Any other zone 5b gardeners out there?

[Snowbelt]

I check the weather regularly, as well as short-term and long-term projections, and adjust my planting days accordingly. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center has 8-14 day outlooks, as well as 30-day and 90-day predictions. The National Weather Center has these on their website as well. So if I see that we are going to have a couple sunny, dry days during the week followed by rain on the weekend and into the following week, I will tend to plant then rather than waiting until a rainy weekend. The converse is also true.

We have been much colder than normal with way more snow (already we have had over 80 inches) this season, but looking ahead, we should remain colder and snowier the next week, followed by warmer and wet weather until mid January, with temperatures swinging back to colder than normal, and precipitation returning to normal for the rest of January. For February/March, we should have normal temperatures and higher precipitation. Taken together, the predictions indicate soil moisture should be very good for planting once spring arrives, and the cold winter temperatures will cut down on insect pests next year. I will check these forecasts every couple of weeks to help judge when I can start planting peas and onions and getting seedlings ready for planting in the spring. It will also give me an idea of when I can get out and start preparing the area where I will be putting a new coop, and get that process started.

 

[Echelontheory101]

I check the weather regularly, as well as short-term and long-term projections, and adjust my planting days accordingly. NOAA's Climate Prediction Center has 8-14 day outlooks, as well as 30-day and 90-day predictions. The National Weather Center has these on their website as well. So if I see that we are going to have a couple sunny, dry days during the week followed by rain on the weekend and into the following week, I will tend to plant then rather than waiting until a rainy weekend. The converse is also true.

We have been much colder than normal with way more snow (already we have had over 80 inches) this season, but looking ahead, we should remain colder and snowier the next week, followed by warmer and wet weather until mid January, with temperatures swinging back to colder than normal, and precipitation returning to normal for the rest of January. For February/March, we should have normal temperatures and higher precipitation. Taken together, the predictions indicate soil moisture should be very good for planting once spring arrives, and the cold winter temperatures will cut down on insect pests next year. I will check these forecasts every couple of weeks to help judge when I can start planting peas and onions and getting seedlings ready for planting in the spring. It will also give me an idea of when I can get out and start preparing the area where I will be putting a new coop, and get that process started.

Now that's an awesome amount of planning! I am definitely more fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to the weather if it's warm out and the soil in my beds is warm enough I go. I like having a plan in place but I'm also happy to adjust it as I go. We're only at about 3 ft of snow so far here it'll stay below 20° F during the day and Below 15°F during the night straight through the end of February so usually I can tell what the spring is going to look like in March if we still have multiple feet of snow falling I know I'm going to have to push back to May but usually if the ground thaws by the end of March or at least the snow melts by the end of March I know April is probably going to be fine

 

[Snowbelt]

We are very similar in climate, though I get an average of an inch of snow per day through mid-March. Given the weather projections, it is likely I will have snow through most of March. It makes one grateful when the weather breaks and the sun and warmth returns after a long, cold winter. The chickens love it as well and will be very active.

 

[Echelontheory101]

We are very similar in climate, though I get an average of an inch of snow per day through mid-March. Given the weather projections, it is likely I will have snow through most of March. It makes one grateful when the weather breaks and the sun and warmth returns after a long, cold winter. The chickens love it as well and will be very active.

This was mid march 2 years ago

And this was march last year. It seems to really vary here haha

 

[Echelontheory101]

We are very similar in climate, though I get an average of an inch of snow per day through mid-March. Given the weather projections, it is likely I will have snow through most of March. It makes one grateful when the weather breaks and the sun and warmth returns after a long, cold winter. The chickens love it as well and will be very active.

Also yes agreed! I cant wait to build the chickens their tunnels around the property once the snow melts

 

[Echelontheory101]

This was mid march 2 years ago
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And this was march last year. It seems to really vary here haha
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Fingers crossed it's like last year again haha

 

[Peaches Lee]

We usually wait until after May 31st to direct sow or transplant any started plants because that's when the "danger of frost" is usually gone.

Well, this year we planted after the 31st of May and a few days later in JUNE we got a frost!

I was so mad!

 

[Echelontheory101]

We usually wait until after May 31st to direct sow or transplant any started plants because that's when the "danger of frost" is usually gone.

Well, this year we planted after the 31st of May and a few days later in JUNE we got a frost!

I was so mad!

Its crazy! Same here my towns techincal "last frost" date is may 15th which I would say is probably correct for like a hard hard freeze but definitely not for the last frost of any kind haha

 

[Justagalwithchicks]

Took @Justagalwithchicks advice and got on the almanac website, if any other 5b folks want to "steal" my love of color coded lists and dont wanna go find all the different dates etc below is everything!

(For my color key I use the burpee silicone starter trays. The 1inch cells are trays of 32 and the 2 inch cells are trays of 16 and outside means direct sow and solo cups is solo cups haha)

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Oh my goodness!!! That is awesome! I may steal this idea for sure!

 

[Echelontheory101]

Oh my goodness!!! That is awesome! I may steal this idea for sure!

Yeah I could not sleep last night so was just playing around on my phone and was like oh I'm going to go check the Almanac website that she mentioned and then just started going with it and organizing and next thing I knew it was 2 am lol I told myself I need to be asleep by 10:30 tonight