Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Introduction

Hello!  My name is Patti and I am a Master Gardener in Northern NY.  I am starting this blog as a way to journal my own garden, and if anyone else is interested in reading, then you are more than welcome.  

It is currently the 12th of March, 2008 and it is snowing.  Hence the name of the blog.  Perhaps if I started the blog in mid-July, it would have a different title.  But the fact is, up here, near Watertown, NY, gardeners are faced with up to 6 months of snow.  In some ways the reliable snow cover is a blessing.  We can grow some less hardy plants because the snow insulates against extreme low temperatures.  On rare instances that reliance on the snow can backfire when we get a cold snap while there is no snow due to a mid-season thaw.  

We are labeled as zone 4 on the map, but I successfully grow many zone 5 plants.  Someday I'll have to try for a zone 6 and see how many years I can keep it alive.  Personally, I believe in global warming and feel that our being zone 4 is no longer accurate.  But I'll save getting up on that soapbox for another time.

My garden space is not large.  We have a house in a village and are limited by our property lines.  I dream of having endless space, and I'm sure I will someday, but even then I can only make my garden as large as I can keep up with.  For now, we have a moderate vegetable garden.  And I say "we" because my husband and children help me with it a lot.  After all, they like to eat the food that it produces as much as I do.  Well, maybe the kids don't quite like to eat the produce as much as me, but they'll learn to love it.  We grow a lot of tomatoes.  They usually take up about half the garden space.  I will start the tomato and pepper seeds for this coming summer in about 2 weeks.

I also do a lot with perennials and a little with annuals.  To be honest, most of my annuals are re-seeders, so they plant themselves each year.  I'd best describe my gardening style as Untidy Cottage.  I plant tight and full.  I don't want to see mulch, I want to see flowers.

That will do for now.  I'm looking forward to keeping this blog for myself and a great bonus would be to meet some fellow gardeners through it.

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