser for anything, or anyone.  There is no agenda; there are no "scheduled events".

Our only purpose is to welcome you to Denver; share food and drink; and have the opportunity to meet outside the confines of "official" events.

Despite the best efforts of the City of Denver to prove otherwise, there are a whole buncha people here who are excited the Democratic National Convention is coming, and that Our Fair City will be awash with the hard-core of the Party.  I'm hoping my passionflower vine will have burst forth with a display worthy of how passionate we are about this election.

In fact, we are so excited that we're taking it upon ourselves to throw a party in honor of the party for the Party.

In conjunction with SquareState (credentialed Colorado blog of the Convention), we're throwing open the doors of Casa de Frankenoid for a Garden Blogging Open House on Sunday, August 24, from 1:00 p.m. until... whenever.

 Good morning, and yes, it's hot enough for me.  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Denver is in record-smashing hot territory.  Yesterday was the 20th consecutive day of 90°+ heat — the previous record was 18 days — and the over-90° weather will continue through the beginning of next week.

Yesterday the high was 104°, a record for August 1, and just one degree shy of the all-time high temperature of 105°.  We've been without thunderstorms for the last few days, so the heat just continues to build.  Even with the swamp cooler running full-tilt, in the house it's close to 80° in the late afternoon.

I'm watering like mad, but the potted plants are suffering.  But hey — the bees are happy.  They really loves them some sweet corn pollen.  Last weekend there were so many bees in the corn I could hear them buzzing half-way across the yard.

 Good morning, and stop taunting me!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Denver is in a weather rut.  Day after day with highs in the 90s — the last under-90° day we had was on July 12.  Thanks to thunderstorms in the area, for the last couple of days we have, at least, cooled into the 60s during the night (rather than staying in the 70s until dawn the next day).  But those thunderstorms — alas — have missed Casa de Frankenoid.

Oh, they are tauntingly close.  The wind blows madly.  The clouds move in.  We can smell the rain.  But for the last 3 days we've been right... on... the... edge.  A few sprinkles, barely enough to dampen the sidewalk, and then the clouds move on, and the hope of a good cloudburst is over.

The last real rain we've had here was in early June.  I've been rotating the watering so that every day at least one portion of the yard gets water.  But hey — July is (usually) our hottest month, and it's almost over.  Soon it's gonna rain — right?  Right?  Please?

Good Morning gardeners! Frankie can’t be with us today.  She wrote me a few days ago saying she had some unexpected personal matters that would make her unable to host the Garden Blog today.  She asked me to stand in, and I told her I’d be glad to help out.  Some of us, myself included, look forward to participating most Saturday mornings. If the diary didn’t appear, who knows how many people would be hitting refresh on their browsers repeatedly, perhaps for an hour or more. That won't happen today thanks to Frankie's planning.

I intended to post some photos of my trip to Holland this week so I will do it here in the body of the diary.  Earlier in July, we visited my wife’s cousin in Holland.  I have some garden-related pics below the fold.  

Cross-posted at Squarestate.net

Good Morning, and thanks for the break!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Well, we had a couple of days of hot (as in highs in the upper 90s -- still haven't broken 100° here), complete with nights of hot (as in doesn't cool into the upper 60s until dawn the next morning).  A cool front blew in last evening on gusty winds, so this morning we've made it down to the upper 50s, and today's high will be in the lower 80s -- whoo-hoo!

Good thing, as the last few weeks have been so busy I've neglected a lot of weeding -- and the weeds have taken big advantage of it.

The monarda in the back yard is blooming.  I really love monarda -- I call them Who Flowers, because they look like something Dr. Seuss would have drawn.

Cross-posted at Squarestate.net.

Good morning, and was it knee high by the 4th of July?  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

According the Nation Weather Service, here in Denver "June 2008 was a mundane month with no noteworthy weather statistics to mention."  Yeah, that just about sums it up.

Although we had 10 days over 90° — 4 more days than "normal" (whatever that is), it didn't seem really hot: most of those days were in the low 90s, and we didn't top 100°.

It was on the dry side — although we had daily predictions of thunderstorms, none of them fell on Casa de Frankenoid.  I've had to water regularly (but at least we have no watering restrictions this year).

And the first few days of July have been more of the same.  But the corn is growing, and it's more than knee high (at least on me — but I'm short).

Good morning, and my, how time flies!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Our "normal" June weather has continued this week — a little warm on a few days as we inched into the 90s, but all in all, pretty damned nice.  And, well, at least it hasn't been over 100°!

Well, except for those afternoon thunderstorms.  None of them have hit my house, so I've had to water (ooops... need to run out and start the soaker hose running on one area or another of the flower beds).

What's even better, though, is that just in time for the weekened we're getting a little bit of a cool off — today will be in the low 80s, perfect for going out and doing a few chores, then sitting on the front porch and reading.

Good morning, and something smells good!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Here on the Colorado Front Range, we've finally gotten into "normal" weather for this time of year; it's about fucking time, as the first full day of Summer is upon us!

The forecasts are remarkably similar, day after day: highs in the mid 80s to low 90s, lows in the mid-50s to mid-60s, and a "chance of an afternoon or evening thunderstorm".

