Garden Cover-Up

Well, this evening I covered as much of my perennial beds as I could with wheat straw... the forecast is for snow showers after midnight, and below freezing temps. for the next several nights. Pooh... and more pooh. It has been in the mid 70's to low 80's for two weeks, and lows in the mid 40's to 50's. Sometimes Mother Nature isn't very nice to us.

Well, Darius, since you're right on the other side of the mountain from us, you know we're in the same boat as you. I've got the greenhouse sealed back up and the heater going.

They are calling for 37 tonight in the TN valley, and upper twenties tomorrow night. Ahhh sigh. So much for the proverbial "April 15th last frost" for us.

Dave

Dave, if it's any consolation, my last frost date down here is 4/29....I don't even have my tomatoes out yet - moved all the flats back inside this evening. (We're only supposed to get down to 34 or 35, but I'm not taking any chances, especially with the annual flowers, tomatoes and peppers.)

So what IS a "blackberry winter"? Everybody around here keeps muttering that phrase like I should know what it is. Never heard of it - I just know this feels like a late season cold snap.

"blackberry winter -- A period of cool weather in spring, usually May or June, when the blackberries are in blossom..." Similar to "dogwood winter --...'There's always a spell of it May, when the dogwood tree is in bloom. For several days there is cold disagreeable, cloudy weather, and often a touch of frost.'" From "Whistling Dixie: A Dictionary of Southern Expressions" by Robert Hendrickson (Pocket Books, New York, 1993).

Should I cover my shasta daisys and peonies up? They both have buds?

I have covered EVERYTHING I could find to cover... taking NO chances, including my shasta daisies.

ok so I covered everything up with some old sheets...
So now don't I need to take them off in the morning before I go to work. They will burn up in the sun during the day if I leave the sheets on, right?

Yes, uncover them in the AM... and recover when you get home from work...

thanks

How has everyone made out so far with the cold snap? I have to say I feel bad for you all. I hope everyone comes through it without loosing any plants. Dave - how have the tomatoes done? I saw that you said you got snow?

I agree Dave..my frost date is April 15th and I thought I'd be safe when I returned from Virginia to plant things here. I was hardening off my plants from the indoor lights, however, this was an unexpected surprise with the weather. Even the bunnies here have retreated to their winter boxes in the hutches!
Trish

Sue: The cold front just got here, so it's too early to tell how everybody will do. One tomato plant is already dead, but I think he got clipped by a branch in the heavy wind we had today. :( He's cut right in half at the base, and just lying there like a decapitated foot soldier.

The rest are still alive, but tonight we dip into the dreaded "upper twenties" and I'm expecting light to moderate casualties in the field. Collateral damage will include my new 2" sunflower seedlings (a 110' foot row of them), as well as our dogwood blooms and very possibly our cherry blooms (which are almost finished blooming). I won't be shocked to find my Datura has perished, and my 6" four oclocks are going to be deeply resentful.

Our battle plan goes like this: Cover the big stuff with cardboard boxes, #1 containers, 5 gallon buckets, and office waste cans.

The smaller tomato plants: I put a cinder block over the plant (the plant is the perfect size for this). Then, we will cover the block with an old pillow case, T-Shirt, or other cloth item. These will be tucked into the bottom of the block all around so they don't blow away.

The perennials will all be covered with a generous layer of straw.

I expect that in 2 days we'll find at least half of our stuff at least alive. Fortunately for me, over 90% of our tomatoes (and 100% of our peppers) are still safe and snuggly in the greenhouse.

In fact, the sun just dipped below the tree line so it's time to get to work.

Dave

Dave if you need to you could lift some plants out of the ground easy enough. Just plop them in a bucket or big pot and stick them in the green house for the night. You're datura wouldn't mind the interuption too much and you maybe able to save some other things that way.

Update... strong winds here, and snowing like a blizzard all day. Fortunately, not much accumulation, and even some of that is gone already. I brought inside a hay rack planter where I was working today, and even with the temps. in the 40's, the plants look pitiful. I dread seeing my garden tomorrow morning after mid-20's tonight.... which follow the record highs we had last week. Must be confusing the dickens outta my plants.

Dave, thanks for mentioning cardboard boxes! I have a huge one from a refrigerator or something that will cover my 4' japanese laceleaf maple, and a couple of smaller ones for the Harry Lauser's Walking Stick and a smaller japanese laceleaf maple. I knew I couldn't pile straw high enough... esp. not in 40-50 mph winds!

I'm new to zone 7 from California.... getting the frost tonight, I guess. Can you tell me why I shouldn't use plastic to cover the pretties? Thanks ~ Irene

Irene... the problem with plastic is that moisture from the plants gathers on the underside, freezes, and burns the plants.

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Fortunately I haven't planted anything out yet, had to get the heat on in the greenhouse though for all the seedlings I've been hardening off. Only worried about my apple tree blossoms, hope frost doesn't kill em, would really stink to have no apples this year!

