A kind of harsh day. Squinting against sun glaring off puddles and patches of snow. Damp and on the freezing side of chilly—just warm enough for melting. The cold air is filled with the musty aroma of dead, wet, thawing vegetation. It’s mucky where there’s mud, although the ground remains frozen underneath, so you won’t sink into boot-trapping depths just yet. Not the most pleasant day for walking in the field. Still, it’s welcome early spring weather, a pretty sure sign that a brand new growing season is on its way!
Weather
Snow fights rain
Snow fought the rain, and so far, the snow won. A rainy day in December around here doesn’t leave the prettiest picture. The paths through the snow are down to a mucky couple of inches on top of the frozen ground. But it looks like the rest of the whiteness will be sticking around for now.
Another cloudy day…
Why complain about the weather when…it could be worse?! And yet, ugh, yet another cloudy one. So far this season, there’s definitely been a shortage of days. You can see it in the paler green of the leaves and the slower growth of the veggies (not so noticeable with the weeds). Still, week to week we’ve had a decent amount of rain, and mostly reasonable temperatures, warm but not too warm. Pretty good. So I guess it’s just another cloudy day, and we’ll see what happens next!
Wheel hoe vs weeds
A tool in its element! Wheel hoes are great, and this particular one* is fantastic. Unchecked, you can see what weeds get up to given a week or two. This stretch of dirt was protected under the edge of the row cover that’s been protecting the zucchini to the right from cucumber beetles. Now there’s a dense mat of dandelion (weed or excellent salad green?: right now, weed), thistle, mallow, and lambs quarter. And there’s the steel blade that will run through them, gliding just under the soil, slicing them down. Brutal sounding, and all part of the garden balance. (The zucchini have powdery mildew, those white splotches on the leaves, which usually happens when there’s not that much sun. It can get really bad and ruin things, but usually, zucchini will outgrow it. It’s about sunny days…the weather. Another “we shall see…”)
*I got this wheel hoe well over a decade ago from Valley Oak Tool Company, one of the few companies that are a pleasure to recommend, purely out of appreciation for quality product that does its job!
Clouds within clouds
Not to exaggerate this mainly cloudy stretch, it’s just that when I look up lately, something like this is what I usually see. To be fair, in the last 10 or so mainly cloudy days, there’ve been decent sunny breaks, a few hours at a time here and there. Plus, pleasing bits of rain, enough to keep the seedings wet. And temperature’s been good: not too hot, not too cold, and mild overnight. So, no real garden complaints. This photo kinda captures the whole cloudy-rainy situation. Clouds!
Sundown on another cloudy day
Mainly cloudy seems to be the theme of this stretch of weather. It’s been about a week of mostly overcast and grey, with some rain here and there. The forecast calls for at least a week more of the same. At this point, not the worst. It’s been nice and warm, day and night, with not so much rain that the field stays soggy. Lots of growers with various things already in the field are no doubt wishing for a lot more sun, but here…it’s fine as is for now. :)