It has been a cold May here in Canberra - the ski fields are open after all. Usually the June Queen's birthday weekend comes and goes without any snow but, no, this year there's tons of the stuff up there. We have snow depth charts up in our house that go back thirty years and you can see that thirty years ago June often had snow, but over the last 10 years or so, no snow in June - until this year, when there's snow in May. None of which changes my thinking on climate change - as one of the predictors of climate change, so the scientists tell us, is climate variability. All I can say is bring on the price on carbon. The sooner we face it, the better chance we have.
So what is happening here? Frozen water in my water gauge, broken plastic hose attachments, and despite it being a very dry month of May, I haven't been able to water in the mornings. The water in the hoses is frozen and so, until that thaws out, I can't water and by the time I leave the garden in the morning it hasn't thawed enough. There isn't a lot to water at present - but the winter vegies would like some water and I'd like to make sure I get the green manure in and watered pretty soon.
You can see the frost on the cabbages below. Those little white grains that make the cabbages look sandy are in fact, frozen beads of moisture. You'll also notice the bug damage I'm getting from the cabbage moth caterpillars. I was fascinated to discover that they freeze stiff into a tiny little green stick. But when the sun comes out and warms the leaves, and melts the frozen drops of water it also allows the caterpillar to thaw. Imagine being able to survive being frozen overnight, only to be removed by the gardener?
