Now is the time when serious gardeners prepare the beds for spring, which I have started doing. I also planted garlic yesterday, which is traditionally done on Columbus day so I was two days early. But this fall has been very weird. We did have a frost a couple of weeks ago, but I had a tomato plant up by my house that survived, and it's still thriving. The weather has really been summery, I haven't even made a fire for two days (I heat the house with wood), and I haven't brought in my houseplants. And there's no frost in the ten-day forecast.
Is this going to be the new normal, or just an anomaly? Probably the latter because we've also had unusual cold outbreaks. What is happening, as I would hope most people know but probably do not, is that the disappearance of the arctic sea ice has resulted in the jet stream developing huge loops, that pull arctic air down in one region and warm air up in others. Right now I'm on the warm side, but last spring we had a cold outbreak that nipped some fruit trees in the bud. (Mine were okay and in fact I had a decent crop, although the fruits were small because of the drought. Yeah, that's also going on.)
Unpredictability is the worst outcome for farmers. They can live with a short growing season if they know when it's likely to begin and end. Having a couple of years of early last frost and late first frost can sucker them into disaster. So I will have to prepare for that, with cloches and cold frames and cautious crop selection. Can't do anything about the fruit trees though, if they get fooled I'm out of luck. Still, I'm not complaining about the lack of autumn so far. I'll take what I can get.
