It seems as if Mother Nature wants we Northeasterners to no longer think of gardening as she continues to drop the white stuff our way. We shouldn’t feel singled out, however, as many areas of the U.S. have been dumped on earlier than is characteristic. After breakfast I went outside in a light rain to shovel out the six inches that fell (according to the yardstick in the back yard.) As I was shoveling I noticed how many things were still green making a final display of chlorophyll before the cold and plant hormones force the leaves to drop.
Before the snow hit I thought that there was nothing green in the garden. I was wrong. The butterfly bushes, roses, and a spring-blooming variegated hydrangea had their barely turning leaves buried in the snow. I shook the snow off in the futile hope that somehow the leaves would thwart the cold to continue their atypical display. There were more than a few leaves that were green but I suspect their days are numbered.
My cold frames and hoop houses are built on an old greenhouse foundation next to my house, which used to be the barn of a large estate. This space on my property gets the best exposure to the sun considering that my land is on the north-facing side of a ridge. The greenhouse has good thermal mass and a basement below that keeps the soil warmer in the winter than would otherwise be expected.
The hoop houses are made with 1/2-inch PVC pipe, Agribon row covers and plastic clips. As I made my way to the hoops, I was pleased that the clip system I used was able to hold the fabric from collapsing into the garden. This is my first year using a hoop house so I wasn’t sure how well they would hold up under a load of snow. I don’t have this problem with the cold frame as the rigid plastic panes are reinforced with a solid wood frame that I built. As I pulled off the snow, I was pleasantly surprised that the panes of the cold frame were covered with fog. Inside all the greens, arugula; red-leaf, oak-leaf and romaine lettuces; kyona mizuna; and endive were growing well. The mache was still too small to harvest; I’m hoping that it will overwinter so that I can harvest some in early March. The Swiss Chard is beginning to push against the panes and I’ll need to cut it in the next week or so.
The same was true with the crops in the hoop houses. I planted the same greens in both as I wanted to hedge my bets against a potential collapse of the frame and to also see how the differing sun exposures would effect growth. It’s too early to tell at this point, but I think there will be a big difference in the spring. Regardless I was able to cut a nice set of greens that we’ll have for dinner tonight. The garden continues to produce.
As I finish this post, a flash of light illuminates my snowed-in back yard as Christmas songs play in the background. Then thunder strikes. It looks like we are having thundersnow, a fairly rare occurrence. My wife Juana then tells me I need to come into the living room to finish trimming the Christmas tree. This is turning out to be a pretty weird year.
