Allergies, climate change, and when to plant (and what)--

I woke up this morning, eyes itchy and icky and my lungs feel like there is wet cotton in them. Spring is here. I don't tend to have much trouble with allergies, but the first couple of weeks of tree pollen get me every single time. So, regardless of temperatures, rain, sun, or mud, my eyes and nose and lungs are telling the tale: winter has been given its walking papers.

Winter really didn't come, did it? I mean, yes, a little snow, some cold, but I think we only had one or two nights dip below zero, unlike most years when there are stretches of days where the thermometer doesn't achieve more than single digits. There was a year when Meg was small when we had weeks of below zero, six weeks, if memory serves. 

Yes, climate change. Even the official science-people from various related disciplines are talking about it, that this is the warmest winter on record for New Hampshire (and for a whole lot of other places). My daffodils are up about three inches already, which is quite unusual. Will we see a little more snow? Probably. But the lilacs bushes are all a-poppin' too. Yes, they did this in October as well, which was unsettling. Our "new normal" is going to take some getting used to. And we will have to get used to it; I suspect (and the science folks agree) that this is not just an anomaly-- things have shifted. I just hope that this summer is not the swampy, rainy one we had last year. That was depressing, and gardens failed all over the area. You might recall I was finally picking green beans in September. Not normal at all.

What has been zone 3-4 for my whole life is likely closer to 4-5; I'll have to shift what I plant, where and when I plant, and hope for the best. I just hope we don't have that odd late freeze that we had last spring, too, which decimated all of the apple crop. We didn't get much, and what there was turned out pretty tiny and oddly shaped. I managed one pot of apple sauce out of the entire harvest. 

I'm thinking, too, about adding a couple more raised beds, but we'll see how much energy I have for the project. I will give it some really hard thinking. The disappointment from last year is still pretty raw. Geoff is going to clean out the bee yard and get that redone, probably very soon. We usually get bees going mid-May, but with earlier spring weather, it may be a month earlier. He tells me he's only doing one hive, which is fine. Our bee yard is a tiny space, and it's hard to work in if there's two or three. I think we need to move it just a bit, too, but that is a subject still under discussion. 

The neighbor's chickens have been busy this week, rooting and scratching-- I hope they got a ton of bugs out of hibernation and ate them all. One thing I can't seem to grow (unlike just about every other person) is zucchini. I get those stupid gray beetles every single time, and they suck the life out of the plants and eat the tiny fruit before it even gets a chance. I've tried diatomaceous earth, neem oil, you name it. Those suckers (and I mean that quite literally) are miserable. 

What I do want to find is those lovely dark purple tomatoes. I'm on a quest to find them. I had one plant a few years ago, Purple Cherokee, and the tomatoes were amazing. I'd like carrots to make it; last year, they didn't stand a chance. And I'll do beans again, but I will never again plant the ones that climb. In fact, I didn't intentionally do so last year; the package said bush beans. I like the little compact plants that produce nice, round beans-- not these widely ranging things that have long, flat beans. They are not as sweet, and the plants took over the apple tree. Weird, to be picking beans over my head.

Today, though, it's still early spring. I don't feel the urge to go rummage in the beds yet. I'll let the chickens continue to do their will, and likely, I'll get poking around out there in a few weeks. Conventional wisdom is to not plant til at least mid-May, early June. Even with the shift in climate, I don't trust it. The full moon in May is the 23rd, so probably planting after that will be safe enough. 

Have a good day. Avoid the mud!

C