tip-o-day
All the signs are pointing to a hard winter up here. The Farmers Almanac is saying 'numbingly cold'. Egad.
Even here I have noticed a ridiculous number of squirrels (unfortunately many of them flattened in the road). Their gathering is starting very early this year. Our big maple has gone to seed early, and there are some trees turning as of last week.
Do you know how I know this? Well... we keep a gardening journal from year to year.
My patient wife notes when her flowers are blooming, when we fertilize things, when trees turn or the vegetables ripen. We note things like... 'wet spring' or 'cold nights'. We jot down what insects are problematic each year and how we solve it (or don't :) )
The layout of the diary is important. Set it up so you have several years of the same day or week on the same page. That makes it easy to compare from year to year and you can readily see if things are late or early.
We have found that its not only been a valuable reference tool - but is fun just to look back and remember.
All the signs are pointing to a hard winter up here. The Farmers Almanac is saying 'numbingly cold'. Egad.
Even here I have noticed a ridiculous number of squirrels (unfortunately many of them flattened in the road). Their gathering is starting very early this year. Our big maple has gone to seed early, and there are some trees turning as of last week.
Do you know how I know this? Well... we keep a gardening journal from year to year.My patient wife notes when her flowers are blooming, when we fertilize things, when trees turn or the vegetables ripen. We note things like... 'wet spring' or 'cold nights'. We jot down what insects are problematic each year and how we solve it (or don't :) )
The layout of the diary is important. Set it up so you have several years of the same day or week on the same page. That makes it easy to compare from year to year and you can readily see if things are late or early.
We have found that its not only been a valuable reference tool - but is fun just to look back and remember.
6 comments:
Does that say Frigid, Wet and Wild? Talk about contradictory!
and I thought I was nerdy!
Oooh Nippy and Wet! I want to go there.
Really... it's unbelievable how people in the 'burbs spend their time!
Fran and I have been talking about the squirrel activity, too. There just seems to be SO many of them this year, and so many of them gone to the big tree in the sky.
We've been wondering if it's going to be an early fall the way the trees are already starting to change. Isn't this awfully early to see the changes? It's hard to get a good frame of reference since we've only had a couple of autumns here now, and the rest is too long ago to remember clearly. I keep thinking the height of fall should be close to Halloween.
If it weren't for the price of oil I wouldn't mind a cold winter.
Any notes or trends in the book of yours to correlate what we're seeing with the squirrels and leaves to a tough winter?
I wouldn't mind living in the "brisk" area...
And yes, it is looking to be cold here too. My hostas bloomed in July instead of August. I am noticing spider webs all over the place, a true sign of a hard winter and just this week, Liv and I were driving home from school and we saw a tree already turning.
Shivering.
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