Winter on the Way

“Where are the snows of yesteryear?” asked the poet. Well, this week they were lying on our lawn. October snows are not unknown in our part of Connecticut, but they always come as a sort of surprise. One gets used to green grass and leaves on the trees during the course of our all-too-short summer but then comes the white reality check: winter is on the way.

October snows can be destructive. There are still leaves on the trees and the trees therefore catch the snow and can be bent and broken by the weight of the wet stuff. I still have quinces and apples on the trees and it’s fortunate that neither was damaged.

So the green beans are finished and the tomatoes can no longer cope. There’s still some lettuce out there and the raspberries have not given up, but gardening is now a matter of watering the indoor plants and studying the seed catalogs to plan for next year

By now the snow has melted away, unable to withstand a day-time high in the 40s. But we have been warned.

p.s. Scan down to the previous posts to remember how it was before!