As any gardener knows, Mother Nature and her weather are really the ones in charge of how our gardens grow. We are forever wondering, will we get that April snowstorm…?

Thinking about the weather and how it affects everything from
crop timing, to which insects buzz through it, to how much water we need to supplement is something I respect more each year!

Globally, our weather is also changing at an alarming rate. Both
temperatures and the number of erratic weather events are on the rise. These are but the tip of the melting iceberg of how weather touches every aspect of the garden process.

I hope that as more people dig in to gardening as a hobby and passion,
we’ll reach our tipping point. We’ll both love all kinds of weather AND care for our earth in ways that will leave it in good shape for future generations!

Growing Gardeners

I believe that the way to ensure our future generations take good care of
the earth is to simply get them out into nature so they can fall in love with
it! Let’s get kids exploring, asking questions and simply being outside
in a snowstorm or on a hot steamy day and everything in between…

Sarah Nelson, my dear friend and children’s book author, has recently
released a group of books, I Like the Weather. This set of picture books
introduces children to the joys of different weather with upbeat rhymes and
intriguing back matter. Below, Sarah shares her thoughts on how our relationship
with weather can change us, and our relationship with our gardens for the
better. Enjoy!

Weather Makes the Garden Grow

Weather makes the garden grow. This is a simple truth that even children and beginning gardeners (like me) know in our souls. A spot of soil, some sun, some rain—these are the essential ingredients for any successful garden. But if we really stop to consider, we realize that our gardens rely on weather—all sorts of weather—in dozens of meaningful ways to propagate the food we eat each day. Nevertheless, we sure do love to hate the weather.

When I wrote the first poem for the I LIKE THE WEATHER picture book series, I was living in a cloud. In the wet and foggy Pacific Northwest, it sometimes rains for weeks on end, and the sun seems to disappear forever. At first, it was hideous. Truly, I hated the weather.

However, I quickly learned that the only way to live in such a soggy place was to stop resisting—to zip up my raincoat and get on out there. Soon, I really did like the rain. Trees and gardens thrived. Flowers bloomed in February. Rainy walks were filled with sensory wonders. One day, caught in a winter rain shower, drip-drops tapping on my hooded head, pitter-pattering on my chilly cheeks, I sang my “first draft” of I Like the Rain.

Here in the upper Midwest, we are happiest when we embrace the changing weather and the cold and snow. Memories of my Minnesota childhood—windy day kite flying, snow angels and snow forts, jumpy spring rain puddles, and sunny summer swims—were the inspiration for a whole weather series. Life is just better when we like the weather. Kids know it implicitly—if they are allowed to slip, slide, stomp, and frolic—that weather simply gives us more ways to play.

Weather Perspectives

We adults sometimes forget. I suppose it is the little discomforts we all feel—our achy muscles on a rainy day, a dull melancholy when the sky is very gray. But weather, like a feeling, comes and goes. Clouds drift. Rain passes. Stormy gusts give way to easy breezes. It helps, I think, to get outside in all sorts of weather to frolic and play—or at least to revel as we dig and sow in the many ways that weather makes the garden grow.

As you visit and tend the garden with your children, notice the visible ways that weather helps your plants flourish. Warm sun sprouts spring shoots and opens flowers. Wind carries seeds to new homes. Rain washes green leaves and waters the garden soil.      

Weather also has many less obvious ways of growing the garden. As weather changes throughout the year, talk with your children about these benefits for the garden.

Weather Benefits the Garden

• Snow pack protects the roots of trees and perennials, insulating them from icy temperatures.
• Melting snow gives our gardens the slow, steady soak that helps plants sprout in spring.
• Intense cold kills off some fungi and decreases populations of certain troublesome insects.
• A hard winter freeze (and repeated freezing and thawing in springtime) softens the hard coats of seeds like apple, plum, and wild rose and allows these seeds to germinate.
• Wind blows flower pollen from blossom to blossom, pollinating many of our food crops like cereal grains and nut trees.
• Fog supplies some plants with fresh water as their leaves absorb moisture directly from the wet air.
• A heat wave, like nature’s hothouse, can ripen August tomatoes and hurry-on the autumn harvest.                                      

There really are so many things to like—and even love—about all sorts of weather. I hope you and your families will enjoy celebrating and exploring weather in the garden as well as in the I LIKE THE WEATHER series.

Thank you Michelle and Forks in the Dirt for letting me share these weather reflections.

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Thank you, Sarah! 

Understanding how weather affects your plants helps you work with nature to make your garden grow strong and resilient. I really love how Sarah reminds us that we’re all in some kind of weather, so we might as well dress for it and get out there!

I also love that some of my favorite local bookstores are carrying her books! Find them at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul and Lake Country Booksellers in White Bear Lake. Additionally, gift sets are available to order, or visit SarahNelsonBooks.com. For a peek into more about Sarah and her books, check out this Bookology video link.

Dig in to the great outdoors!
Michelle (and boys)

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