Why A Long Winter Can Be A Good Thing
1. When the world warms up too early, plants and animals get fooled into thinking that it's time to wake up and grow. 90% of the time it snows on April Fools Day (Mother Natures little joke, I always say) , it has snowed on Mother's Day before, and it's usually cold again with risk of frost at the end of May for a few nights.
If flowers bloom before mid April, they will most likely be killed by frost, and be 'done for the season'. There was an apple shortage last year for that reason.
2. Early spring can mean a short maple syrup season. Sap only flows when it's warm, but needs the cold nights for the trees to build it up again. If it just gets warm and stays warm, the trees drain in a few days and there's a syrup shortage.
3. When the weather's warm it's hard to wait til the end of may to plant the garden, but doing so earlier can result in damaged seeds and plants in the weather freezes again, which it tends to do here in Canada.
4. A late slow melting period helps keep the ground moist which helps your grass and garden plants last longer. When the snow melts too early and too fast the moisture in the ground drains or evaporates quickly
Spring is coming, but don't make it rush!
March 18 2012. Still technically winter. 22C. BBQ and t-shirts in the porch.
The year the garden died, the yard died, the apple blossoms died, and the summer was the hottest on record.
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