Friday, December 11, 2009

I spoke to soon......

about the cold weather! We have received some extremely cold weather for this time of year during Friday & Saturday. Night lows have been -8c(18f) and with the wind factored in the temp felt more like -17c(1f)! The late crops have responded accordingly:

frosty cold frame window

spinach

mache

cedar poly tunnel overview

red celery

bright lights chard

leeks

half barrel greenhouse

First off sorry about the dingy photos, the light was getting very low. Everything looks quite placid out there with the red celery looking the worst. The weather is supposed to go back to normal levels starting Sunday, which is above freezing. It will be interesting to see what rebounds and what doesn't. I'm not totally sold on four season harvest, maybe four seasons minus dec, jan, feb & march! It does make for good books though :-)

Lastly the wind has been so frigid the Grand River has started to form ice. You may also notice we still have hardly any snow. We have had a couple flurries so far but they have only amounted to a light dusting.

10 comments:

  1. Dan, I told you it was time to hibernate ! :P
    Poor celery ... :(
    With temps on the rise, I think the leaf veggies will pull through, tho. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our temperatures are expected to get down to the teens tonight as well...I'm a bit nervous to look inside my hoop houses tomorrow.

    I think next year I might invest in a full size hoop house...I just don't think my mini-hoop houses are big enough to accumulate the amount of heat during the day to protect the crops at night. Not to mention that they can be better structurally.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's so sad to see veggies frozen like that. Brrrr. Same thing happened to the beets and carrots I hadn't pulled out yet.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You've got pretty extreme weather. I can't imagine anything growing that low. Our cooldest month by far is February, which is odd to me because I've always considered Dec and Jan as 'winter months.' Odd, though, that we get our winter weather, if any, in March.

    We may get some freezing rain here tonight. That's some dangerous stuff, and we only get it about once every four-five years, so everyone freaks slap out.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm not sold yet either, but I do think your spinach and mache will perk up once the temps get warmer. I really hope it works you for you. I want to see someone succeed this year in winter gardening. It would give me hope that I can do it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I remember frost on the window like that from my childhood in Manchester, and that was on the INSIDE!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Too bad for the greens. I hope they recover once temperatures rise. We are also expecting temperatures below 0C, and I hope that I will have more luck.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The semi hardy greens generally do not make it through deep freezes like this. Items like kale, root crops (parsnips and carrots left in the ground) will though. We have had almost a week of those temperatures - our night time low was 12 about 3 days ago and has not been above 18 for 5 straight days. I have been going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark - so I knew I would be facing carnage in the garden This Saturday morning. Celery and outside swiss chard are done - in fact they would make a great picture for garden bloggers death day! But my brussel sprouts, kale, and some of the cabbages (January King) will be boucing right back.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Isn't it sad when you see the frost knock back your Winter veggies. On the brighter side, I think lots of them need a prolonged cold snap to form buds for next year. Your chard will be amazing if you leave it in the ground for next Spring.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The other day it got into the 30s. Today it was foggy and rainy and in the fifties. I wish I could send some decent weather your way :)

    ReplyDelete