On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 09:12:19 -0400, Pat Meadows
wrote:

I really envy the Brits their equable climate:

Now as a Brit, I don't hear *that* very often!!

The Gulf stream probably helps stabilise things a bit, though after a
week or so of dry & sunny days above 30 degrees C, it's dropped down
to around 18 degrees & rain this week.

Also your longer hours of
sunshine in the summer, because you're so far north.

There are interesting aspects to this:
(1) If you go as far North as the top of Scotland, you don't actually
get any "night time" for part of the summer (it never actually gets
completely dark). Maybe Edmonton was a bit like this?

(2) I like growing some tropical stuff in my greenhouse and many of
the peppers won't start to flower over summer. They wait until later
on, when the day-length starts to shorten and they think they're back
home again.

It can be frustrating to see the plants growing taller, but not
getting round to fruiting for ages.

the difference was very noticeable. The vegetables got
larger than they do in most of the USA too.

Well, I can't say the long summer daylight hours are completely
responsible, but so far this year my allotment has been very
productive. I've hardly lost any crops and most of what I've grown has
done well.

In the meantime, my Okra are looking good (I've taken at least one
meal's worth off them so far), my Aubergines are all in flower and my
sweet peppers are around the size of tennis balls. And this is in the
South of England!

Colin
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