I swore this year it would be different. I wouldn’t stress about every storm warning and thunder cloud overhead. I wouldn’t check the weather 50 times a day worried about what could ruin my happy place. I wouldn’t let the threat of hail scare me into covering every plant I could. Who am I kidding? Weather in my great state of Colorado, is a bit..well..unpredictable. I believe there is a saying here that goes “if you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes.” I have seen days where we have all four seasons in a 24 hour period. Coming from California where the sun is shining and the weather is consistent, this Colorado stuff takes some getting used to. Weather in the Rockies is one of my favorite and least favorite parts of living here. Obviously, the weathers impact on a garden is vast to say the least. Our Colorado gardens go to sleep at the end of each fall, and wake again each spring. Our growing season is short and sweet. Snow blankets our landscape and cold temps keep us indoors in the Winter, which is one of my favorite parts. One day it could be snowing like crazy, and the next day the sun is bright and warm. I love that I can take a break from maintaining the yard, and plan any new additions for the coming Spring. Spring is my most favorite. (Or is it Fall?) Spring brings rainy afternoons and bright welcomed sunshine. Plants begin to wake up. What once was a brown and dry yard, begins to show tiny signs of green. I spend time each day looking at which plants are waking first, tying to remember what was planted there. I start collecting seed packets and plotting where they will go. When the sweet little Robin birds arrive, Springtime has too. Late Spring snow storms and freezing temperatures are what we experienced this year. Just as my garden began to wake, it was covered in snow. I had already done a decent amount of seed planting and had a lot of seedlings sprouting already. Never fear. The crazy garden girl is here. This passionate gardener, collects old plant containers, cat litter buckets (thank goodness, we have kittens), empty berry containers, pie tins, oatmeal cylinders, yogurt containers and other things you probably put in your recycling bins. These make great snow protectors and hail helmets for my little garden friends. Not to mention my innovative use of lawn furniture, beach towels and tarps. It’s weird, I know. I know what you’re thinking. This girl has way too much time on her hands. That’s actually not true. You see with careful planning and attention to weather reports, I sometimes have plenty of time for this protective measure. And I am not alone. I often wait for the neighbor behind me to cover their plants. And sometimes when I start to pull out the arsenal of weird recyclables, they come out and follow my lead. My Mom has her large container plants on little wheels, so she can move those heavy gardens into safety at a moment’s notice. I feel like it’s completely normal. Right? This past Spring when our temps dipped to record lows in late May, these covers saved my plants. Yes, it took time and was some work and looked kind of odd, but I would have lost most of the seedlings if not for my tiny berry container green houses. Will I always have time to cover my sweet plants to protect them? Nope. Am I able to cover all my flowery friends? Nope. Will I always be home when storms appear? Nope. But if I am able, I cover what I can to guard them from flying balls of ice. I cover new flowers, seedlings, plants that are delicate, plants I have been taking extra care of, and plants that are simply sentimental to me. I feel horrible for the ones I can’t cover, but many are tough and can withstand a bit of rough weather. Which is why planting native and local plants is best. Those guys are used to what Colorado, or your area, has to offer. Which here can be harsh.. from brutal low temps to scorching heat and everything in between. It looks silly I know. At least once or twice each summer, the garden withstands some damage. It makes me sad, which is why I do what I can to protect what I can. I nurture these little guys along and watch them grow and I hate seeing what a strong hail storm can do. Not only to nature, but to people’s homes and cars. Hail is an unpredictable force that comes and goes as it pleases, in all variations of magnitude. It can bring dangerous and violent consequences and it makes me a bit jumpy to say the least. So, this Colorado gardener is going to protect, risk injury (since I wacked myself in the head last year with a metal lounge chair trying to cover plants in a hurry) and give my garden a chance to reach the end of the season intact. My potted plants all get shelter up against our house. It’s a lot of work. It looks truly odd to my neighbors who don’t garden, and maybe even to the ones that do. They must see me sometimes in the wee hours of a summer morning, uncovering plants from the threat of an overnight storm, in my PJs and a sweatshirt, and think this girl is crazy. But they are the same ones who peer over my fence to admire our garden or tell me they enjoy my sunflowers looking over their fence.
Yep. Colorado weather makes this gardening thing a wee bit complicated. But I love it. Except the hail. Really don’t like hail. What kind of weather effects your garden space?
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AuthorCrazy plant girl who likes all things flowers, gardens and kittens. Together with my landscape foreman and photographer/site manager, we are watching our garden grow. Archives
August 2019
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