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gardening for beginners

How did you guys do with this late frost/freeze?

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 239

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 4 months ago

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I'm in central Texas, and I was feeling a little paranoid last night ... vindicated this morning! There was indeed a heavy frost/light freeze, and I was so glad I took my tomato, basil, and squash seedlings inside last night ... and covered the pumpkins, watermelon and such that were already in ground.

After 3 years, I finally figured out how to use the weather forecast. wunderground.com is my fav resource, and they give an hour by hour for temp and dew point. Previously, I was frustrated because I'd just check overnight forecast low ...38 deg ..."no problem" i'd think, and wake up to dead seedlings, or a ruined late season honeydew melon patch.

Last night, I saw the dewpoint forecast to dip to 32 even tho the low temp was 38, so I covered.

Also, I was on guard because of something an old farmer told me:

"If you hear thunder in January, be prepared for a late frost/freeze" ...and we had thunderstorms in January this year

row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

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James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 239

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 4 months ago

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April 7 ...ice in central Texas

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

James Bradford

pollinator

Posts: 239

Location: Salado, Texas

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posted 4 months ago

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Hopefully this is that last time everbody has to squeeze into the greehouse

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row row row your boat, gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6730

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 4 months ago

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Hi James;
We are in Montana.
Sure is different weather down there.
We will have occasional frost well into May or some years early June.
Fall frosts can start in early September.

Thank you for the tip on https://www.wunderground.com
I just joined up!

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
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Carla Burke

Rusticator

Posts: 9182

Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 4 months ago

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We're not done. It's supposed to freeze again, tonight - and our last normal freeze date here, isn't until sometime between the 15th & 21st. But, we've also still had snow as late as Mothers Day. It's crazy enough that I don't even bother trying to take anything outside, until early May, unless the second half of April's '10 day' forecasts are all warm. That said, my peach tree only had a handful of blossoms, to start with, so I'm kinda doubting there will be much of a peach harvest, this year, if at all, once these freezes are done with us.

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

Judith Browning

Posts: 9603

Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 4 months ago

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so far so good!

The pear and peach trees had already set fruit so this mornings light frost was not as damaging as it might have been during bloom. Can't tell if the apple blooms are damaged yet but nothing else seems effected although I brought my cucumber starts indoors yesterday and my flats of other starts are under glass in cold frames.

Same low of 33 F expected tonight.

The sun is out today after so many rainy days and everything looks lush and green!

We covered the strawberries for overnight lows...they are covered in blooms.
and plan to cover again tonight.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
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Anne Miller

steward

Posts: 17414

Location: USDA Zone 8a

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posted 4 months ago

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I am in the Hill country of Texas and it is too early to plant because the mesquite trees have not shown any sign of budding out.

That is call phenology.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

John Weiland

pollinator

Posts: 2706

Location: RRV of da Nort, USA

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posted 4 months ago

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Being closer to the Canadian border like Thomas R. in Montana, we have to wait to be prudent with plants going outside. The first round of early tomato seedlings are in a window box/greenhouse...we finally might be seeing night lows of above freezing soon, but it was 18 last night so I'm not holding my breath. The larger tomato and pepper planting....again for indoor starting.....will commence around April 20th with a target garden planting date of June 1st. We are gratefull up here for looooong summer days to help get the crops through. In the meantime, the yard hydrant used to water the garden is still frozen several feet down underground,....so soil is way to cold for planting right now. Silver lining: No ticks or mosquitoes yet! :-)

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.”― Albert Einstein

Douglas Alpenstock

pollinator

Posts: 5520

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

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posted 4 months ago

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We're a long way from planting outside. My official gardens are still frozen solid. Official planting starts in the middle of May.

Except: There are slopes on my steep hilly property that are definite microclimates, catching the intensity of the sun early on. And they are definitely thawed, and the grass is starting. I have a spot where I pushed forest soil years ago, now grassed over, and I've been in there with a grub hoe. I'm going to punch in a bunch of Alaska Bloom potatoes, since I have tons of leftovers. And the Alaskans are quite resistant to scab which in "newly turned" soil seems to be a problem here. Probably a pH thing. I may also throw some spinach seed out there for laughs and toss a scrounged translucent tarp on top. Why not?

Moral: Walk your land! There are sweet spots you can grab onto.

Jenna Allaway

Posts: 13

posted 4 months ago

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I’m up here in northernish Alberta still waiting for spring to thaw the ground. Last year I was covering my tomatoes June 17-19 to protect them from frost. I wasn’t prepared so I buried them in hay, which we had in abundance. It worked.

Douglas Alpenstock

pollinator

Posts: 5520

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

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posted 4 months ago

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Douglas Alpenstock wrote:We're a long way from planting outside. My official gardens are still frozen solid. Official planting starts in the middle of May.

Except: There are slopes on my steep hilly property that are definite microclimates, catching the intensity of the sun early on. And they are definitely thawed, and the grass is starting. I have a spot where I pushed forest soil years ago, now grassed over, and I've been in there with a grub hoe. I'm going to punch in a bunch of Alaska Bloom potatoes, since I have tons of leftovers. .

Following up:

The microclimate experiment worked! 8 of 25 potatoes are already up and leafing out! We had 3/10" of rain which I thinks helps plants decide to go hard. In two months we'll have new potatoes! Woo!

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