Monthly review: March- one big cabbage roll

rollinggarden Avatar

In Croatian, when you want to explain the inadequateness of the word “average” there’s a saying that roughly translates as: “Some people eat only meat, some eat only cabbages and some get the soup, but in the end, we all had cabbage rolls”. This is the perfect saying to describe this “average” March. When you look at the data at the end of March it looks like an average month, with average morning temperatures, average daily temperatures, the average amount of winds, and slightly below-average rainfall. But the reality is much different. 

This March has been a very dry month. There was only one (1) rainy day. On the last day of March, we got 28 liters of rain, which diminished the feeling of the drought. Still, knowing that we had 30 days without rain, and especially knowing this month was March, which is usually one of the rainiest months, shows how dry it has been.

Another issue with this month was the unusually cold beginning and warm end of the month. The first two weeks were much colder than average. The morning temperatures were more like February temperatures. The minus temperatures reached all the way to -7°C(19°F), which is something we rarely get. These temperatures actually stopped nature from waking up, and during the first weeks of March, the whole countryside looked like we were in the middle of winter. The strong winds didn’t help the situation and the cold feeling was even greater.

Just like the first half of March was extremely cold, the other half was warmer than average. The temperatures started jumping to 24°C (75°F), which is our late May temperature. Of course, the jump in temperature woke up the sleepy nature, and we exploded in just a couple of days. The change was even bigger after the rain, in just 24h everything turned from grey to dark green. 

When it comes to my garden during March, there was less work than usual. During the first two weeks, I didn’t do any garden work. The cold and drought kept me from gardening and prolonged all the needed work. The pruning and orchard cleaning was moved from the end of February to March, and the garden itself wasn’t touched until the last week. 

This month I bought new strawberries, roses, bulbs, and mushrooms, which I’ve already planted. The last thing I planted were the bulbs, which ended all around the garden. I was planning to use most of the bulbs in the new garden we’re making, but the soil is still not here, so I had to place them somewhere this year. There will be lots of pots all around the yard this year.

Most work was done with the seedlings. Right now most of the seeds have been sown, seedlings have been transplanted to bigger pots and now all we’re left is to water the seedlings and wait for May. 

Hopefully, April won’t be so moody, and we’ll get a nice pot of cabbage rolls instead of separate ingredients.

rollinggarden Avatar

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *