Did you hear about that freak storm on Lake Tahoe last week? We were in it!

Hiking in Yosemite, just reaching the top of Mt Hoffman, my daughter and her friend started shouting, “It’s snowing!” Sure enough, white flakes began to swirl around us. We thought it was just a weird little flurry as a cloud passed over. After all, there had been zero precipitation in the forecast.

At the very top of the mountain, as my feet tingled from peering down the sheer drop over the other side, thunder rumbled in the distance.

Uh oh. Time to get down off of the 10,000+ foot exposed mountain.

By the time we’d scurried back down into the relative safety of the forest, thunder was cracking and booming around us, and we were in a proper blizzard. The whole time, we kept saying to ourselves, this is crazy! How do you get a snowstorm in June, especially when there had been 0% chance of precipitation?

One of my soccer buddies had been out in it too, we realized last night as we caught up on our respective weeks. She had been near the top of Dick’s peak, southwest of Tahoe. Same thing: thunder, snow, and total bewilderment from everyone out there. They could see the lake from their hike and said it looked like the ocean, the waves were so big.

Meanwhile, were you one of the millions under the heat dome?

This was a week of freaky weather.

As gardeners, what do we do about that?

In the moment, of course, you just do your best: Water extra, protect from cold or too much sun, mist your plants to cool them (unless the humidity is already at 100%!), etc.

In the long run . . . I don’t know?

Recently I read an interesting theory about how humans change behavior over on Sarah Wilson’s Substack. She wrote that we don’t really change until we absolutely have to, until straights are well and truly dire. But when we do eventually change, our new behaviors are selected from the existing ideas already lying around.

Her point was maybe you don’t necessarily have to initiate change, but work on the ideas you’d like to have lying around when change is forced upon you.

Right now, like many of you I suspect, I buy a lot of our family’s produce. We have a green grocer in our neighborhood with quality like a farmers’ market, but better prices. I just can’t beat that with homegrown for most things*. Unless we move, or the grocer closes down, or the prices get totally out of hand, change won’t be forced on me.

But if it is, here are the ideas (and skills) I want to have lying around:

🌱 Knowing what grows in my climate, and having experience with lots of varieties.

🌱 Lots of experience with seeds, knowing which ones work well for me, and how to start and save them.

🌱 Keeping a library of seed, both purchased and saved from plants that did well in my garden, especially during unusual weather

🌱 Knowing how to care for soil, and have spent time building up soil health.

🌱 Planting and caring for fruit trees; learning how to shepherd them through temperature and water extremes.

What ideas do you want to have lying around if and when freaky weather arrives in your garden?

How are you thinking about all this? Please hit reply and tell me! I’d love to hear from you!

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Happy Seedurday,

Anne

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*P.S. The produce varieties where I can consistently beat the green grocer on price and convenience are:

• most greens (lettuce, kale, chard, collards)
• herbs (especially the ones you can’t easily buy, or those where you use a smaller quantity than the bunches for sale)
• green beans through the summer
• zucchini, but only during "peak zucchini" ;)
• green onions
• tomatoes (when they’re in season, and we’re having a good tomato year)
• apples and quinces when the trees are ready to harvest.

What do you grow that beats the grocery store or farmers' market?

When you’re ready, here are some more ways I can help you grow a thriving garden from seed:

1. Plan your seed-starting schedule with our ​free printable planner.​

2. Download the free ​Orta Seed Starting Handbook with all the basics you need to succeed with seeds.​

3. Take the guesswork out of watering with Orta Self-Watering Pots. (Find discounted factory seconds here!)

4. Join the Orta Seed Club to have 5 hand-picked, unusual & high-yielding varieties delivered to you every season.

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