Nippy weather

KimWilson
KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

This morning I woke to find that some of my plants were not happy with the nippy weather last night. Because of the obvious stress to the plants, we harvested plantain, green peppers, calendula, horsetail, and tomatoes today.

Comments

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @KimWilson we have snow in our forecast before the end of the week. Last year we had a big wet snowstorm by now.

  • tomandcara
    tomandcara Posts: 712 ✭✭✭✭

    @KimWilson and @LaurieLovesLearning We had our first snow in mid September. The great ting was even though we had inches of snow, none of my plants froze as the temperature low hovered between 32F and 33F . The forecast for the first hard freeze is later this week. Happy to have had this extra month of garden time after the first snow.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    We had a frost two nights ago. So light that it didn't do any damage in the garden. I only noticed cause there was moisture on the deck and I thought one spot looked shiny. When I checked, sure enough, there was a small patch of frost. This is the latest frost date for us in the 25 years we have been in this place. A hard freeze is expected this weekend.

    It is very chilly today and just raining here at my house. When we went to town this morning, it was snowing, big, wet, heavy flakes at the higher elevations between here and town; sticking in places.

  • Wendy
    Wendy Posts: 138 ✭✭✭

    I had frost on the windshield here in Vermont, but my deck garden was fine as it's close to the house. I have harvested the last of the basil and made basil oil frozen in ice cube trays.

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    Still harvesting so I guess that it hasn't been a hard frost yet. Today I harvested elecampane, tomatoes, horsetail, parsley, and thyme. Yesterday it was green peppers, nasturtiums, and grape leaves.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I finally brought in the Swiss Chard and Spinach and left the Kale outside. Our first frost may be over the weekend when we are supposed to get a cold front. A very atypical year but great for the small garden I had.

  • Granny Marie
    Granny Marie Posts: 53 ✭✭✭

    We're expecting our first frost in zone 7a next week. I hope we get some rain first as it's been really dry.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    We have only had one light frost (heavier in areas around me). I brought in most of waht I wanted but forgot a few things and still need to harvest flower seeds.


    I expect we will have a frost this weekend so need to get cold frames set up and a temporary greenhouse up for storiong my plants

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    Today I harvested beets, valerian, plantain, calendula seeds, and oregano. Every time I harvest just a little bit more, I am grateful that we have not yet had a hard frost. Canned pickled beets today and put some hard cooked eggs in the left over brine in the fridge. I don't care for pickled eggs, but my husband is going to get a surprize treat.

  • Annie Kate
    Annie Kate Posts: 680 ✭✭✭✭

    We have had quite a few frosts (eastern Ontario) but the killer will most likely happen this weekend. So I'm picking the last cabbages, taking the last bits of lovage, and harvesting chard. Maybe I'll gather a few windfall apples if I have time. And then we'll cover the beets, turnips, carrots etc with double layers of canvas.

    But today it will be toasty, maybe even t-shirt weather! :)

  • ltwickey
    ltwickey Posts: 369 ✭✭✭

    Our weather in SE CT is still pretty good and I still have tomatoes growing!!

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    We built a mini greenhouse today that will help us keep a couple of tomato plants for a while longer.

  • karenjanicki
    karenjanicki Posts: 989 ✭✭✭✭

    It's starting to get very cold here as well. I have harvested most of my plants but the rest will need collected so I can get everything put away for winter. I'm bummed about it because I hate to see them go.

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    Yesterday I made and bottled my first ever batch of applesauce and a batch of hyme cough medicine. This week I will be botteling potatoes and perhaps I will get to elderberry syrup as well.

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    Today had to be around 70 degrees. What a lovely perfect weather day.

  • Jack_Went_Splat
    Jack_Went_Splat Posts: 59 ✭✭✭

    We had our first snow fall last week with our last harvest of green tomatoes to hopefully vine ripen which many have since. Being here and seeing the many posts and videos from the Grow Network has helped me to know what to do to get that last harvest done. what a blessing!

  • Grounded
    Grounded Posts: 153 ✭✭✭

    We rent a community garden plot and I had to go clean-up the vegetation over the week-end. I harvested everything over a week ago, but I looked around at other plots and noticed there were still under-ground vegetables ready for harvest, onions, carrots, potatoes. The Kale and Swiss Chard still looked healthy, but the remainder of plants looked done in, we have had a couple of pretty heavy frosts over the past couple of weeks. We live in the north-east section of Illinois.

  • lewis.mary.e
    lewis.mary.e Posts: 225 ✭✭✭

    We have a warmup this week. After 2 weeks of unseasonably cold temperatures, we are looking at 60s F. this week. It will be great for finishing up our winterizing!

