By Dennis Richardson, Magic Valley Publishing
When temperatures outside dipped into the upper 20s Thursday and Friday nights it brought back memories of this big snow we had one Easter. I was shocked then but some old-timers recalled other times it would snow on Easter.
Some call these cold snaps blackberry winter or dogwood winter… fruit trees start budding out and then the freeze comes and stunts the growth.
We have apple trees that produced a bumper crop for the first time last year so we were not expecting much this year. From the looks of all the blooms it could be another good year for apples. The freeze did not appear to bother them.
We have been planning to get started on our garden but a nursery friend told me that April 15 is supposed to be some kind of a magical day that gets us past the last freezes and a date where it will be safe to start plants outside.
So we shall wait. After all it is only one more week.
Normally I would be scurrying around to try and get all the income tax stuff in order but that deadline has been pushed back one month and since May 15 falls on a Saturday we actually have two more days to meet the deadline: Monday May 17.
Are we really finished with below-freezing temperatures or will there be one more spell? After all, we are in April and this week’s temperatures are really spring-like.
There are three raised garden areas I can see when I look out our dining room window that will need to be readied for planting. After a one-year hiatus the garden of 2020 was one of the few bright spots of a COVID-ridden year. A long visit from our daughter and son-in-law during the summer was a second bright spot.
Last year beans and squash did really well. The cantaloupe flopped (maybe because of old seeds), the carrots never made it and the tomatoes did okay, but not great.
I am anxious to see how 2021 does.
Keep up with garden tips, and the progress of our own garden, in the pages of the local newspapers.
Life is really better with newspapers.
And, when the reading is finished they make good drop cloths for painting that new shelf and mantel downstairs.
Dennis Richardson is the CEO of Magic Valley Publishing, Inc., which owns the Chester County Independent.
