Warm winter weather prompts early plant budding, but frost threat remains in Ozarks. The slug on the home page says:
Meteorologist Nick Kelly breaks down why some might consider holding off on planting even though we’re back in a warm stretch.
Are you new here? Actually, many might be.
In years past, I have planted too early in that first bit of warmth, only to see my live plants struggle through a cold snap. But never in February, gentle reader, never in February.
One of the benefits of having lived at Nogglestead for sixteen and a half years is that I’ve seen the ebb and flow of the seasons. So I know that it will get cold again in March, and maybe April yet. Last year it was cool and rainy into June before warming up. So I will plant from seed sometime in March. Perhaps some broccolini, which Susan Lamb has been researching and writing about for the Stone County Republican.
I did walk out yesterday to look at the sole remaining peach tree in the front yard; it is indeed budding. But we’ll probably not get blossoms this year, much less peaches, because the temperature dropped to -10 degrees one or two nights. And I walked through a swarm of bugs taking out the trash last night. I’ve heard tell that warm snaps like this are good to keep the insect population down in the summer because they hatch and die in the next cold snap before laying eggs. We will see. It would be nice to sit outside in the evenings again, a habit I’ve given up the last two years because the bugs have been bad.
