Tag: winter to spring

March 13, 2024 – Believe It Or Not, Spring Is Coming

March 13, 2024 /

Have you ever been to Yellowstone and seen Old Faithful? Do you know how this process works? As soon as the geyser blows, it starts to fill up again. Then the water starts to heat up again until about 90 minutes later there is too much pressure and it blows. It is not totally predictable, but it happens about the same time, every time. But for over an hour, it seems like nothing is happening, meanwhile everything is getting ready for the main event.

When your whole life revolves around gardening or the seasons then this is probably second nature. We have already made the shift to daylight savings time again. The photo below was taken around the first of March following the previous weekend that was in the 60s and sunny all week. Many trees and bushes are starting their bud around here yet I wont argue that March has been more like winter than February was.

My point is, spring is coming, I just can’t see it yet. Even more important than that, we can’t get complacent that just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it is not around the corner. There is a very short window between too early and too late and it is this time that is critical for being prepared for that window.

I get trapped in this loop of I have to be done by six or eight weeks before last frost date. For me, that is late April. But, I also want to wrap up the winter work before that time. On years where I have really focused on the garden, most things ceased at that point. This was to the point that projects that only had a couple of hours left languished until the fall. Other years I did not finish my winter projects by June.

The trick is knowing when exactly to transition. But what is worse is convincing yourself that there is plenty of time (in either direction). We all have priorities and decisions to make. And so, I am not second guessing my choices but simply bringing awareness to myself and others that letting off the gas now is too early.

I love the quote by Earnest Hemmingway about bankruptcy, “Slowly than rapidly”. Children are born then they graduate. I graduate from school and now I am middle age. We have freedom until we don’t. It is all the things we do in the slow time that makes a difference.

When I watch This Old House, I have come to understand that footings need to be over four feet deep in the building as best practice in New England. This is the because the ground in that area can freeze down to four feet and as the ground freezes and thaws, that ground moves. That movement is described as heave. Heave moves the building up and down as well as breaks concrete foundations and slabs. We don’t build to that degree of detail here, that is a whole different story. My point is spending time on the details that aren’t seen are critical for the parts that are seen.

End Your Programming Routine: Just like Hemmingway said, spring is coming slowly than rapidly. And just like Old Faithful, it is going to explode in roughly 90 minutes. So those freak winter breaks of nice weather lull us into the pseudo belief that spring is here followed by a just as long winter reminder convincing us it will never come. Just keep going with your pace and trust that it will happen.

February 14, 2024 – Sneaking Up On Me

February 14, 2024 /

It feels like it has been forever but it seems like most years there are some nice days in February. When my second son was born, the day before there was freezing rain and snow in the forecast. After spending the night in the hospital, I went home to check on the dogs and things and people were mowing their lawns and it was 65 degrees.

The first weekend in February had some similar weather patterns. We transitioned from ice to a southwesterly jet stream and it felt downright tropical for a couple of days. Then, the sun broke free for the entire weekend before I really realized this was going to happen. It was a good thing that I procrastinated checking for a leak in the apartment until the weekend. I didn’t really want to do the task, but being outside all afternoon was glorious.

One of my persistent irritants is that my neighbors have several full-size cherry trees along the fence line. Those trees hand over the house and drop their leaves and cherries over a portion of the roof. But it also clogs up the gutters multiple times a year. While I was up looking for leaks, I took the time to trim the trees as much as I could. This brings me to my point. This is the time (for me) to start getting the yard work going.

Pruning time is here. I will cut the cherry trees any time of year because I don’t want them dropping stuff on the house. But apple trees, grapes, roses, this is the time to get it done. These are the things that need to be done at my house and a sunny, 60 degree day is a perfect time to do this.

I have a tree that I am wanting to take out. I am not sure what it is exactly and it doesn’t add a lot of value to my property. It puts shade on the other things that I want growing. This is a good time to do this for deciduous trees because you don’t have leaves to deal with, just like pruning. The truth is that any time of year is fine to remove trees so I might wait until later in the spring just for drier ground.

