Like many western states, our area seemed to have more of a winter the second half of April this year than we received the whole month of January.
The weather was cold, and after weeks of prayers for added moisture in the mountains, snow finally came.
Yet just as quickly as our springtime winter came, it was gone. Turning to summer hot temperatures in a day.
Where we were experiencing a delayed winter in April, May has become something of an early summer. Even for spring, which can often produce up and down weather that changes with the direction of the wind, the weather this season has been its own level of erratic.
Yet despite this being what many claim is the strangest weather of their living memory, as gardeners, we are still pressing on with excitement and anticipation for lush green gardens and flower decorated yards.
As a society, we’re still flocking to the greenhouse to buy ornamentals for beautifying our landscapes.
We are a people who love beautiful things. After the gloom of “winter” days (even the mildest winter on record), we crave the uplifting excitement of fresh blooms and bright colors.
We get the springtime bug, and many of us go a little overboard in planting. We stock up on nursery plants and head back to our yards determined and ready to plant our best garden yet.
I find myself guilty of this. Often catching the bug in early spring with seed sowing. Most years planting a ridiculous number of seeds that I truly lack the space for planting (and let’s be honest, come October, I usually lack the motivation for harvesting).
But, oh, it’s spring! And chances are, next year, that same spring fever will hit and I’ll be tempted to way overdo it all over again.
This year, however, despite the fever in my bones to plant every free space with food producing plants or pretty flowers, and produce my own best garden yet, I find myself consciously holding back.
Despite our April winter (which was truly just normal spring weather that abnormally outshone our winter weather), we are lacking water here in the west, and throughout the country.
Though April rain showers and snow storms have left our yards looking green and may have brought May flowers, irrigation reservoirs are low.
Though there is some water in some areas, it isn’t much. And the fact of the matter is that we would all be prudent to plant our yard and gardens accordingly.
Who knows, it might be a wet spring season yet, and we’ll find ourselves with an over abundance of mud under our feet. Or it may not.
As a society that has moved away from the dirt, that has become ungrounded in a very real, literal sense, it’s challenging for us to sometimes see the big picture of the world around us. To recognize that routine doesn’t always happen. And even though many of us dwell in the stable environment of air conditioning, closed windows, and daily routines that don’t mind the weather, we are all still at the receiving end of the world outside.
Even when we don’t see it, and for many, don’t appreciate the disruption of outside forces into our inside lives. The outdoor world does matter.
And this year, that outdoor world is pretty dry.
Maybe this year, rather than filling our yards with delicate flowers that will need watered everyday, just for appearance sake, we can act with a little prudence in consideration of our current water situation.
That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t have flowers and other plants of beauty surround our homes — because I absolutely think we can and should surround ourselves with beauty. And it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t grow a garden – we absolutely should! But maybe this year, we can find beautiful things that don’t require as many drops of water.
Maybe this year, we can plan a little better to use up our space without wasting precious moisture as we enter into hotter, dryer months.
This year, I plan to enjoy the beauty of my yard and garden, but I also plan to be frugal in my planting, and strategic in my planning. And I hope others will see the need to do the same.
We can all still very much enjoy the beauty that comes with backyard gardening, but we can do so more mindfully. And of course, continue to pray for rain.
