the.com/growingseason
nature's open enrollment, where every frost-free day is a signature on summer's permission slip
means The stretch of the year, between the last spring frost and the first fall frost, when temperatures stay warm enough for plants to actually grow.
from A plain English compound, yoking "growing" to "season." "Grow" descends from Old English grōwan, used of plants thriving, and is a cousin of words like "grass" and "green" through an old Germanic root for sprouting and turning verdant. "Season" comes through Old French seson from Latin satio, "a sowing" — literally the time for planting. So buried in the phrase is a quiet redundancy: a "sowing-season for growing," the farmer's calendar saying the same hopeful thing twice.
- length varies
- from 50 days in Alaska to year-round in Florida
- frost defines it
- bookended by last spring and first fall freeze
- climate shifting
- US seasons grew two weeks longer since 1900
- degree days
- farmers count heat, not calendar dates
- midnight sun trick
- Arctic crops sprint under 24-hour summer light
growing season corn belt — us midwest corn production lasts ~140 days from may to september, longest in iowa and illinois
growing season coffee belt — tropical regions between tropics of cancer and capricorn, year-round in colombia and ethiopia
growing season wine grapes — napa valley california ~210 frost-free days march-october, determines harvest quality