Planting strategies for a changing climate

Nanking cherry blooms in February

After a horribly hot February came the horribly cold March and April. Then May gave us half a year's worth of rain in two weeks. Let me tell you what this will do to a garden: wreak havoc.

I think I was the only person in the neighborhood upset about our warm February. My Nanking cherries and peach tree burst into bloom and while they were pretty, I knew it was too soon. Sure enough the deep freezes of March and April left their branches barren. There will be no homegrown cherries or peaches this year from our yard or indeed any yard in our neighborhood.

Thankfully fruit has set on our fig and paw paw trees which set fruit later in the year. Also our wild cherry tree is loaded with small immature cherries that I intend to turn into jelly. Wild cherry sets fruit later than does its domesticated cousins. Are you noticing a pattern here?

So those are the fruits. Now let me tell you about our annual vegetables. April set cold records all month here in Asheville, so soil temperatures remained too low to plant my early season greens and onions until almost the end of the month. Normally I would have rotated most of those greens out in time to plant summer favorites like tomatoes, squashes, etc. That simply wasn't the case this year so I began intercropping like a fiend only to get slammed by record rains. You can't work soil in the rain, so I watched in dismay as tomatoes languished in flats getting more spindly by the day in reduced sunlight. Some made it into the ground but I still have over 30 tomato plants hanging out on the back porch. I hope to get a few more in the ground but time has simply run out for many of them.

Some people have success growing tomatoes in containers, but from my experience they yield more when planted in the good earth (Pearl S. Buck) so I don't bother with putting them in containers anymore.

I do, however, plant all of my peppers and carrots in containers, so their planting has been largely unaffected by the inclement weather.

Another direct result of all of this rain is a slug infestation. They ate my shiitakes that were just beginning to button out, so now I have to come up with a strategy to keep them off my mushroom logs. Slugs don't like gravel, so tomorrow I'm moving the logs into the greenhouse which has a gravel floor. I guess I'll drape some old sheets over them to give them some protection from the sunlight and hope for the best.

So here is the takeaway: diversity is key. You not only need diverse food sources, you also need diverse varieties and planting methods. It simply isn't enough to have one type of fruit tree. You need trees which flower and set fruit at different times of the year. You don't just need different types of vegetables, you need many types planted different ways in different places. I didn't mention it earlier but the slugs have also been munching away in my raised beds but have left my container garden unscathed.

Here's one more thing: The problems I'm having are minuscule compared to the problems many large farms are having. Many farms both locally and around the world have suffered catastrophic losses due to extreme weather conditions. This is a global problem and will be affecting food prices and availability here in the US. I'm constantly giving people plants and planting advice. If you're growing some of your own food, please do the same for your friends, family, and neighbors. If you aren't growing any of your own food, please start. Eating well is already expensive and is set to become more so. Raising your own food is one of the best things you can do for yourselves and your loved ones, so get to it!