Hold on, They’re Comin’

Things are starting to shoot up.  Perhaps you have noticed it in walks around your gardens or neighborhoods.  I am not a close noticer, but for first things I know to look near rocks and walls, places that retain through the night some of the heat they collect during the day.  The daffodils in front of our cement entrance ramp are up to 6 inches and showing yellow at their tops.  Out in the garden, away from nurturing heat sources, shoots are poking through the winter mulch.  But for their locations, the spears of garlic and daffodils would be indistinguishable.  In my walkabouts, I’ve learned to look for the pussy willows in January.  This year they were out in the second week.  The first folded leaves of rhubarb were pushing up before month’s end, furrowed and bunched like small green cerebella.  

Are they early?  I think so, on account of the very mild winter.  If I understand the degree days measurements in the weather report correctly, the average of the average daily winter temperatures in December-January was three degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.  Frosty mornings have been rare for us this winter, although not as rare for my friend farmer Rob who lives two miles to the east in what he refers to as “continental Vashon”.  The last frost date is of particular interest to farmers.  Like most all the climatological averages, the expected last date of frost has moved significantly in the last century.  The changes have been most dramatic in since 1990.

The farmer’s milk jug greenhouse project (mentioned in post #7) is proceeding promisingly.  Peek through the necks of the jugs lining the garden fence and you will see seedlings of various flowers and spring vegetables.  At this rate, some will be outgrowing their tiny houses soon, their shoots pushing against the jug tops and their roots starting to bind as they turn away from the jug walls.  Before this happens, some will be planted in an open bed, some under a cloche or Reemay (aka floating row cover, aka garden quilt), and the least cold tolerant moved to another temporary location in a greenhouse bed.  The farmer learned last spring which plants were not happy in the cold, and is teaching herself patience in planting. 

Now these early advances are threatened by a series of sub-freezing nights that have appeared at the far end of the 10-day forecast: mid-twenties, it says, even for maritime Vashon. There is some anxiety about this, but mostly curiosity. These plants are born of ancestors with millions of years’ experience dealing with fickle winter/spring weather. I hope to watch carefully enough to learn a bit about how they cope. Stay tuned.