Latest / The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners / Episode 50 – Warm Winter – Strange, shifting and stubborn

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Episode 50 – Warm Winter – Strange, shifting and stubborn · The Beanstalk : A Podcast for Gardeners

• 0:28
  Welcome back to the Beanstalk, fellow beans.
• 0:31
  My name is John, your neighborhood garden buddy.
• 0:36
  And today we're talking about something that honestly feels a
• 0:40
  little off, a winter that doesn't quite feel like winter.
• 0:45
  You step outside expecting cold, expecting rest, expecting that
• 0:50
  quiet pause the garden usually takes.
• 0:54
  And instead things are kind of just continuing.
• 0:58
  Not quite growing, not quite sleeping, just hanging there in
• 1:03
  this weird in between. And if you're anything like me,
• 1:07
  it raises a lot of questions. What do we do with this?
• 1:12
  Do we lean into it or do we try to hold things back?
• 1:16
  That is what we're going to dig into today.
• 1:21
  Why this topic matters goes a lot deeper than just It's been a
• 1:25
  warm winter for gardeners. Winter is supposed to be a
• 1:30
  reset. It's when pests die back, when
• 1:34
  plants get the required chill hours, when soil rests, and when
• 1:40
  we get a breather. When that doesn't happen, it
• 1:44
  throws off everything. Fruit trees may not produce
• 1:48
  properly, perennial cycles get confused, and pests can carry
• 1:54
  right on through like nothing ever happened.
• 1:59
  For people trying to grow their own food, that unpredictability
• 2:02
  matters. It affects harvests, planning,
• 2:06
  and even confidence, because gardening works best when
• 2:10
  there's some rhythm to the seasons.
• 2:13
  When that rhythm starts to shift, we have to adapt, whether
• 2:16
  we like it or not. This winter really drove that
• 2:23
  home for me. I kept walking out into the
• 2:26
  garden expecting it to look like winter, and it just didn't.
• 2:32
  My garlic was coming along, but I couldn't shake the feeling
• 2:36
  that it hadn't been cold enough for long enough.
• 2:41
  Hard neck garlic needs that chill to really develop
• 2:44
  properly, and I found myself wondering if I was going to end
• 2:48
  up with smaller bulbs or something a little off this
• 2:52
  year. Then there were my nectarine and
• 2:56
  plum trees. I kept thinking about chill
• 3:00
  hours, counting them in my head like that was somehow going to
• 3:04
  help. Watching those buds start to
• 3:07
  swell early felt exciting at 1st and then a little concerning,
• 3:13
  like things were moving ahead without permission.
• 3:18
  At the same time, I had to deal with something that had nothing
• 3:22
  to do with the weather, but everything to do with the
• 3:25
  season. I ended up cutting down a tree
• 3:29
  my grandfather planted almost 60 years ago.
• 3:32
  That was a heavy moment. It had finally reached the point
• 3:36
  where it wasn't coming back, and leaving it standing wasn't safe
• 3:40
  any more. There's something about doing
• 3:43
  that kind of work in winter that makes it hit harder.
• 3:47
  The garden is quieter and you feel it more.
• 3:53
  On a more practical side, the chickens reminded me pretty
• 3:57
  quickly that a mild winter means they don't slow down either.
• 4:03
  They were getting into everything I had to finally
• 4:06
  solve the problem of protecting my lower planting beds, and
• 4:11
  after trying a couple different things, the combination of
• 4:15
  cattle panel and that flexible orange fencing turned out to be
• 4:19
  the wind. Not pretty, but effective.
• 4:24
  Sometimes that's all that matters.
• 4:29
  And then there was the water situation.
• 4:33
  Normally winter brings snow, maybe some rain, something to
• 4:38
  keep things going in the background.
• 4:42
  This year we got basically nothing.