This is also the time to start seeds. I am currently looking at 10 weeks before last frost date. But it is getting very close to the time where seeds need to be started. It kind of just snuck up on me. I haven’t given one thought about it and now all of the sudden it is here.

There is a famous slogan in programming. ‘Days of coding saves hours of design.’ I would never say not to plan, but that ship has already set sail for me this year. I am a fair weather gardener anyway. Since I pay for yard service, I already only engage in those things that I want to do. Years of indecision about whether we are going to stay and how certain changes impact value, etc has kind of left me paralyzed with indecision.

The colloquial advice is to proceed as if we are going to stay, we just might and I am going to regret not planning a better garden for the five years of waiting to make a decision. Chances are pretty high that I will not do anything different this year and this is another year wasted. My point remains that if there is going to be any seed starting that that needs to be soon.

I know that I talk about and it may seem like I am indecisive. I am trying to delay the ultimate decision until my kids graduate from high school. That is coming in about 18 months. Since I would like to live in the country and I have documented issues where I am at, I can’t imagine that I won’t want to move in a year from now. But, I am relatively happy here and I don’t have to move so that is what makes this hard. You never know what the future holds.

End Your Programming Routine: I really enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the house on the weekend. It wasn’t in my mind that I had other tasks to do other than try to find a leak. Fortunately, god reminded me that if I want to kill a bunch of plants later in the summer, this is the time to get started. If you have dreams of a garden bounty, it is likely time for you as well.

February 22, 2023 – Now that President’s Day Has Come and Gone…

February 22, 2023 /

We really have crossed the bridge heading into Spring and Summer. I know, you don’t really believe it but in most parts of the the United States, time is ticking for the garden season. Let me give some examples. It is time to prune fruit trees, grapes, roses etc. It is time to plant bare root plants for optimum summer/fall establishment and survival. It is time to start annual seeds.

At my house, my kids are in high school. That means that winter sports are at the very end and spring sports are about to start. This also means that planning for the schedules of the remainder of the school year. I was looking at the Trap schedule and getting practices/scoring weeks on my calendar. The state event is June 24-25. That means that I am actively looking at my summer calendar right now.

All is not lost if you don’t start seeds, it is not the end of a chance to plant a garden. My point with this is when you start to get in the mind frame of maximum production, that involves planning and it sneaks up on you faster than you think. To be 100% honest, I am not ready. My hangover from this trip has me backed up on things that need to be done first, like taxes.

My biggest problem is that I am already running behind. The things that I wanted to have done, like my sofa table are still not completed. I have to make the decision to either stop where I am at or not. At this point, I know myself and I know that if I stop focusing on my project the next time I think about it will be years later. This is why it took me years to build my fly tying bench.

In years past, I stopped on my winter projects and ultimately failed at finishing my projects and growing a garden. This year, I am going to try and do both, but I am also going to focus on finishing what I started first. At least, if things go well growing, I will be pleasantly surprised and not disappointed on two fronts.

I sound a bit defeatist by expecting that I won’t have a nice garden. The truth is, I believe that I can do almost anything that I want. I guess for me, I have relegated it to a lower priority. Would I delay writing here daily to keep a garden? Probably not. Would I skip going to the range monthly to work in the garden? Again, probably not. And so, knowing myself and my interests, I am likely going to deprioritize it.

In 2019, when I had all the time possible, I spent a lot of time building irrigation systems and planning to bigger and better. As fortune would have it, 2020 saw my entire summer consumed with remodeling and my beds destroyed. I have been on a downward spiral every since. Questions of long term inhabitation, location and best place have left me paralyzed with analysis paralysis.

With all that said, I think that it makes sense to focus on the things that I am certain I can perform well, like building my table. Ultimately, I also shouldn’t run my life on what might be. There is no guarantee that we will move just as there is no guarantee that a front yard garden is a detriment. But as long as there are other things to focus on, I suppose all these things will remain in the background as convenient excuses.

End Your Programming Routine: I want to say that if you are hoping to do something in the garden, this is the time that things get rolling. That being said, we all have to make choices in life. Just make sure that you understand that we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. So, understand where your limitations and priorities are and march ahead.