"Winter's Brutal Cold Grips South", ha ha ha

Morning temp: 39°F (Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
Afternoon high: Maybe 57F (Still burrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
Tonight's projected low: 35F (Again, burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)
Humidity: 75%
Moon: Waning, but still 93% full

Today was cold and windy, with a gusty Northwest wind blowing in at 14mph. Now, I grew up in New England, and I realize that 59F should not feel cold - how my grandfather from Nova Scotia would laugh at my wearing a coat and hat on a day like this - but we've had several weeks in the mid-80s, and I suppose we've gotten used to it. This happens very quickly living in Zone 8; the Summer months are long and hot, so as soon as they arrive (sometimes very early in the season) we consciously and unconsciously acclimate to them. On the other side of the season, say by the third week in September, after 4 months of 90F+ days we'll get a day when suddenly, shockingly, the temperature drops into the 60's, and everyone seems to suddenly wake-up and perk-up, filled with early-Spring-like-energy, happy, more peaceful and friendly, unexpectedly invigorated by the chill in the air.... and then it's hot as hell again for three weeks before Autumn finally cools things down for good.... in October.

1. Unexpectedly, I double-dug Garden Bed #7 today, coat and all (perhaps tomorrow I'll put a space-heater out there in the garden with me; may my grandfather's spirit be mightily amused!). Perhaps the cool wintery air reinvigorated me, b/c directly afterwards I single-dug and laid bricks around a 4 X 4 bed at the front of the Garden that M has marked for an assortment of Herbs. There are already two robust Rosemary bushes and a young, culinary Sage adjacent to the Herb Bed I dug today, so we might expand this Herb Bed to 4 X 10, or even 4 X 15 dimensions.

But why did you only single-dig the Herb Bed, Kenny? A fair question. I've learned to apply John Jeavons' advice (author of How To Grow Grow More Vegetables and chief proponent of double-digging) here rather strictly: "dig down only as far as is possible with a reasonble amount of effort". The first twelve inches of soil in the soon-to-be Herb Bed was delightful: dark, rich and digable. Anything below that level could pass for asphalt: hard and densely-packed red clay. I've double-dug into red clay before, but this stuff was something special. I could have dug it, I say to myself, I could have broken and turned that soil, if I were willing to break out my pick-axe and maul, sweat and strain and probably swear like a lunatic, but so doing is a far cry from "a reasonable effort". Also, planting the bed this year, with roots growing down into it and regular waterings loosening the tough-to-dig clay, next year I'll be able to dig that bed deeper, assuming we're living in this place, but that's another story.

A Look to the Future: Just 10 days until April 15th, our "last frost date", and our date for moving our young, strong and growing seedlings to the Garden. For the past two months I've been suggesting (and sometimes insisting) that we plant early, given the long streak of very warm temps, while M has maintained that we abide by the April 15th "line in the sand". Well, she was correct. By Sunday (4/8), the morning temps will drop in the 20s! Had we done as I suggested it's likely we would have lost all of of young plants to the cold, good grief.