• 4:45
  I realized pretty quickly that I couldn't just rely on nature to
• 4:49
  carry things through. I had to start thinking about
• 4:52
  watering in winter, which is something I've never really had
• 4:57
  to do at this level before. It felt strange, running around
• 5:02
  with my watering can and turning on and off my outside water,
• 5:07
  planting around cold snaps to prevent costly damage, dragging
• 5:12
  my hoses around when in general I should have been able to let
• 5:15
  things rest. The big picture here is that
• 5:22
  gardening isn't just about plants, it's about patterns, And
• 5:28
  when those patterns start to shift, even slightly, everything
• 5:33
  else shifts with it. A warm winter doesn't just mean
• 5:38
  a comfortable January. It means pests survive, diseases
• 5:43
  persist, and plants don't get the signals they're used to.
• 5:49
  Chill hours are a real thing. Fruit trees rely on them to
• 5:54
  properly set fruit. Without enough cold exposure,
• 5:59
  you can end up with poor flowering, uneven fruiting, or
• 6:03
  even complete crop failure in some cases.
• 6:07
  At the same time, soil biology doesn't get that reset period,
• 6:13
  which can affect nutrient cycles going into spring.
• 6:19
  Getting started with gardening during a warm winter really
• 6:22
  comes down to adjusting your expectations and your approach.
• 6:28
  Instead of assuming things are dormant, you have to pay
• 6:31
  attention to what's actually happening.
• 6:35
  If plants are still actively growing, even slowly, they may
• 6:40
  need water, they may need protection, and they may need
• 6:44
  monitoring. This is also where cold tolerant
• 6:48
  crops come into play. Things like spinach, kale,
• 6:53
  certain lettuces, carrots, and even some Hardy herbs can take
• 6:58
  advantage of milder conditions. These are often cheaper to start
• 7:04
  from seed and can give you something productive during what
• 7:07
  would normally be downtime. Row covers and simple cold
• 7:14
  frames become incredibly useful tools.
• 7:18
  Even in a warm winter, you can still get sudden cold snaps, and
• 7:23
  those can do more damage because plants aren't fully hardened
• 7:27
  off. Having something as simple as a
• 7:31
  piece of fabric or plastic you can throw over a bed can make
• 7:35
  the difference between losing a crop and keeping it going.
• 7:42
  The day-to-day reality in a warm winter is a little unsettling at
• 7:46
  first. You find yourself checking
• 7:50
  things more often. You're paying attention to soil
• 7:53
  moisture in January. You're watching buds swell
• 7:57
  earlier than they should. You're noticing insects that
• 8:01
  normally wouldn't be around. It feels like you're gardening
• 8:06
  in a season that's supposed to be off.
• 8:09
  Over time, though, it becomes more about observation.
• 8:14
  You start to realize that the garden is still telling you what
• 8:17
  it needs, it's just speaking a slightly different language than
• 8:22
  usual. Common problems and challenges
• 8:27
  start to stack up pretty quickly in this kind of season. 1 of the
• 8:33
  biggest is insufficient chill hours for fruit trees.
• 8:39
  This shows up as delayed or uneven blooming, poor fruit set,
• 8:44
  or reduced yields. It happens because the trees
• 8:49
  never receive the cold signal they rely on to reset their
• 8:52
  growth cycle. There's not a whole lot you can
• 8:56
  do to fix it mid season, but choosing lower chill varieties
• 9:02
  in the future or diversifying your plantings can help reduce
• 9:06
  risk over time. Another issue is increased pest
• 9:14
  survival. In a normal winter, extended
• 9:18
  cold knocks back populations. In a warm winter, those pests
• 9:24
  carry right through into spring. You might notice earlier
• 9:30
  infestations or higher pressure than usual.
• 9:35
  Staying ahead of this means monitoring early and often,
• 9:40
  encouraging beneficial insects and using organic controls
• 9:44
  before problems get out of hand. Water management becomes a
• 9:52
  challenge, too. Without snowpack or winter rain,
• 9:58
  soil can dry out more than expected.
• 10:02
  Plants that are still active need moisture, but over watering
• 10:08
  in cooler conditions can still lead to root issues.
• 10:13
  The key is to check soil before watering rather than sticking to
• 10:18
  a schedule. And then there's the emotional
• 10:23
  side of it. Gardening is tied to rhythm, and
• 10:27
  when that rhythm feels off, it can throw you off too.
• 10:33
  That's something people don't always talk about, but it's
• 10:37
  real. The long term payoff of learning
• 10:41
  to garden through a warm winter is resilience.
• 10:45
  You become more adaptable. You stop relying entirely on
• 10:49
  what should happen and start responding to what is happening.
• 10:54
  That's a powerful shift. It makes you a better observer,
• 10:58
  a better problem solver, and honestly, a more confident
• 11:02
  gardener because you've seen things go off script and you've
• 11:06
  learned how to adjust. The pros of a warm winter
• 11:12
  include extended growing opportunities, less extreme cold
• 11:16
  damage, and the ability to experiment with cold tolerant
• 11:21
  crops. The cons are just as real.
• 11:26
  Disrupted plant cycles. Increased pest pressure,
• 11:30
  potential fruiting issues, and the need for more active
• 11:35
  management during a time that's usually quiet.
• 11:41
  For the recipe tie in, Let's lean into something that
• 11:45
  reflects that in between season feeling.
• 11:49
  A simple warm winter garden soup works perfectly here.
• 11:55
  Take 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat it in a pot over medium
• 11:59
  heat. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 cloves of
• 12:04
  minced garlic and cook until softened.
• 12:10
  Toss in two cups of chopped carrots, 2 cups of chopped
• 12:14
  potatoes and four cups of vegetable broth.
• 12:20
  Let that simmer for about 15 minutes, then add a couple
• 12:25
  handfuls of greens, like spinach or kale, even if they came from
• 12:30
  a winter bed, and let it cook another 5 minutes.
• 12:36
  Finish with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon.
• 12:40
  It's simple, flexible, and works with whatever the garden is
• 12:45
  giving you right now. Here are some fun facts about
• 12:52
  warm winters and gardening. Plants don't actually measure
• 12:58
  temperature the way we do. They track cumulative exposure
• 13:03
  to certain conditions over time, which is how chill hours work.
• 13:11
  Some seeds can actually germinate earlier in mild
• 13:14
  winters, which can lead to surprise volunteer plants
• 13:18
  popping up before spring. Soil microbes remain more active
• 13:25
  in warmer winters, which can speed up certain nutrient
• 13:28
  cycles. Certain pests can complete
• 13:32
  additional life cycles in mild conditions, which is why
• 13:36
  pressure can increase so quickly.
• 13:41
  Evergreen plants often continue slow growth through warm
• 13:45
  winters, even if it's barely noticeable.
• 13:51
  And finally, many gardeners historically relied on cold
• 13:55
  winters to naturally manage their gardens, which makes
• 13:58
  adapting to warmer ones a relatively new challenge.
• 14:05
  Welcome back to the garden nerd corner, fellow beans.
• 14:11
  Chill hours are calculated as the number of hours a plant
• 14:15
  experiences temperatures, typically between 32 and 45°F.
• 14:23
  Different fruit trees have different chill requirements,
• 14:26
  and if those aren't met, internal hormonal signals that
• 14:29
  regulate dormancy and flowering don't function properly.
• 14:34
  This is why you can see uneven blooming or reduced fruiting
• 14:41
  Climate variability is forcing a shift toward lower chill
• 14:45
  varieties in many regions, even historically colder ones.
• 14:51
  At the same time, soil temperature plays a huge role in
• 14:55
  microbial activity, which means nutrient cycling doesn't slow
• 14:58
  down as much in warm winters. This can lead to early nutrient
• 15:04
  availability, but also potential imbalances if plants aren't
• 15:09
  actively taking those nutrients up.
• 15:13
  It's a complex system and we're right in the middle of watching
• 15:16
  it change. Thanks again for hanging out
• 15:21
  with me today on the Beanstalk, Fellow Beans.
• 15:25
  If you want to keep the conversation going, we've got a
• 15:28
  growing community over at the Beanstalk Garden Club on
• 15:31
  Facebook. Come join us, share your garden
• 15:35
  photos, swap ideas, and dig a little deeper into all things
• 15:40
  that grow together. If you're enjoying the podcast,
• 15:45
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• 15:48
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• 15:52
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• 15:56
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• 15:59
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• 16:02
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• 16:06
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• 16:10
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• 16:19
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