Global warming is here. During the past 50 years, the average yearly world temperature has been rising. This is based on actual temperature readings taken throughout the world. Glaciers are melting, oceans are rising, storms are more vicious, and gardeners must be nimble in adapting to these changes. Three years ago in St. Albert, we had a record temperature in June of 37 C, and my tomatoes and raspberries did not produce. In 2024, March to June was cool, and my cucumbers, beets and beans did not germinate; I’m not the only gardener who had this experience. Then in July, we had a two-week heat wave. Fortunately, September was warm and my tomatoes bore well.
This year, we had a cool May and June. And now, at the end of August, a heat wave. The early months were dry, then we had a wet spell. Thank heavens for rain barrels.
For centuries, the temperature of the Earth was relatively stable, with some fluctuations. The combination of carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, and some other elements captured enough of the heat from radiating into space to keep the Earth’s temperature relatively stable. With the advent of industrialization and the increase in population, the use of oil, gas, and coal exploded. More and more C02 was released into the atmosphere, especially into the upper atmosphere, which captured more heat and world temperatures started to rise. The majority of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15 to 0.20 C per decade, and is reaching an average temperature increase of almost 2.0 C.
Variations in temperature highs and lows, drought, rainfall, and wind now seem to be more extreme.
As gardeners, we must be prepared to adapt to these conditions when they occur. Some suggestions are:
- Check the weather forecast daily;
- Save water. Have at least three rain barrels or more, depending on the size of your garden. Save house water wherever possible and add it to your outside rainwater;
- Incorporate up to two inches of compost into the first six to 10 inches of the soil. Compost holds water and increases the availability of water to the plant roots;
- Make mulch. Collect fall leaves and mulch them using your lawn mower. Spread them in up to two-inch layers over your flowers and vegetable beds. This will reduce surface evaporation and, therefore, reduce the amount of watering needed;
- Build raised beds to drain surface water from excessive rainfall;
- Create drainage channels to divert excessive rainfall from your yard;
- Forget sprinklers. Because water on the warm surface evaporates quickly, more water is needed to get down to the roots. Use drip hoses or tin cans with the bottoms cut out, inserted into the soil. Fill the cans once or twice, depending on how dry the soil is;
- Invest in a moisture meter to help determine when to water. This is especially useful when deciding when to water container plants;
- The germination of seeds is affected by soil temperature. Adjust your planting dates to fit the weather forecasts and invest in a soil-temperature gauge to determine when to plant your seeds. For example, cool-weather crops such as carrots, lettuce, onions, spinach, or Swiss chard may be planted earlier; cucumbers, beans, potatoes, and squash must be planted later, and still have time to mature. With warmer springs, both cool and warm-weather vegetables can be planted earlier.
- Be prepared to cover your plants to protect them from frost, excessive heat, or hail; and,
- Move container plants into the shade on excessively hot days.
The precautions noted above will help to mitigate the damage that could occur.
Charles has written a book based on his experiences – Urban Gardening, Planning to Preserving, available from Amazon.
