I love warm weather. Part of that might be due to the fact that I was born and raised in Corpus Christi, a semi-arid coastal town in South Texas. To be honest, Northern California is just a little too cold for me most of the year. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful here, and it’s a plain fact that I haven’t moved back to Texas and it’s infamous several-weeks-in-a-row of days over 100 degrees. So here in cooler Sonoma County, summer has got to be my favorite season. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, and peaches are all ripening on the vine and branch thanks to the long, warm days. So while looking out of the window at a bright, cloudless blue sky, with a high expected in the min 80s today, I am a little reluctant to start my winter garden. Now seems not the time to think about cabbages, turnips and Brussels sprouts. Those are veggies to be added to warm stews to get through the cold, dreary days of winter. Brrrr. I don’t even want to think of that right now. And by starting those seeds today, would I be inviting those days to begin even sooner?
But now actually is the time to start those winter crops. Even though it’s hot and dry currently, we need to sow the winter veggies now so that they are big enough by the time the Persephone period arrives (the period between late Fall and early Spring when there are less than 10 hours of daylight and plant growth grinds to a standstill). Otherwise, started too late, the seeds or tiny seedlings will sit, frozen in time, and those that survive will quickly bolt in the spring.
And try as I might, the changing of the seasons is inevitable. While starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors out of necessity during the winter brings the promise and excitement of long, warm days to come, starting these winter crop seeds in the summer is also necessary and brings the promise of year round abundance, even when days are short and cold. And while an “endless summer” is at times quite appealing, both to gardeners as it is to surfers, even the cold season brings something special to the mix – from garden produce, such as figs, persimmons, and pomegranates, to the return of the blessed, life-giving rains. Summer is tied to the inevitable winter, as birth is to death. And no amount of wishing or procrastination will change that.
So enjoy the pool time and lemonade, but save a little time to plant tomorrow’s harvest. It’ll pay off.
Happy growing this month, and thanks for reading.
(This post first appeared in the August 2024 edition of the Love.Life Telehealth newsletter)
Jeffrey M Pierce, MD 