Changing Seasons

The last couple of weeks has been interesting, to say the least. Not long after I wrote about veritably spring-like temperatures, everything got cold and wet. The next week we got snow. I'm afraid this is typical for Missouri--not very temperate, is it?

The day after the snow, the weather warmed fast. I walked outside to check on the garden and found that the weight of the snow had broken the glass of a window I've been using as makeshift coldframe. The plants below got squashed and cut by the shards of glass, but for the most part they made it through the trauma just fine. And luckily the weather warmed enough that I didn't need to cover the plants.

Last week, things stayed on an even keel. The tomatoes sprouted and so did the herbs. I raked up the remaining leaves and tore out dried-up iris leaves in the front. The muscari bloomed. The poet's daffodils sent up buds. On Saturday, the high was 70. It was cloudy but otherwise gorgeous (of course, if you're like me and like cloudy weather, it was gorgeous anyway). I decided to finally plant some of my lettuces in the ground while the neighbor's children watched through the fence. It was a good day in the garden.

That night, however, the temperature began to drop. On Sunday we had rain and sleet, and the frost inevitably re-appeared last night. I hadn't thought far enough into advance to cover my vegetables, but I worried over it as I went to bed. While most of the plants outside are varieties able to withstand light frost, there's always the possibility that they won't.

So this morning, after throwing some coffee in the pot to brew, I walked outside with a couple of old sheets and quickly examined my young crops. The cole crops looked a bit flimsy, but they had not shriveled up. The lettuce and remaining plants were a bit cold, but it was toasty in their glass-covered house then outside. I covered up my cole crops and also my peas (just to be safe) and walked back inside to eat breakfast.

All in all, quite a scare and a good reminder to never trust Missouri weather too much. Just when you think it's spring, winter returns. While I think climate change is playing into these strange shifts, I do think this region is just prone to it. Hence the old maxim, "If you don't like the weather, just wait another week." Or a couple days. Whichever.