Monday, March 12, 2007
Even Steven In The Garden
One reads all the time about gardeners who have beneficent microclimates for their garden; on the side of a hill, so the cold air all runs off; protected from winds by surrounding bluffs; or sited near a lake which gives cool, moist breezes in the hot summer. Well, nature doesn't like imbalances... most upsides have a downside, and everything tends to even out in the end. Our garden lies in a small, south-facing valley... protected by a slight ridge on the north, we are a bit milder in the winter, with the worst of the north wind being blocked off, and we stay warmer later in the fall, both because of the protection and because a large pond lies at the bottom of the valley, which doesn't freeze over sometimes until January. However, while this means I can grow, for example, elepidote (large-leaved) rhododendrons, it also means their leaves get cooked by the winter sun. I bring up this topic of evening out, because right now is the top of the downside for us (if that makes sense): all around us, in the open fields, the snow is essentially gone... birds are chirping, boys are flying kites, and folks are washing their cars in the driveway. Here in our valley, there is still snow on the sides of the valley under the trees, and the pond is still frozen, so it's rather like sitting in a styrofoam cooler with a block of ice. So, for gardening microclimates, it's pretty much Even Steven for most folks in the midwest, at least... there is no free lunch.
// posted by IBOY @ 8:13 AM 
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That is so true. Being so close to Lake Erie, I have a wonderful time in the fall--sometimes, I am harvesting tomatoes weeks after my friends further south have given up. In the spring, though, things are slow to wake here. I work half an hour south by car, and that drive often marks the difference between sweatshirt weather (up here) and short sleeves (at work.)
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