We had snow a little more than a week ago. We measured ten inches depth on the table and railings on our back deck and eleven inches on flat surfaces, like the top of the trash bin, in the front yard. In the 27 years we’ve lived here, that is an unprecedented abundance of snow.
Taking a ruler out to the yard to check on the snowfall seems to be a common behavior, maybe even a required ritual in an actual snowstorm. Many people we have spoken with about the snow were out in their yards with rulers and yardsticks, and they found a similar 10-11 inches on most surfaces. Some measured a full 12 inches of snow.
The weight of all that snow broke a lot of branches. We were standing in the road, in the still-falling snow, talking with neighbors who had a large, ragged branch-end poking into their living room, when another branch fell. It dropped very near to where we were standing, dusting us all with even more snow.
Not too surprisingly, we lost electricity after a few hours and didn’t get it back for a couple of days. Our neighborhood is very hilly, and leaving requires driving up more than one steep slope; some people who wanted to leave, to stay at a hotel or with friends in areas that did not lose power, were not able to leave. Their cars couldn’t climb the iced-over roads.
The snow wasn’t all bad, though. We had a great time going for crazy-slippery walks,
talking with neighbors who were all outside because it was darker and colder in their houses. We cooked on the woodstove, “camped” at night in the living room so it was easier to keep the fire going, loaned out a Harry Potter book to a neighbor who suddenly had time to read Book Four, and played card games by candlight in the evenings.
When we were running low on coffee, a neighbor who is Master Roaster for the local Thrasher Coffee Company brought us some already-ground coffee (Thank you, Seth!).
Big, commute-stopping weather events remind me of how lucky we are to live in this neighborhood, where we really know some families and have met and talked with several more.
To be honest, gardening has helped us be a part of this community. Our neighbors know us because we are outside, for at least a little while, on many days.
When they are driving by, they see us; when they are walking their dogs, they stop to visit. They ask about the garden.
In weird times, like snow and ice-storms that lock us into the neighborhood, or when the creek rises enough to cross the road and we are stranded, we are not alone. We are all walking toward where the others are gathered, checking out the damage, pushing stuck cars past the slippery places, looking to see if anything can be done to help.
Gardening has helped this along. It is a great way to live.
Janice Caterino says
14 January, 2018 at 21:42Hello Amy,
You helped us out last year (Late winter 2017) with soil tests and suggestions for amending the soil with organic fertilizers. I wanted to get back to you to let you know what happened. Right away, the greens that were still growing looked greener and more robust and seemed not to succumb to insects so readily. You suggested we try planting “Provider” green beans, and further suggested we put the seeds in the ground as absolutely early as possible, to avoid bean beetles which made a mess of our beans previously. We did that, and got so many wonderful beans that it was possible to freeze a dozen bags in addition to eating as many as ever a person could want! This year, I may try wax beans and romano beans using a similar time table. We’ve missed them. The bean beetles made it seem like we might never be able to grow them again.
We had not been able to grow successful sweet peppers (California Wonder types) for a very long time, even though hot peppers of all sorts of varieties were still succeeding. This last summer, though, we got lots of heavy, beautiful California Wonder types. Yay, hooray!! We must have picked close to 300!
Also the success of our tomatoes had been dwindling. This last summer we got wonderful quantities of Cherokees, Beefsteak, and Ace 55. We might try Roma tomatoes this year, which we gave up on several years ago.
All in all a much more successful garden. There remain questions about why a few things didn’t work so well, but we’ll leave those to address for this next year. Mostly, I wanted to let you know how incredibly pleased we were with the successes we saw, and thank you profusely for helping us get there! We’ll undoubtedly go back for a yearly soil test from now on, seeing what a difference it can make. But you didn’t just give us soil results, you gave us suggestions for what organic supplements and fertilizers would help, and I believe that was the thing we most appreciated.
Sincerely,
Jan and Pete Caterino
P.S. I agree, the snow was beautiful, and brought out lots of people to share their stories.
Amy Whitney says
15 January, 2018 at 09:15Dear Jan and Pete,
Thank you for letting me know how the suggestions worked in your garden! It is great that the tweak in planting time helped your bean production, and yes, wax beans and those flat Romano-style beans are also excellent. I grow my Romano-style beans (heirloom Joanie beans) later in the summer, after the bean beetles have gone. If the first crop of beans is pulled from the garden by mid-July, then waiting a couple of weeks before planting the next crop (first week of August is good) keeps them clear of the beetles. The plants do attract a caterpillar called the bean leaf roller (see my post ‘Bean Leaf Rollers Return‘ ) but those do not do significant damage to the plants.
Let me know if you would like for me to convert the recommendation from your next soil test to organic amendments. I will be happy to help! Getting the soil nutrient levels right is a huge part of keeping your plants healthy and productive.
Also, if you don’t mind, keep me posted on the parts of your garden that still are not as successful as you would like. Troubleshooting garden problems is still on the list of things I am doing, even though I am no longer working at the Extension office.
Thank you again!
-Amy
Jan Caterino says
16 January, 2018 at 19:33Thank you so much for getting back and particularly for your offer to help with suggestions after we get this year’s soil test done. We are mostly just thinking about what might be done this summer at this very cold point!!!! Brrrr!!!!