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?
