There is certainly no reason to take any set of conditions for granted. We had a positively balmy January during which the garden plants grew boisterously. Then suddenly, in early February, nighttime freezes set in. The cold gusted in on strong winds, which gave it real bite. We cover the vegetables when it is below freezing, but winds can turn the covers into flapping sails. Protecting the garden can be a real adventure.
The peas particularly, planted early because it was so warm, became a rather battered lot. Attempts to cover them and their trellis resulted in a wildly blowing cover, the semi-collapse of the trellis, and bedraggled, demoralized looking plants. There were quite a lot of weeds in the patch and we left them to provide some support, wind-break and warmth to the peas.
Now it is warmer. Now we watch little miracles of resilience. The peas are reviving and venturing up the (repaired) trellis again; the weeds are emphatic and robust. We give them appropriate thanks and begin thinning them out. Other vegetables, which stalled out in the cold, are beginning to grow again. Some did not make it, and we will return them to the soil and their remains will nourish the replacements we plant.
We do not know what weather is next. Anything is possible. The garden, and we, will adapt. The garden is a great teacher of “ever -expanding faith.” It can endure wildly varying conditions, can even be beaten up a bit, but it never loses heart. Working in it, we are privileged to learn from it how to trust our sturdy hearts also.
Gassho
Penny