I understand that springs in Colorado are whiplash weather for a reason. This year has been especially rough on my neck, but the extraordinary temperature swings aren’t the only thing to blame.
Things are happening — indoors and out — almost too quickly for me to keep up.
Look here, at the table in the living room, where three varieties of tomatoes, some ancho chiles and too much basil are sprouting under a reading lamp. One day there was nothing, the next, seedlings were licking their plastic “greenhouse” cover.
Look there, out back, where the broadcast-spread lettuce has taken root, sending up a few leaves brave enough to weather the wind that threatens to freeze-dry my crop before it matures.
I’m confounded by the cold frame, where no matter how much attention I pay, seed-studded peat pots are desert-dry every morning. But the frantic make-good splashing of water in the box, when frost still clouds the panes above, has had an unintended consequence. This week, a forgotten fall planting of Swiss chard presented itself for harvest — a delicious reminder that in the garden, with the bad and frustrating, you sometimes get to pluck something good. Dana Coffield, The Denver Post
