April showers bring May flowers. Or so goes the old saying – one likely invented by an Easterner. <\/p>\n
Here in the Central Valley, everything starts and ends two months earlier than most everywhere. <\/p>\n
April showers? We’ll be lucky to get even a few raindrops by then.<\/p>\n
That makes March a pivotal month for farmers and backyard gardeners. For those of us who toil the soil, it’s a month of high risk and high reward. <\/p>\n
Farmers especially. <\/p>\n
As of the last survey, the Sierra snowpack was close to normal. If it keeps storming through March and into April, most farmers can be assured of healthy water allotments – enough to get them through the growing season. They can take chances in the amount of acreage they can plant and not worry so much about pumping groundwater.<\/p>\n
Yet March is a fickle month. It can unleash torrential rains, hailstorms and deep freezes, or it can bring spring weather like that of recent days. It can also be a month when Mother Nature turns off the spigot, turning a healthy water year into a dry one.<\/p>\n
For backyard gardeners, the financial risks are minuscule compared with those of farmers.<\/p>\n
Yet nonetheless, we have our own bets to be waged.<\/p>\n
Consider the tomato. I like to eat tomatoes in June, and maybe even late May. If I plant now, I have a chance of wowing my friends with sumptuous BLTs before summer officially arrives.<\/p>\n
That’s why I spent last Sunday stooped over my plot at the community garden, planting a pair of young tomato seedlings – an Early Girl and a Sweet Gold. <\/p>\n
I only planted two, wanting to hedge my gamble against a late frost or hailstorm. <\/p>\n
The plot next to mine is worked by a young couple who recently moved here from Tennessee. As I planted my tomatoes, they looked at me with a mixture of alarm and curiosity.<\/p>\n
Tomato planting in March? Undoubtedly I was affirming their view that Californians are a reckless bunch. <\/p>\n
There was nothing scientific about my decision. I hadn’t consulted an almanac or extension agent.<\/p>\n
All I knew was that it felt like spring, and the weatherman had predicted a week of warm weather.<\/p>\n
I wonder how many farmers operate similarly on instinct. Probably a few. <\/p>\n
As a farmer once told me, planting crops is like proposing marriage. It’s a leap of faith, and you know when the time is right. <\/p>\n