By Richard B. Primack
“The winter, with its snow and ice, is not an evil to be corrected. It is as it was designed and made to be, for the artist has had leisure to add beauty to use.” Henry David Thoreau in his Journal.
People associate New England with harsh cold winters; a time for gardeners to stay indoors for five months. But the climate has now become milder, with this year’s average temperature fully four degrees above normal.
As a result, yesterday, in mid-February, our garden was free of snow and with an abundance of spring-like growth.
Photo 1: Mid-February garden scene.
I noticed the following strange sights for wintertime:
Photo 2: Bok choy, a cold-tolerant vegetable, looked good enough to eat.
Photo 3: Lettuce and parsley have been doing surprisingly well in a protected spot of the garden.
Photo 4: Our strawberry plants have started to produce new leaves and will be ready when the warm spring weather arrives.
Photo 5: But then today, the weather suddenly shifted, bringing a winter storm that covered everything in snow.
Hopefully the plants will survive until the snow melts. It's becoming a new world for gardeners and their plants.
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