November Gardening
posted 17th November 2009 in Environment, Gardening, Questions by The Green Man
I am, in the middle of November, in Upstate New York, still gardening. Yesterday, I removed some lawn and then transplanted into that location some tall ornamental grass, lamb’s ear, day lilies, and bee balm. I also divided and replanted some spring flowering bulbs.
A seed for morning discussion: Can the ability to do gardening tasks in what ought to be a time of winterlike weather be appropriately regarded as a benefit of climate change?
Tags: climate change, Gardening, november
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You’ve just reminded me I need to head out and check the pH of some soil intended for blueberry bushes this spring. It’s a benefit to me that I can do this in November when the ground hasn’t frozen yet and I didn’t get to it in October.
However, I wonder whether throwing off the rhythm of the plants in my garden and the woods surrounding it will wig them out in some way. Are there seeds that will sprout prematurely because of these relatively high temperatures, only to be frozen when the chill eventually settles in?
Do it as long as you can. i firmly believe that the balance has already been thrown off significantly and that the earth will continue its slow, inexorable reaction over time to this change in CO2 (and now methane too). The reaction of which i speak may not support life as we’ve come to rely on it in the long run – ie. consistent seasons, predictable weather, established ecosystems including bugs and such – all these and more will be changing over time.
So of course we’ll have some wonderfully unseasonal warm weather in winter along the way, but in the long run, the price we’ll have to pay for the industrial revolution and the chase for wealth will be dire (in my humble opinion).