Called for wind
Happily expecting heat, I stepped out into a sharp, nasty wind this morning. The weather’s taken a downward turn from the cheery short-term forecast. It’s still going to be above zero for the next couple of days, They say, but just, and the nights have plummeted below. Also, in the 15-day, that follow-up warm spell predicted for 10 days from now has evaporated. All this meaning: harvest and mulch now! Unfortunately, the heavy wind makes grass mulching nearly futile (the mulch blows away), so I’ve put it all off till tomorrow…
A last hold-out of snow is melting off a section of spinach. While the color is a bit odd, with two distinct shades of green going on (cold effects!), the taste and texture are good. Spinach lives in these conditions, so as long as the leaves haven’t been battered by cold wind, they’re still good eating. Just sort!
And the Big Puddle is shrinking. This is like my own, personal receding glaciers-type annual event. When I started out five seasons ago, this low end of the field would become a little lake, at least double the size of the puddle in the picture. And it used to sit, in March, for a few days as the ground slowly thawed and the water collected and drained off. Now, the puddle is smaller every year, and is usually gone in a day. This year’s preview version formed late yesterday and will be gone by tomorrow…
Somewhat related posts: • All clear… • Herbs return • A little fieldwork • Official: the garden season really is over • Field wakes up…
Meg said,
January 10, 2008 @ 11:43 am
Wow! What’s that little rain/wind/temp gadget you’ve got there?
VP said,
January 10, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
Snap - I’ve got a very similar weather station here!
Sunwarm said,
January 10, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
Snow is still covering much of the ground here in the Adirondacks, which is good because the cold weather is only gone temporarily and the snow cover will insulate the garlic and other plants.
But I wouldn’t mind a chance to finish pruning the raspberries which got cut short by a snowstorm in November!
Annie said,
January 10, 2008 @ 6:19 pm
I’m amazed at how green everything is! It looks more like March than January! I like your weather station. Can you say where you got it or the make of it?
Ferdzy said,
January 10, 2008 @ 9:24 pm
Oh man I would kill* for some fresh spinach right about now.
*Potato bugs in particular. Nasty little fuckers**. Not that there are going to be too many around at the moment.
**As in, pick up three of them, and within thirty seconds two of them will be going at it while the third makes it clear that they’d like to be in on the action too.
hedgewizard said,
January 11, 2008 @ 7:24 am
Yup, thank the gods for brassicas… although they’re not easy to grow on our light sandy soil. Cheers for kale in particular!
Mike (tfb) said,
January 13, 2008 @ 7:59 pm
Annie: I’ve seen these analog weather stations in hardware stores and seed catalogs. I like them just for the wind speed indicator part. The rest is OK, but it’s not too serious a “weather station” otherwise. The thermometer will read too high in the sun because it’s not shielded. The rain gauge is a little small for accuracy (although it’s usually fine compared to my bigger gauges). And if you can’t tell which way the wind is blowing, well, that’s a bit of a problem… :) But yeah, the one year I didn’t immediately replace the one I’d broken, I missed seeing it around and got another…