The trick to figuring out weather forecasts here is to understand that a "30% chance of rain" means that there's a 100% chance that it's going to rain somewhere, and a 30% chance that it's going to rain on you.  A higher percentage just means that it's a more widely-spread thunderstorm, increasing the likelihood that your neck of the woods will see moisture from the sky.  So far — we haven't gotten any.  Gotta run out and water the grass patch this morning.

And as to what smells good, it's not what's cooking in the kitchen; instead, it's one of the 5 dimensions of gardening.

Cross-posted at SquareState.net

Good morning, and may the madness end!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

While the east coast has sweltered under a heat wave, and the midwest is flooding, here on the Colorado front range we've been cooler than normal — and with wildly fluctuating temperatures.  For example: last Sunday, the high was 73°; on Monday it was 78°.  Tuesday the cool front broke and we got up to 93° — but Wednesday brought the lowest high of the week, at a mere 71°.  Our lows have been hovering in the 40s — not warm enough for tomato blossoms to set.  Hell, my tomato plants are hardly growing; they've been in the ground for a month and are barely knee high.  Ditto with the cucubits and beans.

And the corn — oy!  Barely out of the ground, with a very poor germination rate.  And, of course, this is the year where I don't have a packet of corn seed in reserve, so what I get is... what I get.

WTF?

It's time for Denverites to celebrate the end of the primary season -- and the beginning of summer! -- with a meeting of the Colorado Chocolate Fountain Caucus. No need to dress up; you can leave your your hair hat at home (besides, the hair would likely get stuck in the melted chocolate... mmmmm... chocolate).

(hair hat picture courtesy of Jezebel)

Cross-posted at SquareState

Good morning, and the mystery is solved!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Denver has had more see-saw weather.  Early on in the week was pretty typical for June: highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s.  On Wednesday afternoon a cool front moved in, bringing thunderstorms and, for Thursday, highs in the 50s and a day of drizzle.  The next few days will bring highs in the 70s and 80s — both a blessing and a curse: the cooler temperatures are great for the snap peas, which have just started producing; but the just-emerging corn could really use a blast of heat to get it going.

To the east of the front porch, a surprise plant has taken root: somehow a prickly poppy seed found its way to my house and sprouted.  It's a pretty common Western wildflower but not generally found in urban Denver.  Indeed, the Mister — a Colorado native from Pueblo — didn't know what it was.

Arwen the Terrible is most upset -- and telling us all about it.

Her problem?  Arwen is a Clintonista; her sworn pootie enemy Zasu Pitts Pootie is an Obamamaniac.  And that nassssty little usurper pootie's candidate is taking the nomination!

Even worse, there's going to be another party.  At her house!  And she hateses parties, with all sorts of strange peeples coming to her house.  Aaaand she just knows all those peeples will be talking about that Obamamama guy and how wuuunderful he is, rubbing salt into a poor, pitiful pootie's wounds.

Good morning, and may it not be fried!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Well, Memorial Day, the "start of summer", was far from summer-like this year.  Although I did struggle through with grilling the traditional first batch of ribs of the year, it was so chilly I had to wear socks fer christsake!  The official high was only 58° and Tuesday was more of the same.  Damn.  I had taken the week off work, and it was too cold and damp to work outside.

On Wednesday, however, prospects were much, much better, with sunny skies and a high of 80°.  I desperately needed to mow the lawn but needed to let it dry out a bit.  While I was waiting, I spotted this little fellow — a nessus sphinx hawkmoth (identification provided by The Bugman) buzzing around a white jupiter's beard in the front yard.

And then I tried to kill the puppy.

Good morning, and things are really cooking now!  Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.

Exciting weather events here on the Colorado Front Range.  Early in the week we were unseasonably, and unreasonably, warm.  On Wednesday, although our official high (taken at DIA) was 89°, in Denver proper we topped 90°.

A sudden change came with a cold front — which brought hail, thunderstorms and tornados north of Denver.

As the air temperatures even out, the threat of extreme weather is lifting.  The weekend calls for temperatures in the 70s, with possible thundershowers in the afternoon.  But, I think, no more tornado watches.

The heat early on in the week really got my compost bin cooking, though.  On Monday it registered 165°, the hottest I've ever gotten a compost pile to cook.

And the tree peony bloomed.  I've been afraid we'd get hit with hail before the bud opened, but I lucked out.  Gawd, it's such a fantastic flower!

Cross-posted at Square State

Hidey Ho, there, neighborinos!  June will soon be busting out all over, and it’s time to get ready for the next Garden Party at the Garden Blogging Garden And Meeting Of The Colorado Chocolate Fountain Caucus.

Our litte soirees are a lot of fun, with lots of good food, good companionship, Republican-bashing, and the opportunity to put faces to handles.

Plus you’ll have the opportunity to browse in the Garden Blogging Garden and see if there is a plant or two you’d like to take home — I have sedums, cranesbill and asters that can always use dividing, a volunteer California poppy that is just the wrong goddamned color, and who knows what else that could find a home elsewhere.

Cross-posted at SquareState, designated Colorado State Blog at the Democratic National Convention.