The Soggy Bottom of Winter

California has experienced an unusually wet and cold winter, causing delayed growth in the garden and soggy bottoms of grow pots.

The Soggy Bottom of Winter

Spring may have started yesterday, but it has not arrived in California. This winter has reminded me of Ray Bradbury's short story "All Summer in a Day."

Last year on this day it was dry, too dry. We were in full drought mode with dry hills and empty reservoirs. You know, normal California. This winter has been cold, cloudy and wet.

I started the winter setting up a hot-house on one of the gro-carts. It worked well and the seeds germinated.

I removed the cover of the hot-house in early February. In my experience, winter was over. However it stayed cold and damp. Then not only was I growing seedlings, I discovered I was growing mushrooms.

Peziza arvernensis I think. A cup mushroom, but not likely to make it to cup of soup. The outward appearance of cup mushrooms are hard to differentiate one species from another, hence my uncertainty. Peziza arvernensis often occur in damp woodlands, not in the Mediterranean climate of Southern California. Just a sign of how soggy it is here.

On yesterday's news broadcast, they said Los Angeles had more rain since the start of year than Seattle. For my European friends that is like saying Madrid had more rain than the Lake District National Park in the UK.

I'm beginning to wonder where other mold and fungus will show up. When we lived in Malaysia, expensive lenses were stored in the refrigerator. Air conditioned houses were out of the reach of teachers. If you didn't put it in the fridge, mold would grow on the coated lens and it etched the lens. It was so damp there, that during the rainy season, it rained everyday. During the dry season it rain every other day. Still loved it there!

All of the cold and rain has inhibited the start of the garden. The lettuce and kale are doing fine, but my seed starts of peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplants, and artichokes are way behind where they were last year. My grow pots have soggy bottoms. They are falling apart.