Predicting Frosts At Home
Hello friends,
This week I thought I'd share with you how I predict frosts at home using weather resources for New Zealand which are available on the internet.
More often that not, thanks to us being in an inland valley, the weather forecast for Dunedin doesn't apply to Mosgiel, and yet the Mosgiel regional forecast is meant for areas further inland than us. Over the years I've used a bunch of different weather forecasts and also my gut feeling to know when to put frost cloths on my citrus and other frost sensitive plants.
The usual frost set up for us goes something like this: In autumn, winter, and spring, a southerly front/storm comes in from the south west from out over the southern Pacific Ocean. It brings with it either rain/snow, wind, and cold temperatures. After the southerly blows through, the wind dies down, and the sky clears, usually mid afternoon/early evening, then it cools overnight and then we get a frost (or a number of frosts) in the days following. Our frosts can get down to around -6˚C in the middle of winter, but in autumn and spring they can hover just around 0˚C.
Because this set up is pretty predictable, I've come to get a gut feeling about frosts in our local inland valley. So in the late afternoon after a southerly storm when I tend to get a feeling that it'll freeze, that's when I turn to my top three weather forecasting methods.
First up I go to Metservice's website:
On the today forecast in the Dunedin Regional Forecast the -4˚C predicted isn't for "today" but rather than the next morning, on Monday. It's all a bit confusing but it's the best way that it works for me, and the temperature is approximately right. I then look at the "Monday" forecast to see if it says calm winds and frost. In autumn and spring, this forecast tends to be incorrect in predicting frosts.
The second forecast I check is Weather Watch's frost risk forecast. The blue and purple sections on the map show the medium and high risks areas for frosts for the coming days. You can also look at their minimum temperature map to see the temperature bands.
From my observations, Weather Watch's frost predictions are the most accurate. Basically if frost risk map shows blue (or just on the edge of blue), we will get a frost. I trust this frost predictor rather then the other two that I use.
And finally the last frost predictor I use is Rural Weather's forecasts. Just go to rural weather, enter which area of the country you are in, and it'll show you rain, wind, temperatures, fog/cloud, and frost predictions for the coming days.
Their frost trend graph is still in beta, but it is good for predicting frosts. The dark red sections means most likely to have a frost, and the pink is a slight risk of frost. It also shows you what times the frosts might occur. This is my second favorite frost forecast.
With all three of these forecasts in mind, and with my gut feeling telling me there will be a frost, it's time to pull out my frost cloth. My citrus plants and my wasabi plant are sprayed with liquid frost cloth, which protects them down to around -3˚C (depending on how much rain there has been recently). And I also put frost cloth on top of them as double protection, because sometimes, if the plant is still actively growing, the tips of the leaves and flowers may not have been sprayed by the liquid frost cloth. This method works down to around -6˚C, which is usually the coldest frosts we get. If the frost is predicted to be lower than -5˚C, then I just chuck more and more frost cloth on the plants until they are cocooned.
In this case, we did indeed get a frost, which got down to -2.4˚C, which is warmer than the predicted -4˚C by Metservice, but colder than the predicted temperature for Dunedin. It was well and truly worth spending the time putting the frost cloth on my beloved citrus and wasabi plants overnight.
And so, as you can see that my frost prediction method for home is a good setup, and it works for me most of the time. It's much more tricky to predict frosts in late spring though, and we are now getting frosts up until the first week of November, which is a huge risk for my newly emerged dahlia plants. And considering that I have over 50 dahlia plants in my garden, I do not have enough frost cloth and buckets to protect all my plants that late in spring. And that's when I raid the linen cupboard, and use all my spare sheets and blankets as frost protection. As climate change continues to evolve in the coming years, I think our late spring frosts will only get worse.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky, and now also Facebook.
Sewing Two Overland Cloaks For A Wedding
Hello friends,
In June this year our nephew is getting married, and him and his wonderful fiance are having a Medieval/Renaissance Faire themed wedding. Since they encouraged everyone to dress up in Medieval/Renaissance Faire inspired outfits for the event, it was time for me to pull out my sewing machine and get to work.
Now was the chance for me to finally make a medieval winter cloak of my dreams, which I've wished to own for a very long time. After a lot of searching on the internet, and asking some knowledgeable friends online, my friend Karyn suggested the Overland Cloak by Twig + Tale pattern, which is a "luxurious hooded cloak designed for hiking and adventure, with a generous dash of dreaminess". When I bought the Overland Cloak pattern, and showed it to my husband, he got very excited and wanted a cloak of his own, and so it was now up to me to now make two cloaks for the upcoming wedding...
As this wedding is happening in the middle winter, in a community hall, which more than likely is going to be a little chilly, I thought it best to make cloaks with some heft, so we could would stay warm and toasty on the wedding day and into the evening festivities.
First up was finding the fabric needed for the project. I needed 5 metres of outer fabric for each cloak, and the same for lining. From Spotlight we picked up two satin linings in midnight blue and gold. For the outer cloak fabric, the pattern suggested fabrics including wool coating, linen, cashmere and twill. I went hunting in our local secondhand stores to see if I could find any fabric treasures, and came across a steal, 10 metres of vintage gold velvet fabric for $80. This fabric came home with me to be used for my cloak.
For hubby's cloak, I couldn't find any more appropriate secondhand fabric which would work for him, so I ordered some black 100% pure wool coating from the The Fabric Shop in Auckland. When the fabric arrived I was so pleased with it, it wasn't too thick, but it was warm and very good quality. The only bad thing about the fabric is that it was so warm and cosy that Rosie cat became enamored with it and wanted to snuggle with it, and so the fabric quickly became covered with her cat fur...
