Observations in nature – with plants and animals through the ten seasons

Have you also made a mistake and started gardening too early or too late? In spring, every passionate gardener is itching to to start to work after the winter’s rest. But sometimes there is still the threat of ground frost, which destroys all the work. The “tried and tested” remedy is to pay attention to the calendar or the farmers’ rules. But the seasons are not always the same, sometimes everything blossoms early, then again late … The experience of the last years showed that one could rather start earlier. But when?
  Now a small, very appealing booklet has been published that recommends an interesting approach.

Phenology

“The word ‘phenology’ is a real tongue twister. The doctrine it describes, on the other hand, is easy to put into words: It looks into the question of what influence weather and climate have on the seasonal development of plants and animals. The ten phenological seasons have no fixed dates, but are based on the phenomena in nature”. This is how the authors describe it in the preface of their booklet.

The ten seasons

The idea is that gardeners should not be guided by the calendar, e. g., the rule that warmth-loving plants can be put outside after 15 May, when the cold Sophia has rumbled. In Switzerland, the climate varies greatly depending on the geographical location. In the mountains there is often still snow when in the lowlands it is already summer. Depending on the mood of the weather, flowering can also be delayed or advanced by a few weeks. So, it makes sense to take your cue from the plants in the area. They reliably show what the local temperatures are like. They don’t care whether they are in Bern or Chur, nor do they care about the date.
  In early spring, coltsfoot flowers when the soil is at least six degrees warm. It does this reliably every year. That is why coltsfoot is one of the indicator plants of early spring. There is at least one typical indicator plant in every season, which can be used as a guide for sowing and gardening.

Phenological handbook

In this very attractively designed booklet, the ten phenological seasons are described by a team of authors consisting of an organic farmer, a gardener, a travel, environmental and nature expert, an illustrator and a copywriter. There are three of each in spring, summer and autumn, and a resting phase in winter. Each of the seasons is presented on six pages in words and pictures. On the first double page, the indicator plants are introduced. The next two pages describe the work to be done in the garden. On the third double page, under the title “Discoveries”, active animals in the season are presented.
  On each page there are lines for your own notes and observations. The authors’ idea is explicitly to use the booklet as an observation tool for one’s own garden. The illustrations are drawn by hand with great care and attention to detail, some in black and white, others coloured in watercolour. “And for those who don’t dare to draw anything themselves, our illustrators […] have pre-sketched examples that can be completed”, this is the authors’ advice. Thus, all ten seasons are always described in the same way.
  At the beginning of the booklet, a leaflet with the most important indicator plants in the annual overview is included. It is advantageous if the gardener knows such indicator plants in his surroundings, or even better, finds them in his garden and can thus observe them without complications. If he has a blackthorn (first spring), elderberry (early summer with the blossom and early autumn with the berries), and an apple tree (ripening in late summer) in the garden, four seasons are already covered with indicator plants. The fact that the dandelion is in flower (full spring) cannot be overlooked, and the willow catkins (early spring) can be easily observed on a walk. In midsummer, the chicory flowers with its blue florets. In full autumn the leaves of the trees change colour and in late autumn they fall off. In winter, the blossoming of the Christmas rose is the sign of the dormant season. But winter is easy to recognise even without the indicator plant. In this way, the gardener always knows when new sowings are possible or what work needs to be done in the garden. For this purpose, a multi-coloured sowing calendar, coordinated with the ten seasons, is added at the end of the booklet.

PhaenoNet, Observations
by private individuals

These observations are not new: since 1951, a number of (29) indicator plants have been observed at 160 sites in Switzerland and their developmental stages recorded.
  In 2011, the PhaenoNet was launched. Here, school classes and private individuals can observe nature and enter their data. (Registration at www.phaenonet.ch). 15 plants are available for observation. It is recommended to start with one or two observation objects. The data collected in this way provide an overview of the state of vegetation and climatic changes. They are also passed on to Meteo Switzerland. This also provides, for example, a more accurate pollen forecast for allergy sufferers.

More detailed
information for interested parties

The “Phenological Handbook” is highly recommended to every gardening enthusiast
  For those who want to deal with the subject in more detail, the book “Spriessbürger – Handbuch für den Anbau von Gemüse und Salat in der Schweiz” (Spriessbürger – Manual for growing vegetables and lettuce in Switzerland) by Eveline Dudda and Klaus Laitenberger (ISBN 978-3-9524524-0-0) is highly recommended. This 360-page basic work is much more detailed and also refers to the ten seasons and their indicator plants.
  Now nothing stands in the way of identifying and observing the indicator plants in one’s own environment. In the next gardening season, you can try out how your observations in nature can be incorporated into garden life. Of course, your own notes will be of great value!  •