Cold weather

 

Anyone else getting kicked by the unseasonable cold weather right now.
My broccoli and other cool weather plants were set out a week or so
ago.  Tonight's low is predicted to be in the mid to low 20s.  The
kiwi plants are already look done for this season.  Hope that some of
the fruit trees survive.  

Let me know.  Misery loves company.

--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

 



Our cool crop vegetables made it through the bitter cold in pretty good
shape. The perennial flowers that came up and started to bud and bloom
didn't fare so well.  The heat lovers such as the peppers, okra and tomatoes
are, fortunately, still in our greenhouse.

 

wrote:


To follow up on my post.
The worst of the cold seems to be over.  Almost everything survived.
The worst hit were the strawberries.  They were already full of blooms
and had set some fruit.  The ones that got covered the first night are
probably ok.  The other berries are brown dried up little things.  We
put flower pots over most of the broccoli and cabbage.  We took them
off Saturday and could not really tell the difference between them and
the ones that were not covered.  The kiwi fruit plants look like they
have had it.  The fruit trees look OK but it will take a week or so to
see how they fared.  Muscadines look ok, but they only have a few
leaves.

My tomatoes and herbs are still in the greenhouse.  The peppers are in
the family room for germination.

Such is life for the farmer and gardener.

--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)

 



Here, on the other coast, we had a very cold (for us) Dec.-Jan.(used up
most of our firewood),warm Feb. and relatively dry March which is
extending into April (less than half the rain from last year). The
broccoli and, cabbage that I planted last fall, slowly disappeared into
the winter's dark. The Brussel sprouts that I planted in my lettuce
garden turned into little green buggy whips (Sun below the tree-line).
When they started to flower(Sun above the tree-line), I chopped all but
one of them into compost. Hopefully I'll get seed from that one.

The root crops that I planted late last spring were devastated by my
playful "Hounds from Hell" but there are a few beets and parsnips that
survived without bolting. I guess I should pull them now before things
start to warm up more. Anyway, I need to turn the garden. The tarragon
is about six inches high, the strawberries are leafing out and, the
yarrow is poking it fern like leaves out of the mulch.

I have half a dozen unidentified herbs, that barely leafed-out last
year, coming up in pots and, I need to get them identified.

My good friends, the Swiss chard, have already been served with several
meals.

About a month ago, I trucked in a cubic yard of organic compost and
spread it among the beds and seeded it with buckwheat, red clover, and
something the local nursery call "green manure".

Two weeks ago, I planted 18 peas that I had germinated first. So far, so
good.

Using your advice, I set up a hot pad (on low) under grow lights back in
February and I am stunned at how well it works. It even germinated
peppers through peat moss. I have one 72 cell tray living outside now
and two other trays that go out for the day and, one in the "nursery"
under the lights. One thing that strikes me as peculiar though, is that
the corn that I've germinated (Yes, corn, but let's not get into that.)
comes in at night. Odd thing is every morning, before it goes out, there
is dew on the leaves that were dry the night before!!? By mid-May my
tomatoes and peppers should be ready for planting.

I still have cool weather plants to get in the ground before that and,
more herbs to germinate (I wait for the post-person everyday). I have
the feeling that this is going to be a very good year in the garden:-)

Vibrating with anticipation,
- Bill
Cloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

 


I built a cloche (mini greenhouse) over my raised garden using PVC
pipe and clear plastic sheets on one and blue plastic tarpaulin over
the other. Our temperature went down into the low twenties. My newly
planted heirloom tomatoes all died but the carrots and beets that were
already established seemed to accelerate in growth. Newly planted
lettuce, carrots,beets and most of the bush beans also survived.