Warm in winter, hungry in summer

Two years ago, as part of his quintessentially human crusade on nature, my husband discovered and freed from weeds half a dozen cherry trees. I was quite pleased, picturing my very own cherry orchard (sans the tragedy) and a rich crop to make me feel like a real land owner and farmer. One February cold snap later all the cherry trees were dead and with them my farming dreams. Fruit tree crops were bad that year in the village.

This year, my concern are the tulips I bought last autumn and diligently planted at the right depth and the right distance from each other. The problem is that the weather so far has been way too warm and a couple of hyacinths are already sprouting, violets are in bloom, and I don’t like the look on the apple tree — it looks ready to start putting its leafs forth.

These concerns, while extremely important for me, are nothing compared to a much bigger concern that could affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people: food. Because a warm winter does not only affect garden flowers, forcing them to wake up earlier than normal and risk dying prematurely in a seasonal cold snap. It affects all plants and not always in a good way.

I remember researching last year how to grow cherry trees from a pit (I’ve no idea what’s with my fixation on cherries except the fact they’re among my favourite fruits). I learned then that the kernels need to be wrapped up in foil and put in the fridge to simulate winter temperatures. Why? Because that’s what triggered germination. Apparently, this is not only the case with cherries. Many plants need cold to survive and grow properly.