Garden And Gossip Forums

I've been reading Eliot Coleman's "Four seasons harvest" - he lives in Maine, USA and has heavy winter snowfall.
When researching what plants to grow, he looked at his latitude (44 degrees N) and realised that areas of France were also on the same latitude - so he went there to see what they grow in winter and how they did it. 
I don't have an ology in Geography so had to turn to Wikipedia for my position. The 50th Parallel skims the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall, Cardiff is between the 51st & 52nd parallel, as is London. 
The 52nd Parallel passes through a lot of places that sound very cold to me - like Russia, Mongolia, Alaska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_parallel_north

The 53rd Parallel touches Snowdonia, Stoke on Trent and Nottingham https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53rd_parallel_north
54th Harrogate
55th Gretna and Newcastle upon Tyne
56th Just North of Edinburgh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56th_parallel_north
57th Hebrides https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57th_parallel_north 
58th Isles of Lewis & Harris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/58th_parallel_north
59th Orkney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_parallel_north
60th Shetland Isles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60th_parallel_north

Have a look and see where you sit! Any surprises??

That’s really interesting veggie going to look into that more closely, see if there’s anything exciting I can grow but not considered.

I’m between 56th & 57th parallel north

Our latitude is 56.3 longitude 5.8 ( something like that )

The thing about latitude is that the Gulf Stream makes a massive difference. I'd be surprised if someone from Maine could learn anything useful from French winter growing techniques!

Continental climates, in both the US and Russia, are much more extreme than our temperate island. I've visited Minnesota in July and it's significantly hotter than England at that time of year, but they also have really cold winters, similar to Norway (it's no coincidence that most Midwesterners are descended from northern Europeans).

I'm in a gardening group on Ravelry (an online community for knitters and other woolly crafts), and most of the other members are in North America, from northern Saskatchewan in Canada down to Phoenix, Arizona. I remember being amazed that I'm at the same latitude as Saskatoon, Canada, which is Zone 3b in American gardening terms, whereas Cambridge is roughly Zone 8b/9a (depending on who you ask). Of course US hardiness zones don't entirely apply to the UK anyway, since we have more extreme day lengths which are just as significant as temperature ranges.

All I can say, Eyren, is that Eliot Coleman chose to include a lot of his experiences in France in his book and to adjust his growing methods after going to France.
I found it interesting!

(20-03-2021, 11:07 PM)Veggie Wrote: [ -> ]All I can say, Eyren, is that Eliot Coleman chose to include a lot of his experiences in France in his book and to adjust his growing methods after going to France.
I found it interesting!

I didn't mean it to come across snarky - I'm sure there are things that can be learned from any part of the world. One has to adapt them to one's own climate, though - I'm thinking of the British gardener (can't remember who, off the top of my head) who tried the US technique of mulching with straw, only to discover that in our damp climate it's a recipe for slug heaven!

We're just north of the 43rd and I recall talking to a gardener in New England on a similar latitude about how much harsher her winters were.
The gulf stream is precious and climate change and heating of the Arctic may shut it down.
But then local microclimates make a big difference too: friends 20 mins south and 100m higher tucked right under the front range of the Pyrénées have wetter and colder weather than us, as does another friend five minutes north but also 100m higher!

I had never before thought about what other parts of the world were on the same latitude as I am - hence my post on the Nutty thread. I find it fascinating and I learn something along the way.
I'll be checking out my Longitude next.
For Longitude, I imagine the world like a big orange, divided into segments, I need to find who else lives in the same segment as I do.

My Longitude is 3.11 West and that line goes through Timbuktu.
That's made me really happy - but I have no idea why.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_meridian_west

.................and, Timbuktu is twinned with Hay-on-Wye - and I've been there so I have a link with Timbuktu. My evening has just become even better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu