You’ll remember that cold spell in January. It caused lots of problems, especially out in eastern Hillsborough County. Farmers used over ten billion gallons of water to save their crops. This led to residents’ wells running dry and some serious sinkhole activity. Nearly 750 people reported dry or damaged wells after the cold snap. And as [...]
There’s no doubt – it’s been a rotten winter for Florida gardeners. Although January’s damaging freezes haven’t repeated themselves in the Bay area, the colder-than-average temperatures have taken away a lot of the joy of gardening – who wants to work in the garden when it’s 50 degrees and a cold wind is blowing? My butterfly garden is [...]
The rain put a big damper on Tampa’s signature event. Organizers estimate that the crowd was far less than half of last year’s 350,000. With 50 extra officers, and twice the number of portable toilets, you would think this small crowd would be manageable. But police were doing a bit more than just trading beads. [...]
My Fellow Tampa Gardeners: From time to time, we must take a walk through our yards to gather information about the state of our gardens. We do it during times of prosperity and tranquility, and we do it in the midst of hurricanes and freezes, at moments of great strife and great struggle. It’s tempting to look [...]
Hillsborough and Polk County farmers used TEN BILLION GALLONS of water to protect their crops during the recent freeze, and in addition to the 85 SINKHOLES caused by using all that water, nearby residents found their wells had run dry. The Southwest Florida Water Management District (Swiftmud) met Tuesday to figure out how to [...]
Like many Florida gardeners, I’ve spent the last few days assessing the damage to my gardens. We all know this cold snap was devastating to professional and amateur gardeners alike, and a casual observer might look at the brown and wilted world and assume nothing survived. But as we start to clear away the botanical rubble, [...]
Since the second day of 2010, your thermometer has not seen 60 degrees. Between January 2 and January 12, the overnight low temperature reached 40 degrees only twice. Five of those nights were at or below freezing. Anytime the temperature drops below 32 degrees, crops can be lost to freeze. Luckily, it hasn’t [...]
It’s friggin’ cold. And it’s been cold for more than a week. And it’s gonna get even colder this weekend. So cold that people are asking about snow. Snow? In Tampa? It’s not likely to happen this weekend, but local media and long-time natives are fond of pulling out all the info they have on the [...]
Now that the cooler weather is here, let's explore the Tampa Bay area. Where are your favorite spots, and which new places will you visit?
