is the song running through my head right now. The temp here is 8F and with the wind I sitting at about 2F. Three sweaters on, two pair of socks and my ski hat and I still feel like a popscile. I am so cold ya can hear my bones beating a rat-a-tat- tat together.
The sun is still not up and it too dark to se e anythign yet, but am almost afraid to stick my head out when the sun does come and se e how much damage has been done. We have had cold temps here before, but I think in the years I been down here, this has been the coldest temps I have come across.
Got plants that needed to get a good cold chill to produce for next year, but this has been a bit to much. I am hoping that this is the wrost that we will get this year. All this up and down temps has plants going up and down with it and what precious bits of energy they have are being used up.
I was so glad I did a last minute check yesterday and went to put a few more plants in the gh cuz when I looked in a discovered the winds yesterday and brought down a tre e branch and had ripped wide open the back of it. I would have been crying my eyes out if I would have lost all them plants. Had to race around with frozen toes and hands last night and do a repair job and cover the whole area again.
So how everybody else and their plants doing?
Baby It's cold outside...
Where is that Global Warming when you need it? I think the polar bears would be right at home in this weather. I left several plants outdoors that I meant to dig or bring in but I have too many as it is - so either they make it or they go on the compost heap later (bananas, plumerias, caladiums, lots of cactus and succulents). I will just start over again on some of them but some I won't try again due to size or poor performance. It's past time to move to South Florida or further south and leave the cold behind.
I just have winter veggies in.
Better now than on Easter Sunday again!
BB
You are so right BB. I still tryign to clean up the damage from last year and making repairs to trailer. Somehow it don't seem so bad when ya have to start over when it still winter out, but sure hate it when ya lose everythign when it done growed up.
8 Degrees??
Where exactly is Seale?
BB
henic city al and columbus ga are next to either other and I just below both of them if ya making an unside down triangle. Plus I down in a valley , probaby the lowest section around.
we had a hard freeze here on saint simons last night. my neighbor froze his citrus trees and it looks like a winter wonderland. its supposed to be below freezing with the wind tonight and maybe tomorrow night. i was not able to cover all my plants and this morning my pentas, firethorn, what was left of the canna lillies, a begonnia, an oregano, some macho ferns, angel trumpets and a purple plant i forgot the name of.....all brown. i have been told it is better to just leave them like that until spring. is this the best thing to do? what are the chances they will come back in the spring?.
Dooley. This is just my opinion, but the most important thign is keep ing the roots healthy. The tops are already toast so no worrying about tryign to protect them anymore.
I would leave the ded folaige on for now. that way you are not leving open wounds for cold water and whatever to seep down into your plants. I got a nice top ded mes s out here myself.
What I would do is if ya got som eleaves or mulch , heavy duty plastic , blankets, or such, I would throw it over the plants and secure it to the ground. But I would wait til it gets closer to evening say about before coverign them so that the afternoon sun can stil warm the earth and that wil provide some additional heat for tonight. Then I take stuf f off again in the mornign for a few hours when the sun is up and warmed things a bit. The sayign is if ya take care of the roots the top wil come back and I always worry more about the roots than the tops and usually don't in the final end lose to many plants.
Hopefulyl you got some of that rain that came through and your groudn still wet. During the coldest parts of winter and 18F til last night has been my coldest, I would always go out and water my plants and then throw a cover over them. Once the roots were wet the water aroudn would freeze and in its way protect them and them as the sun warmed the earth and the water melted it woudl giv eof f heat to keep the roots alive.
I didn't no anywhere in AL got down in the single digits. Learned something new today. LOL. I'm getting hit with 24 degrees over night and I'm whining. Low 20's is rare where I am. Planted citrus trees this spring, good timing on those. Think they're alright, small enough to through sheets over. Had a tropical hibiscus stil blooming till a couple of days ago. Last night turned every leaf brown and most fell off. That was quick but they usually come back every year after dying back.
Good heavens, Starrlight, 8 F°??? We have 33F° here or 31F° at night in Atlanta. I find that already cold enough! That's about what we could have in Netherlands too, sometimes it could go down to 26 F° but not very often. LOT of rain though brrrrr.
