outside in the garden

Saturday, January 26, 2002

 

So far [fingers crossed] this has been an uncommonly mild winter. We have had only a few inches of snow that lasted only a few days. Often the temperature has been above freezing. Forty degrees may not seem all that wonderful to someone who lives in Florida or even Virginia, but to a lifelong Northeasterner, it's delightful! We get the azalea without the drawl!

IF this keeps up, I will wish I had a greenhouse like arrangement or at least a coldframe in which I could keep going an herb garden and be starting plants I do not have room for in my apartment.

I shouldnt hope for it, though. Im sure winter is not gone, but merely late. I lived in this mild river valley for two decades before I ever saw a March snowstorm. February snowstorms were common and often severe; snow in March was always a few flakes, a light dusting on the lawn and gone by afternoon. About four years ago, we had a blizzard in mid-March that astonished me and left me with a sore sholder from shovelling snow two feet deep away from my car. My shoulder has recovered, but I havent forgotten.

I'm afraid winter isn't milder, just later incoming.

On the other hand, if Virginia winters are moving North, I should consider moving North as well. Soon Nova Scotia will begin to seem habitable.

Palema 9:27 AM