There are people who go gaga over gadgets, and then there are skeptical folks like me. If I buy gadget it really has to promise to do something I need it to do. (Case in point: I still don’t own an i-anything. No iPhone, no iPad, not even–gasp!–an iPod.)
But the gadgets in the garden that I really enjoy having are my two maximum-minimum thermometers. Imagine a device that tells you how hot and cold it got anywhere in your garden over whatever time period you like.
I have one in the greenhouse, where it tells me how hot the temperature got inside while I was at work. This is information you won’t get from a weather report.
You could also use a pair of them to identify microclimates around your yard and to answer specific questions like, Is the lower part of a slope more liable to get frost than the top? Or, how much temperature difference is there between the beds on the north and south sides of the house?
The versions I have are totally analog devices where the mercury in the thermometer pushes up a little piece of metal inside the glass column on both the warm and cold sides. To reset the thing you pull the metal pieces down from the outside using a magnet. Primitive, but effective, as befitting a device that was invented in 1782 by James Six.
Yes, I did say that the thermometers are filled with mercury. Mine are over twenty years old. Regulations in many places today would stipulate that the fluid be something more environmentally responsible, but the devices would function the same way. You can also get these in digital versions, as well as those that have a dial instead of fluid-filled glass chambers. (I generally find dial thermometers to be less accurate in general, however.)
There you have it. My favorite boring little device. You can’t use them to surf the web or make gelato. But then what use does a plant have with Hulu or Facebook?
Thanks for the reminder that I really need to get a second min/max thermometer to look at the differences like you suggest. Mine is a cheap digital…I really like your old school one better!
Ha! Would you believe I don’t own a single thermometer? Maybe I should get one, though Mr. Mouse has lusted after a weather station, so I’m actually considering that as an anniversary gift.
Sometimes, I think the more simple a device is, the more useful it is. I do not have a thermometer, because I think it would get depressing to see how hot it gets in my garden in the summer 🙂
I don’t know… What if you were using the thermometer to regulate the temperature around your blueberries, which you needed for gelato? Hmmm? Sorry, just had to throw that one out there. Looks like a cool tool to have, especially for greenhouses!
I’d probably go crazy with it, start tracking all kinds of data. Maybe you need a sun meter too? Something that tracks the number of sun hours? Wouldn’t that be useful?!
Loree, one cool thing is good, so two must be better. I was surprised that spaces just eight feet apart in my greenhouse were completely different climate zones.
TM, I see that you subscribe to the sweater method of telling temperature. That works too, though a weather station could make someone VERY happy…
Noelle, I remember my summer trips through your state. But I guess 105 degrees to a saguaro is no worse than 80 to a trillium.
Christine, would you believe I’ve been looking at blueberries pretty seriously for a couple years? I need to find out whether the low-chill varieties would actually do their thing with almost no-chill. Enter the thermometers…
Wendy, oooh a sun meter. That could be fun! Are you always such a bad influence? 🙂
A very cool device indeed. I like the idea of knowing the extremes in the garden. For most of the year it’s probably not a big deal, but winter and summer it could make a big difference on what you plant and how you take care of everything.
I am looking for one of these to replace the one I’ve had for years and still depend on.
It was destroyed this summer by a careless person employed by a contractor repairing
my house. I’ll be grateful for a replacement in good condition and glad to pay a reasonable price.
Hi Charles,
I don’t know if they still make the old mercury-filled thermometers, but I know Taylor offers a version filled with a safer Permacolor fluid. Google “Taylor maximum minimum thermometer 5458” to find it. There’s a lower-end one that apparently hasn’t pleased many people, but one looks more robust, pretty similar to the ones I still have. Good luck!