With all that done it was time to cut out the fabric and then start sewing. I sewed my cloak first, and to be honest the vintage gold velvet was horrible to sew. Even with a Brother Walking Foot the velvet fabric shifted and bunched while sewing, and it took me a long time to make this cloak because it was so difficult, and I was getting very frustrated with it. I eventually finished it, but the cloak has lots of small flaws which are thankfully mostly hidden inside the linings.
On the other hand, hubby's cloak was a dream to sew, and the outer pure wool coating fabric was boiled and felted, which meant I could skip the overlocking steps since the fabric didn't fray at all. I managed to finish hubby's cloak in about a week with Rosie cat's help.
Hubby's cloak look's amazing on him in his favorite colours of black and midnight blue. It sits really great on his shoulders (size 5 pattern), and is the perfect length for all your Medieval/Ren Faire, and Lord of The Rings needs. He chose silver buttons which we got from Spotlight. As you can see from all the photos hubby's cloak is covered in Rosie Cat fur, because she just won't leave it alone.
My cloak looks amazing in shades of gold velvet and satin, along with gold buttons which I also chose from Spotlight. My cloak was sewn in a size 4, which was based on my shoulder width. Due to the incredible difficulty in sewing the cloak, I was unable to insert buttonholes into the velvet fabric, because the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine kept slipping while trying to make the buttonhole. Instead I had to sew on snap fasteners under the top section, and then just sew buttons on top to look like they had buttonholes.
Hubby and I both chose the oversized hood for the Overland Cloak, but they ended up being huge on us, so much so that it completely covered my face if I wore it. I think next time I make an Overland Cloak, I'll choose the smaller rounded hood available.
All in all I'm very pleased with both of the Overland Cloaks that I've made for the wedding. And I certainly now have the Medieval cloak of my dreams. But I am already planning on making another cloak, this time in pure wool coating in shades of purple like hubby's one, with silver buttons, and a smaller rounded hood. And I already have all the fabric and buttons that I need, I just need to find the time and energy to make it...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky, and now also Facebook.
A Pair of Socks Finally Finished
Hello friends,
Back in May of 2024, my friend Karyn and I traveled down to Gore for the 45˚Fibre Festival. And while we were there, she bought me a 100 gram skein of 4 ply
Bluefaced Leicester sock yarn in the colourway Meadow Mornings (Almost) from the company Purple Sprouting, as a gift for hosting her for a week.
I really loved the shades of pink, teal, and lime green, so of course I turned the skein into a ball of wool straight away, with the intention to knit them into a pair of socks using my plain sock pattern I've developed over the years.
But when I started knitting the socks up, I wasn't happy with the progress I'd made. I really didn't like how they looked knitted up in this pattern...so I frogged the sock I was working on, and put it away for many months. In the meantime I knitted and finished my On the Porch blanket by Fifty Four Ten Studios, and also my Gro Hat by Fiber Tales.
After I finished those projects I pulled out my sock knitting bag and looked at the Purple Sprouting sock yarn once again. Over the coming weeks I did a whole lot of searching on the internet looking at various sock patterns to see what would fit the yarn. I eventually settled on Tin Can Knit's Rye Light sock knitting pattern, which I had already bought previously. It's a simple sock pattern that I've always wanted to try.
Once I got started the socks knitted up very quickly, and within 3 weeks I had a new pair of socks. The socks ended up being a little big for me, but they're perfect as slouchy socks for around the house. I think next time I use this knitting pattern, I'll go down a smaller size.
The socks are super warm, and very soft, and I really liked knitting up the Blue Faced Leicester yarn.
I haven't had a chance to wear these socks yet, but I'm sure they'll keep my feet toasty while wearing them in gumboots while gardening.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
Side Garden Project - Planning and Building Raised Garden Beds
Hello friends,
After we had taken down the old aviary/berry cage, it was time to get to work turning this space into garden beds.
The first task was to weed the area, tidy up the fence line, and move two concrete pavers. Once I pulled out all the weeds and then tidied the fence line by putting old pieces of wood up against it for protection, hubby and I maneuvered the pavers into the space next door, where I have my worm farm located.
With all that done I ordered macrocarpa sleepers from our local garden centre for creating the new garden beds. The sleepers are 1.8 m long, which was the exact size we needed for that space.
The next step was to first put up some old trellises for our raspberry bushes, so we could train them along the fence line. We then create 90 cm wide beds using the macrocarpa sleepers, with 50 cm pathways in between for easy access to the garden beds. It was a lot of hard work considering there was a lot of river pebbles in the area. We transferred those river pebbles into the pathways between the garden beds when we were finished.
Once all the beds were in place, hubby did the hard work of digging over the garden beds and adding compost. The first bed closest to the garden shed was set aside for the strawberry plants I had put into pots in the glasshouse before the aviary was removed.
The next garden bed was set aside for my natural dyeing plants including Madder, Woad, St John's Wort, Tomentil, and Lemon Sorrel, which I had squeezed in another garden bed down the side of the house. While transferring the plants I was able to harvest some of the madder roots for natural dyeing. I have enough space leftover now to put more natural dyeing plants in the other half of the garden bed this spring.
Garden beds 3 and 4 are currently empty, and they still need to have compost added, before being prepared to a fine tilth for spring.
My plan is to grow Linen and Japanese indigo plants in bed 3: I have my own homegrown flax linen seeds in storage from last year, and I bought Japanese indigo seeds from Growing Textiles last autumn with the intention to grow my own indigo plants for natural dyeing, and also for indigo seed production.
In bed 4 I want to start my own breeding experiments with dahlias. I've wanted to do my own plant breeding for ages, and I now have the space to start this. I have dahlia seeds set aside from last year's plants to do this. I'm very excited about this project and can't wait to get started in spring.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
Social Media
Archives