How LOW can you go?

And I don't mean as in dancing!

I mean as in below freezing temperature. Almost to zero. 

As in C-O-L-D.

As in WINTER.

Winter with below 32 degree temps & below zero wind chills. Does "The Shining" paint a picture for you? Because I must disclose that I am someone who thinks winter anywhere IS a scene out of that movie!!

Back to reality.... 

We are having the coldest temperatures in over 20+ years, even breaking records for about 72 hours. And what do I do when I hear this news: OH MY, my vegetables will die!! So I rushed into action: cover my rows with blankets. Yes, blankets. For a second I thought of fires burning to keep plants & roots warm like they do for citrus crops. Luckily I knew that was not practical.

To fill in a bit of history for you, I have been covering & uncovering my rows of veggies on & off since October 2013. I got a frost cover 2 years ago (15ft) and have been experimenting with keeping things alive. It lets sun & rain in & keeps temperature 10 degrees higher. Early in fall I only use the frost cover alone. I spread it over a few rows. 

The screens on top were my solution to keeping my neighbor's cat from attacking in true cat fashion the fabric as it moves in the wind. They are also called floating covers ( get now why attractive to a cat?) Tibble, formerly known as Dwayne, thinks my garden is his as I rescued him here as a kitten. So no more rips  & screens held by clothes pins. I use metal bars bent or the frames from political signs found in the trash as the "hoops" to attach the floating frost row covers to. In the garden world they are also called "hoop covers"

As it gets colder, I can add a clear plastic cover, to increase the greenhouse effect & by January, it's all covered with another layer by blue plastic tarp. Plants just seem to go into hybernation & then wake up & "spring" back to life, you guessed it, in Spring.

Last year my plan involved increasing to 6 rows as I scored more covers for $1 each at a plant sale.  So using what I learned from my successes & failures, this past Fall I had planted in the ground what I hoped to extend the season for harvesting:

    Radicchio 

   Trout lettuce 

 

   Arrugala 

   Endive

   Escorole

   Rainbow chard

   Kavolo Nero

   or Tuscan, Black, Dinosaur kale

 

   Russian kale

   Cabbage 

And califlower, brussel sprouts. Plus all the herbs: parsley, thyme, lemon thyme, sage, rosemary, peppermint, & chocolate mint.

Fall started out normal & I expected to finish harvesting some veggies by December, while others I would over winter in the low tunnels. I spent three months getting my excerise covering & uncovering the rows every few days as the temperature went goofy. It would be 50 degrees & then drop 20 degrees. Stay a that temp a few days, unseasonalbly low & then jump back up. As it got to December we had an early snow storm but then just as sudden it was 50! 

What did this constant change mean?  I was busy adding or subtracting layers to keep things alive by letting sun in, water by rain in, but also cold out, freezing temps out. 

It was so erratic the fluctuations in temperatures. Since I wanted to continue to harvest easily & not start the hybernation phase (multiple rows covered as one big mass with the blue tarp), I got plastic table clothes backed with felt at the Dollar Store for some extra chilly days. Even with the early snow storm it was all gone by the holidays & my goal for radicchio salads till Christmas came true.

Then suddenly, after a mild welcome to 2014, the temperatures plummeted and those fires buring as a heat source came to me again! Don't worry........ I didn't! But it was time to not only cover with the final winter layer, the blue tarp, but also much more. 

What would happen to tender leaves & roots that lived in winter temperatures in the low 30's in my garden but this year would have to endure 4 degrees??? 

My rapid solution these last two days of blankets: will it work? 

A NEW Year 2014

2013 was a LUCKY YEAR for me, in life AND most importantly, for my garden.

Number 13 in our family is considered lucky. My Mom's father, my Nonno Tony(Antonio or Anthony) always told us this.

So now what will 2014 shape up to be?

I started the new year with a few hours outside in my garden, in the cold as usual as it IS winter remember. Besides the usual exercise, head clearing outing I crave & love, my goal outside on this first day of 2014 was to start a two day process to try & protect my plants from doom & gloom approaching in 72 hours: lowest day & night temps in over 5 years in Philly!! They are talking 18 high daytime Friday to low of 0-8 degrees at night. So while I do have my low tunnels covered with frost row covers & a solar-like panel on my cold frame, I AM afraid.

So out I went all suited up for cold, at 3 pm, late again (meaning if I had gone out@12 I would have had sun & warmth.)  But no, I garden when it's a challenge. I wanted to pick more radicchio.

My radicchio under the low tunnels covered with frost covers

After picking this, I also harvested the baby Russian kale growing. Better to eat a baby kale salad now, than have zero gain if I lose plants! Thinking baby kale, baby spinach & arrugala (store bought of course at Whole Foods or Trader Joes as they are not happening in my garden now) with some sliced Bosc pear, red onion slices, pomegranate seeds drizzled on top after a dressing of olive oil & pear white balsamic vinegar I got for Xmas.

So after 2+ hours,  it was now dusk, I'm walking around by memory, as usual, as it was almost dark. Getting colder too. Besides harvesting the veggies, I did put a few more more layer of covers on rows. Tomorrow after dropping herbs purchased by Harvest Local Foods @9 am, I'm off to find straw to purchase for inside my cold frame & around harvested plants under cover.

New day of new year: my garden off to a good start! Feel accomplished.

STILL growing & harvesting. Yea! 
Success?

Or LUCKY 13 ?

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