I have been looking at all kinds of plants out of the ground for a while now. It’s so nice when the green sprouts from the ground. I’m even happy with my nettle coming up. Because if you want to be a paradise for as many insects as possible, then this nitrogen-loving plant is part of it.
Caterpillars of butterflies such as peacock, small fox, mottled aurelia and atalanta live on nettles. Next to the nettle there are phloxes, nepeta, coneflowers and other flowering plants that should soon yield a lot of nectar. Gardening often involves waiting and keeping your hands in your pockets. That does not apply to my row of boxwoods. I have been doing the Sisyphean work of manually removing hundreds of caterpillars for 1.5 months. To prevent a boxwood battlefield like last year.
Chilly wind
Growth spurts are more intense in sun and heat. In principle, early spring easily brings us northern winds and therefore chill. These northern winds come about because the European continent starts to warm up considerably in the spring. Rising warm air then creates a low-pressure area above Central Europe. Since the seas warm up much less quickly, a high-pressure area is more likely to form between Iceland and Scotland. Between those 2 pressure systems we will experience a chilly wind from the North Sea, with ‘chilly showers’.
Supply of mild or warm air
That is not an issue for the time being, as a low-pressure area seems to be spinning around the British Isles. For us, it leads to a southerly air flow and thus to a supply of mild or warm air. There will be a few summer-like showers and it may be 20 degrees somewhere. My plants are making a spurt again!
Grieta Spannenburg and Jordi Bloem alternately share their experiences about the weather in a weekly column MAX Magazine. Check them out other weather columns.
(Source: MAX Magazine – Issue No. 13 2024. Photo: Shutterstock)