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I wish we still had weather to allow our harvest to have lasted this long. We have had several hard frosts and woke yesterday to 1 degree and wind. Several areas near me have seen negative lows already. We have had single digit lows most of the last week. Only a very small amount of snow before it got real low and most of that melted off right away.

    Not looking forward to winter. The joints seem to like it much less this year already.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    We had our first snow today and as usual I could have had more done outdoors. But it does not go away so it will be waiting for me and another nice day. Hopefully i will still be able to harvest a few herbs I did not get to.

    Tomorrow is supposed to warm up again. We have a prediction of 7 nicer days so I will get more pallet raised beds put together, plants moved for winter and any cold frame and a greenhouse put up.

    Today I am hiding from the cold and waiting to adjust to cold. Its a good excuse to check windows and make sure any that I want to cover with plastic inside are done. I might get distracted by a seed catalog

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    @vickeym Wherever you live seems way too cold for me. I was out today without a coat or sweater doing a little clean-up of the crops. We did get snow last week, but today was lovely.

  • KimWilson
    KimWilson Posts: 197 ✭✭✭

    @Denise Grant Are you looking at new seed catalogs? What companies have the new catalogs out now?

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2020

    @KimWilson I am looking at old catalogs or online. I really don't need seeds but...

    I am looking for odd seeds or colorful lettuces. I will be buying seeds or microgreens and I really do not know where is the best place to get those

  • Silkiemamuska
    Silkiemamuska Posts: 99 ✭✭✭

    We are having a warm spell this week 6 days of temps in high 60's to 74. I keep having my delicate plants moved in and out of the house depending on the night time lows. (Injured knee so the teenager is humoring Mom!)

    My varigated lemon is flowering again and is the most delicate. I have rootings of raspberries/blackberries/elderberries/roses/ grapes figs that are very small that I am trying to decide if they will be inside for the winter under grow lights or if they are developed enough to go through winter in a very large pot outside. Or...lol, let them go dormant and have the pot in the garage to buffer the cold but still give them the chill hours they might require.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Silkiemamuska We also have 6 days of warm and nice weather. I have been outdoors from sunrise until sunset. What did you decide to do with your plants?

    My biggest challenge I have here is getting certain types of help. I need my one area leveled before I can put up my 45 foot long greenhouse. Between finding someone who can do it and then who has time with everyone rushing to get last minute chores done before winter is a definite challenge

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    KimWilson I live in a small village about 2 hours north of Anchorage, Alaska. We were in the negative temperature range this week, though it warmed up today into the 20's with snow predicted of about 20 inches over the next couple days.

    The weather here can sometimes be brutal, but many times it is worse in the lower 48 than it is up here.

  • Silkiemamuska
    Silkiemamuska Posts: 99 ✭✭✭

    @Denise Grant I decided to let the small rootings go dormant outside and then move them to the garage as a winter buffer for the temps. Most importantly, I put weekly reminder alerts to check the moisture levels of all plants overwintering in the garage!

    So, where you greenhouse is to be put are you needing someone with equipment to level it or is this a hand tool job? If I was close to your location I would love to help you construct your greenhouse. What type are you building?

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Silkiemamuska Great Idea on the weekly reminder for watering!

    Unfortunately because of the size of this one I need a small kabota or larger machine. I alos have a smaller greenhouse to get up but that one will be easier and the area can be checked for being leveled by hand.

    The smaller one is being made from an old trampoline, free of course! My only item to be bought was the plastic. Any piping or metal stakes I had. I am using pallets for the greenhouse tables and pcked up 50 or more 5 gallon buckets to use for various things. Heating in this one will be with plastic jugs filled with water and possibly a small rocket stove. I often will use a smaller greenhouse or cold frames in an unheated greenhouse. This size will be 12 by 20 or 30 feet. I would kind of like to try some aquaponic in here but it would be a small spot to see how it works. Koi work well in my area for aquaponics for this type of greenhouse.

    The larger one I bartered for. Its 15 by 45. It came with pots, trays, water hoses, electric hookups and fans. And a wood or pellet stove. I think there are 20 or more wood greenhouse benches. The only thing I needed were the bottom wood board (had to buy them :( - ouch! and the plastic, which was expensive too. This is the one I have to have land leveled for. I am going to ask my neighbor if I pay for fuel would he do the work for seedling. He likes to barter and uses a lot of spring seedlings.

    The last large greenhoue came for 3 1/2 hours away. we took two trucks and two trailers and barely got every thing on. It was creative packing to get it to fit! It was a fun day but we were all glad when it was done.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My niece lived in Alaska for several years and loved it. Its a beautiful place. I myself do not know if I could handle all that snow, but sometimes we get it here too. I am just below ther snowbelt but at times the wind blows the wrong way