Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Not As Bad As It Might Seem

There are two things I want to blog about today that are really not as bad as they could be.


First of all, we only got 2" of snow over night rather than the 4-8" predicted.  Hardly worth shoveling off more than the deck and entries to outside doors.  The temperature now at mid-afternoon is up to 41 degrees and we've had a bit of melting again with on and off sunshine.  This time of year, as long as it stays above freezing, the snow will continue to disappear into the ground rather quickly.

The other thing that isn't bad at all . . . 

A few of you have expressed concern that with our recent snows and still cold weather, I might not be able to garden this year because of the late start.

I know it seems strange to those of you living in what are more hospitable climates, but the start of my gardening season will probably begin very close to the same time as usual.

Even with the use of cold frames, I don't plant any of my cool weather crops until sometime in May.  Even potatoes and peas don't go in until the merry month of May.  We've had a couple of years when the snow has been long gone early in April (like the past two years), but our temperatures are still quite cold for any kind of garden work.

My seedlings started inside, especially the more tender ones such as tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, don't get transplanted into the garden until the first week of June.  Even then because the month of June is frequently on the cool side, they often need some protection.  (For those of you who have green tomatoes the size of tennis balls on your plants at that time, please be kind and don't send pictures.  ;o] )

Forty-some years ago when we first started coming to this area looking for land to buy, we camped in our tent the majority of the time.  I can vividly remember one morning waking up and finding the water frozen in our water buckets. The date?  August 7th.

Snowflakes have fallen in every single month of the year in our part of Minnesota.  My mom had a friend whose husband's job transferred them up here in the 1950s.  The wife was not fond of cold weather and the year it snowed on the Fourth of July was the straw that broke the camel's back.  He quit his job and they moved back to Illinois.

I've said before that it's not unusual for us to skip the season of spring.  We have winter, winter, winter . . . and then one day the temp tops out at 70 degrees and summer has arrived.

I do believe in the past 10-15 years we have been experiencing milder winters and warmer summers, but perhaps this year is the beginning of another cycle returning to weather as it has more traditionally been.  Old-timers up here often speak of years when the ground received a covering of snow in October which didn't disappear until the first part of May.  Still, there is documentation that early homesteaders were able to raise gardens and feed for their livestock in that short season.  With all the helps and tehnology we have available today, we should be able to do as well.

So I'm still planning on gardening as I always do this year.  Unless, of course, these crazy snows continue on through the month of May.  If that happens, I'll be writing a post refuting all I've just said.

21 comments:

Susan said...

And, what you neglected to add, modest Mama Pea that you are, is that even with the late start, you end up out-growing most of us! My parents were the only one in their group of friends to retire north. They are almost the sole survivors. Coincidence? I think not. That cold air preserves you! I am going norther next. Got any room for me a my few (heehee) dependents?

Carolyn said...

I was going to say just what Susan said. You crank out the veggies in your shorter-than-short gardening season, putting my pathetic I-can-start-my-Peas-in-mid-March gardening attempts to shame.

And there may be something about that cold-air-preservation....down here we just "render" most of the time.

Sue said...

I've never been able to plant before June 4--and my garden is usually DONE mid-August. What we lack in weeks, we seem to make up for in LONG days. Our locales may seem "challenging" but really--it's quite nice!

Sue said...

I see by the forecast , more snow for me tonight.
Blech.

DFW said...

Glad to hear that! Seems like as we in the south are having to wind down in June because of excessive heat, while you are in full swing up there!

Sparkless said...

Your weather is similar to ours even though you are farther south than I am. But this year you are getting the snow and we are getting a pretty normal spring. You can't really see weather patterns in one year's weather. You only truly see the pattern over many years as there will be fluctuations each year. So this years weather is probably just a normal fluctuation with the general trend being for higher temperatures. And now on to the news...Oops sorry I though I was a weather forecaster on the news.
Even though our snow is gone and has been gone for awhile we could still get frost so we don't plant anything until mid or end of May too.

Freedom Acres Farm said...

Oh yes! We lived in Hermantown up there from 94 - 96 and I believe it might have been 95 that we watched fireworks out over the big pond in our parkas & mittens!!! Us Minnesotans are used to our gardening season so it doesn't seem odd to us. My friend who lives in Missouri who plants peas in March.... now that's odd LOL

Tombstone Livestock said...

Enjoy your weather, already 90+ here, it's going to be a long hot summer in Central CA. I am trying to post new pictures but blogger is so sloooooooow.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - I would LOVE to have you up here (it IS north of where you are now!) in the cool, crisp air with us. Just keep in mind that we're mostly frozen for 3/4 of the year and then get nearly defrosted right before a killing frost hits again. (Hahahaha!)

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - See, we got rendered quite enough, thank you, while both of us were growing up in corn-growing Illinois! When we were old enough to come to our senses (some folks may question this), we knew we had to move to a cooler climate where our cells don't go into a natural aging process because they're preserved . . . like things in a refrigerator!

P.S. Got your peas in yet? ;o]

Mama Pea said...

Sue - We do think alike, Girlfriend!

When my parents used to come up to visit us here, they would always comment on how much longer our days were (more hours of sunlight) than farther south. So there truly is something to that when it comes to growing things.

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Yeah, we're scheduled for more during the day tomorrow. Hope yours is light!

Mama Pea said...

DFW - I don't care where we live in this big country, we all have our gardening challenges, don't we?

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - You made me laugh! You DID sound like a TV weather forecaster there for a minute!

Mama Pea said...

Freedom Acres Farm - Oh, same here! It's not unusual to see people in down jackets and hats watching the fireworks. Heck, when that sun goes down, it gets cool fast!

I remember when we were first coming to the area. The first time we saw kids riding bicycles down the streets wearing down jackets in THE SUMMER we thought it was some kind of a joke. Nope, it's regular gear for a lot of our "summer" weather.

Mama Pea said...

Tombstone Livestock - Much as I'd like to see your beautiful part of the country, I know I couldn't live there. I'd be a sweaty, drippy, do-nothing puddle within a week. I'd have to put up a greenhouse with climate control to make it COOL enough to garden in!

FoxyLady said...

I never plant before Memorial Day. Been sorry when I did....which usually means it froze. I, also, have had frosts in August...one of which froze all my beans that were almost ready for harvest. Lately, thankfully, we have been having later in the summer/fall frosts, which is great! Extent that growing season.... :)

Mama Pea said...

Foxy Lady - When we first moved up here, we were getting a first killing frost regularly in the month of August. Now the season seems to have extended well into September. Don't know if this will continue . . . or not. I can take a delayed start to the gardening season, if we can just get that later frost in the fall so things have the time to mature . . . like your beans!

Lisa said...

I'm with Susan and Carolyn in that you out garden us all and are an inspiration to this girl! Selfishly I can hardly wait for your season to start so I can "drool" over your photos! :)

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - Oh, phsaw! I'm just so stubborn and determined to have the best food possible for us (and to my mind that means grown in our own controlled soil) that I am willing to work hard at it. Fortunately, I LOVE gardening so it's really not an onerous chore for me at all!

Erin said...

I have no worries about you getting your garden in, like you said - it will be "bam!" and time to plant will be upon you! I still remember I "think" it was the winter of '79-'80 and it was horrific there, I remember our well pump froze solid and the heating oil truck couldn't get there, every older ewe we had was delivering triplets and dying it seemed...several sheep didn't make it that year and we had the "pile to be buried" after the spring thaw, we had lambs in the basement to keep them warm and then we had to move to my grandma's house for about a week! I wouldn't be a bit surprised if that cycle makes a comeback.