I should have paid more attention to the weather forecast yesterday. Because I did not expect the four hours of freezing rain and snow fall that followed overnight. We woke up to the garden landscape dressed in white for the second time in three weeks.
This New Year’s snowstorm is apropos after my post yesterday proclaiming the winter garden. To be sure weather events like this can take their toll. Seems like the trees in my yard have taken a beating this winter, but, for the most part, the plants growing in my garden come through winter weather and sub-freezing temperatures just fine. It does help that our winters in Oklahoma also contain long stretches of warm sunny days that help to mitigate cold snaps. Right now, during the shortest days of the year, vegetative growth is slowed. So it’s ok if plants sustain some frost damage. I am harvesting greens and some roots at the moment, but the goal with the plants growing in my garden now is to keep them alive until the Spring, when I expect these well-established plants to provide a strong harvest.
Today is New Year’s Day. I am excited and optimistic about the year to come. I plan to spend the afternoon sowing flats and pricking seedlings, in no small part as a token of hope for coming seasons. Cheers to the New Year.
