Snow, over the boot tops snow, ensures a quiet day for most of us. And in between snowshoe treks out to check on the animals in the barn, or to sweep the accumulated white stuff off the greenhouse, it is a quiet day at Green Gate Farm. With the wood stove cranked up and the kettle on the boil it is the perfect time to sit and think about gardens.
The seeds we ordered a while back are already here, and the field plans are spread out over the big farm table. While the snow is falling and the fire is crackling, our ideas for this season's gardens begin to take shape, and with them comes the growing anticipation of getting back outside and getting down to work.
The snow, however, is already at work in the garden. Truly a blanket, snow is a terrific insulator, holding the surface temperature of the soil a bit above freezing and reducing the temperature fluctuations that are so hard on overwintering plants. Deep snow like this will melt at a fairly slow rate, allowing the soil to hang on to more moisture. Moisture from rain and especially slow-melting snow is a significant source of nitrogen in healthy soil.
'Poor man's fertilizer' the old timers used to call a late winter snow, since nitrogen, along with phosphorus and potassium, is one of the three essential macrobiotics which fertilizers provide. This slow melt allows nitrogen mineralization, which is a fancy name for how nitrogen is converted by soil microbes into a form plants can use.
Linger awhile, snow, do your work in the garden incrementally, even microscopically. We'll be out there soon enough, working with spade and hoe, turning the benefits of a white winter into a garden green with summer vegetables.
The seeds we ordered a while back are already here, and the field plans are spread out over the big farm table. While the snow is falling and the fire is crackling, our ideas for this season's gardens begin to take shape, and with them comes the growing anticipation of getting back outside and getting down to work.
The snow, however, is already at work in the garden. Truly a blanket, snow is a terrific insulator, holding the surface temperature of the soil a bit above freezing and reducing the temperature fluctuations that are so hard on overwintering plants. Deep snow like this will melt at a fairly slow rate, allowing the soil to hang on to more moisture. Moisture from rain and especially slow-melting snow is a significant source of nitrogen in healthy soil.
'Poor man's fertilizer' the old timers used to call a late winter snow, since nitrogen, along with phosphorus and potassium, is one of the three essential macrobiotics which fertilizers provide. This slow melt allows nitrogen mineralization, which is a fancy name for how nitrogen is converted by soil microbes into a form plants can use.
Linger awhile, snow, do your work in the garden incrementally, even microscopically. We'll be out there soon enough, working with spade and hoe, turning the benefits of a white winter into a garden green with summer vegetables.
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