Hope every one is making out ok!

My tomatoes are bitterly upset at me this morning. At least half the plants in the garden will most certainly die within the hour. The amaryllis is frostbitten (even though he was covered). Ah well. We'll start over again tomorrow.

Sorry about your tomatoes, Dave =( And thank you to Darius. Got your post last night. I ran out and changed from the plastic to some old sheets. The sheets were frozen solid this morning.Hope my seedlings will be ok... Thanks again... I'm learning... =)

I am so sorry to hear of losses. We dipped to 32 here this morning. I was anxious also since I had planted all weekend, thinking danger of frost was past and all the roses are blooming or budding. The car was covered with frost but most of the plants were wet but not frozen. My wonderful husband covered everything he could find that I had planted(new perenniels and some annuals). Being smarter than I am, he had waited and all his tomatos and peppers are still in the greenhouse.

well i got lucky covered the eggplant was all right this morning now i'm going to start planting hope you don't have to much damage we haven't been quite as warm as the rest of you to the south so our plants hadled the 28 * temp better we set on the zone 5 6 line

Dave - what I bummer :( That really stinks! Thank goodness you didn't plant them all out. I hope you kept enough plants inside to give you a good harvest. It's pretty hard to roll with Mother Nature's punches sometimes. I hope your not too discouraged.

Poppysue: Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not at all discouraged. I just came back in from the garden and things are looking good. I still have over 90% of my tomatoes in the greenhouse.

I have 17 tomato plants left (alive) out in the garden right now and 232 alive and happy in the greenhouse.

Happy Happy!

Dave

Dave, what's your weather supposed to do tonight and into the latter part of the week? We're starting to warm back up down here, so I'm sending warm thoughts eastward!

Good! I'm glad to hear it. I was feeling bad about pushing you to plant your tomatoes early. Don't listen to me next year!

I got a good chuckle out of that Sue. Well, I am glad that I only put one plant out for each variety.

vols: Tonight they say the upper elevations will get close to freezing, but won't hit it. We're not in the upper elevations, so I'm expecting 36-38. I'm covering up my plants just to be sure, but I'm certainly going to breathe easy.

Tomorrow I'm putting out about 30 tomato plants, if the forecast for tomorrow night doesn't change by then. We're warming back up also so I think we've seen our last cold spell.

April 23rd I'm putting out every tomato plant except for 1 plant from each variety, which will be held until May 1st just to be absolutely sure.

Also the 23rd I plant all my other seeds like cukes, corn, melons, squash, etc.

Dave

Day after 2 nights of hard frost... The sun is shining, and projected lows tonight in the mid 30's, and more warming after that! I spent an hour plus raking all the wheat straw from the raised beds, and most things look pretty good. Probably lose the emerging flowers from the perennial German Statice (pooh... it didn't flower last year so I may never know what they look like!) and a few others. By and Large, however, the effort to cover was worth it. Now, what can I do weith a pile of wheat straw taller than I am? Cannot mix it in... have clay soil. The traditional formula for making bricks is clay and straw! Any suggestions? -darius

Darius: Compost it!! Run over it with the lawn mower to chop it up and mix it with grass clippings.

Dave

That was my thought, too. If you can get your hands on some fresh cow or horse manure, you'll have compost in short order! (Uh, maybe I should rephrase that - you don't actually have to get your hands on the manure - a pitchfork works better, LOL!)

LOL go_vols! I really prefer a pitchfork in horse manure. Hadn't tjought of composting it, Thanks to you and Dave. Guess I need a bigger compost bin...

I till straw right in, and I have clay soil too.

First I run it through the chipper (which is actually the way I use it as mulch), then use it as one more organic component that gets tilled under.

Garden hasn't turned to brick yet.

Brook... Ooooh, I long for a chipper! Thanks. What we dug in the veggie garden 2 years ago hasn't turned to brick either. But, I think I will compost this batch.

I longed for one for a long time, too, Darius. Finally bit the bullet two season back, and haven't regretted the money at all.

If I had to make a choice, in fact, between giving up my chipper or my tiller, it would be no contest. The tiller goes.

The chipper is just too useful a machine. I use it to clean up brush, of course. And fallen tree branches. And to make leaf mold. And pre-grind stuff for the compost pile. And make mulch from all sorts of materials.

Sometimes, when I'm driving around, and see piles of stuff I catch myself thinking, "hmmmmm. I could run that through the chipper and.......

It probably paid for itself when I came into several truckloads of sorghum cane. Unlike, say, corn stalks, sorghum cane takes years to decay if left whole. But, by running it through the chipper, I wound up with a great amendment to our clay.

If you get the impression I'm enthusiastic about it, you're right!

We're considering a chipper, but that dog-gone price! Even with the long-term reward, the upfront investment hurts. This comes especially after buying a tractor this year.

A chipper would REALLY come in handy on our farm here.

Perhaps next year.

What brand/model chipper do you have Brook?

dave