I have a few thing too that don't look so hot anymore, I was too late but have decided to leave them. We have a lot of leaves on property so it pretty packed. I just pray things comes back in Spring. Usually Nature takes pretty good care of it.
Tulip
It's been colder and usually everything comes back just fine. The biggest problem is when warm days are followed by a cold snap happens - that is when some things (crepe myrtles come to mind) are killed to the ground but in a couple of years most people would never know it. In '83 it was in the 70's the week before Xmas and then Xmas Eve it turned bitter cold. Xmas Day was 5 degrees F. Huge crepe myrtles were killed to the ground. The same thing happend in Jan 85. They all came back up from the ground but the old growth had to be cut down. Saucer magnolias can have a lot of dieback with late spring cold snaps too but they come back nicely. Anyway nothing new under the sun when it comes to weather. Last year's late spring freeze (16 deg) did a number on a lot of shrubs (Japanese Maples took a hit).
Here is what 14 deg does to falling water from the cooling towers at a power plant yesterday.
The cold really slammed some of my winter veggies. I didn't cover my lettuce so they are gone. The Aisian cabbages and pac choi are looking very bad.
Oh well. Needed to do a cleanup anyway.
BB
Like most of you I lost my cool weather harvest in the cold snap we had last week. But I've got a question for the more experienced (any experience is more than I have!) - According to the charts broccoli and cauliflower are supposed to be planted in July-August (16 weeks before first frost) so it can be harvested before the hard freezes hit. However, it was just plain too hot in August for those plants to survive - my spinach wouldn't even germinate until it got cold enough in late Sept. Any tricks up your sleeves? You may have guessed that I'm a transplant and totally unprepared for gardening in GA!
I use row covers and plastic. It will protect stuff somewhat.
I didn't pay attention to the forecast and got caught with my pants down.
Funny thing is, out of all my winter veggies, the spinach took the frost and kept smiling.
It tastes good too! :-)
BB
Sweet.. I am no expert when it come s to veggies. Have to get help from the Market growers myself.
brocolli, califlower, collards and lettuce all went out the second week in September here. Was way way to hot. To save the plants in this heat th only thing I know how to do is start the seed early indoors wher e the air conditioner blowing to keep em from melting and then put the transplants out.
Somebody els e probably got a better way and I wouldn't mind hearing it either, cuz it is alot of work, but the veggies made it ripe just in time to cut and pick.
I start broccoli, collards, and cauliflower the middle of July for September transplants. I put the plant bed in the coolest shadiest spot I can find, usually in the woods next to a retaining pound, Have to water the bed daily but so far it works as the July August , early Septemebr heat is a killer. In a particular hot spell I will "bush" the transplants ( cut twigs off trees and stick the in the ground next to the plants). I use early maturing cultivars for both spring and fall planting.
A September broccoli plant. Cultivar Barbados
Farmer Dill... What doe s the " bushing with the sticks" mean. New bit of language for me. : )
I never though t about using the woods and trees for veggies. Thought they ha d to be out in the sun all the time. That would be so much easie r than tryign to haul plants in and out to water everyday. Thanks for the tip. : )
Simply means take leafed out twigs from bushes or trees ( I usually use branches from The Carolina cherry laurels as they hold longer) stick cut end down beside the plant. Essentially a brush arbor for a plant. Depending on how may branches you use per plant, you go from partial to almost complete shade for the plant. By the time the leaves dry up, the plant has had time to become established. Back in the olden days, when acres of tomatoes and sweet potatoes were set with a dibble, that was one of my most dreaded jobs. The kids were sent to cut tree branches and place them to protect those plants. Now that I am in my second childhood, I still do it but on a very limited basis.
Neat!!!!!!!! Learne d something new and useful today. Thank you! : ) Apprciate you explaining it too cuz I would have just used sticks with no leaves. Got a Cherry Laurel here that I was goign to remove now I wil save it for the veggies.
That's a neat idea!
BB