[Ag-eq] Spring!

[Jewel]

It will be some months before Kiwis, the generic term for those fortunate enough to dwell in "God's
Own Country"  otherwise known as New Zealand, and if you want to be up with  the latest in
ethnically sensitive terminology, , you can prefix NZ with Aotearoa-,  can cry:  "The spring has
sprung, the grass has riz, I wonder where the lambkins is?"
However, we can still look forward to reasonable daytime temps 4 another month before it starts to
get a bit parky.
In Southland, our climatic  zoning is cool temperate, we, except at an altitude of 1000 feet and
above, rarely, get snow, and if we do, it vanishes within an hour or 2 of its appearance.
New Zealand is starting to feel the effects of global warming but not, to anywhere near the extent
that you are in the northern hemisphere.  This is due, largely, to the fact that the southern
hemisphere comprises mostly ocean which absorbs much of it.
here in  Southland, we are benefitting in  that our, formerly, unremarkable summers have, for the
last 2 of them, been fantastic!
Our last really harsh winter, which many of you would think of as a very mild one, was back in 1996. 
We went to bed on the night of June 30th, and all was normal and we woke up on July 1, only to find 
snow stretching as far as the eye could see.
Everything was frozen:  hundred year old trees died where they stood;  farmers had a hard time 
getting liquid water to their stock, and there were many deaths from dehydration;  people completely 
lost their household water supply and had to rely on the generosity of  those who were lucky enough 
to still have it.  Plumbers were flat out for weeks replacing burst pipes.
Here on  the BlanchRanch, by the luckiest of chances, one of my outside taps had a split washer, so 
the pipe leading to that leaking tap always had moving water in it so did not freeze.
We didn't lose electricity so I could always boil up water for use in the house and to pour into the 
drinking troughs for the stock.
Even though the temperatures remained below zero celsius for, exactly, 14 days, the weather was 
marvellous;  brilliant sunshine with not a breath of wind:  it was wonderful!
Like a thief in the  night, the cold snap left as it had come:  that is:  with no alerting trumpet 
or fanfare:  July 14:  we went to bed with the snow stretching as far as the eye could see, and we 
awoke the following morning, and the frozen fairyland had gone!

       Jewel
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 7:02 AM
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Ag-eq] Spring!

Spring is finally coming to New Jersey!  The flowers are starting to do
their thing, and I'm headed out to the garden as soon as I'm off work.
The peach tree is blooming.  It's a beautiful little tree.  Right now, it's
got lots of little pink flowers.  After that, it puts out long, narrow,
graceful leaves.  Last year, all the fruit dried up and fell off before it
got ripe.  I'm fertilizing it this year, and hoping for better results.
The blueberries and raspberries are leafing out, and the blueberries have
plenty of buds.
I've put out some cabbage and broccoli seedlings, and I'm going to put out
lettuce seedlings maybe today, plus plant more lettuce, spinach, carrots and
radishes. Then I gotta protect the lot from Mr Rabbit.

I made a big mistake last fall.  I was putting in new grass out front, and
my landscaper said there was extra dirt, so I told her to put it on the
raised bed.  But the dirt was full of grass seed, which came up.  I left it,
thinking it would be a good cover crop, but it was hard to turn in this
spring, and it's not breaking down very well.  So I have extra work to do,
either burying it more, or removing the big clumps.

I'm making an experiment with no-mow grass this year.  I planted it in areas
that are hard to drag the mower to, and, if it works well, I'll expand.
It's a mix of low-growing grasses, clover and flowers.  I'm excited about
it.  Hope it actually works as advertised.
I'm also working with my landscaper to put in a small pond.  Neither of us
has done a pond before, so it's taking a while to figure out.  So, between
the pond site and the grass-seeding, my yard has a lot of large mud patches
right now.  But, if these things work, it will be great!

I'm planting fava beans again this year.  I think they're real neat.
They're as big as a chickpea, and taste like peas, but the bushes are a lot
sturdier than peas.  They like cool weather, so I hope to get some in this
week.
I also bought some heirloom runner beans to try.  One is called Scarlet
Emperor.  It gets 10 feet tall, and has purple beans and red flowers, if I
remember right.  I love pole beans.  They're very easy to care for; there's
no bending to harvest; and they're delicious.  And these new ones sound nice
enough that I just might put them out front.
I'm also trying a new potato, German Butterball.  Last year, I tried Russian
Banana.  It was nice, but the yield wasn't as much as I'd hoped for.
Anyway, I'm very happy Spring is here, and I'm headed out to dig in the
dirt!
Tracy


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