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So here we are in the middle of winter, and everything seems to be bursting into bloom/bud/leaf/song.
Personally, I am deeply dismayed by the rapidity and scale of this, but not surprised - this, and the disappearance of spring as we know it, were predicted as long ago as 1987, as a potential effect of global warming.
To the best of my knowledge, there has been no research whatsoever in the UK, as to what the local consequences of this might be on food growers; the closest I know of was an international symposium of biological scientists who came to the conclusion that the 21st century globally was going to be great for moulds and fungi.
So let's play a game. Assume that typically in the future you get only the occasional frosty spell (air frost only, or shallow ground frost at most), but otherwise nothing much winterlike. Maybe an occasional blizzard, but nothing long lasting; air temperatures well above freezing, into double figures much if not most of the time. (Warming will be more noticeable the further North one is.) Oh, and lots of gales. Further South, longer and hotter dry spells in summer, with more floods when it does rain; more rain in winter than summer.
How would you expect this to change the way you grow things ? What would you do with the extended growing season ? What pitfalls might you expect, in the way of increased pests or diseases ?
Personally I am going to try starting some leaf crops in the next couple of weeks because I don't see temperatures falling by much now that the days are getting longer again; and I'm really keen to get the rest of my garlic into the ground, because it might not get much cold to help it bulb up later, if the frost disappears entirely.
I'm praying that my carrot fly will not survive even this mild a winter if I pull the carrots pdq...and hoping that my salsify and scorzonera will profit by extra warmth.
Personally, I am deeply dismayed by the rapidity and scale of this, but not surprised - this, and the disappearance of spring as we know it, were predicted as long ago as 1987, as a potential effect of global warming.
To the best of my knowledge, there has been no research whatsoever in the UK, as to what the local consequences of this might be on food growers; the closest I know of was an international symposium of biological scientists who came to the conclusion that the 21st century globally was going to be great for moulds and fungi.
So let's play a game. Assume that typically in the future you get only the occasional frosty spell (air frost only, or shallow ground frost at most), but otherwise nothing much winterlike. Maybe an occasional blizzard, but nothing long lasting; air temperatures well above freezing, into double figures much if not most of the time. (Warming will be more noticeable the further North one is.) Oh, and lots of gales. Further South, longer and hotter dry spells in summer, with more floods when it does rain; more rain in winter than summer.
How would you expect this to change the way you grow things ? What would you do with the extended growing season ? What pitfalls might you expect, in the way of increased pests or diseases ?
Personally I am going to try starting some leaf crops in the next couple of weeks because I don't see temperatures falling by much now that the days are getting longer again; and I'm really keen to get the rest of my garlic into the ground, because it might not get much cold to help it bulb up later, if the frost disappears entirely.
I'm praying that my carrot fly will not survive even this mild a winter if I pull the carrots pdq...and hoping that my salsify and scorzonera will profit by extra warmth.
That would be the dreaded Evil Dr Libertarian's "market forces" superweapon, whereby if a commodity such as good soil or water runs short, only those with the most money end up with crops. 
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