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BRRRRRRRR
BLUE NORTHER ALERT! -
Be sure to check if the soil needs
water, very cold weather will dry out the soil and moist soil insulates plants
better than dry soil.
It may do some damage
to your flowers and it will probably freeze back those last perennials that are
still blooming. So, what I suggest you do is a few things;
- Be sure to give your plants, especially newly planted
things, a foliar spray with liquid seaweed. Seaweed is said to act
like an anti-freeze helping to moderate plant temps when we have wild
temperature swings like this. You know, 80 one day and then 40 the
next. If you feed with Bio-form, you should be fine as that contains
seaweed and fish.
- Go ahead and get ready with *floating row cover (or
old bedsheets, probably at least doubled) - not plastic - to
cover your winter color so the blooms don't get burnt from the cold.
Cover them the night before - AFTER you have watered & sprayed everything.
Again, don't use plastic directly on the plants, it conducts the cold and can cause
burn damage.
- Might as well cut the blooms off of your
roses and other perennials, bring them in and enjoy some fresh cut bouquets!
If the freeze lasts at all, it will be time to cut back those plants anyway.
- Be sure to water the ground so it is not dry
before the freeze. Be careful not to water the pavement though.
For one thing, you can get a ticket - and whooops! It would probably
be you that slips on the ice the next morning. No, it is not
funny to watch the squirrels ice skate. ok, maybe it is funny.
But don't do it anyway.
- You should have a good 4" layer of mulch around
all your plantings. This will help insulate the roots of any marginal
plants and keep the ice out of the soil as well. (If we get any ice
that is.)
- Empty your bird baths unless you know they will
not freeze and crack - just don't forget to refill them as soon as possible
so the birds can find water.
- Bring in your plastic pots and ceramic or
uncertain clay pots. Cover the rest with floating row cover to protect
the blooms.
- All tropicals should be in by now - they don't
typically like it lower than 45 degrees.
- Brew up your favorite organic herbal tea, or
organic coffee and dream of your spring garden blooming while reading this
month's Organic Garden mag on sale at Eden's now - Read all about the honey
bees' fate.
*Floating Row Cover is a special medium
weight material designed for protecting tender plants in the event of a freeze.
Eden's carries it in easy to handle 10' x 12' sheets. It can be cut into
smaller sizes for pots or small bed areas. It should be loosely placed
over tender plants or blooms, anchored, and removed as soon as possible after
the bad weather breaks.
A cold front is expected to drop temps into the upper to mid
30's over the next few nights. Now, every time I listen to the weather it
changes, but sooner or later, it will get cold so here are some tips.
The sun is back out - now what?
What do you do with all those wilted
perennials and soggy plants? Well, if you managed to cover your pansies,
etc., they should bounce back as soon as it warms up again. If they were
exposed to the brunt of an ice/snow mix, they may loose their blooms, but they
should grow new ones in pretty short order. Be sure that the ground is not
dry, but don't water if it is still wet. Pansies and most cool season
plants prefer the soil a little on the dry side rather than the wet side.
(Unless it is right before a freeze of course.)
You can cut back your perennials, most of them to about the
crown of the plant, leaving just about an inch or two of stem showing. Be
sure that the mulch is not tight around the crown or too much moisture can
accumulate and rot the crown out and you'll kill the plant. This is
especially true of your xeric plants like salvia, lantana, blackfoot daisy, etc. Some of the woody stemmed
perennials, like Salvia greggii, may not need to be trimmed back as severely, it
depends on the shape you prefer. I tend to let mine grow pretty wild and
natural. If you need to keep it in check, then shape as desired,
remembering that it will bloom from both old and new stems and I'd wait till
spring to do any pruning so you're not encouraging new growth in the winter
months.
Wait until Valentine's Day or there about, to trim your roses.
I wouldn't trim evergreen shrubs like Boxwoods until then either as it will
encourage new growth which can burn in the event of a hard frost/freeze.
Wait till spring and you can trim the new growth into shape.
I hope you remembered to harvest any veggies before the freeze. I have tried, probably
in vain, to save my tomato plant, we'll see.
Mulch everything, using chopped up leaves is great, and soil
keep moist but not soggy. Give a light fertilization to your actively
growing flowers and things should perk up in a short time.
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