Hello again!
Yesterday afternoon, I spent time fortifying our already planted beds - peas, spinach and lettuce. In each case, I pulled the blankets off and added a thick layer of newspaper to increase the insulation value. With no warming sun, and a predicted very cold night, the extra heat saved would be very much needed.
Well, we clearly had a hard frost overnight. This morning, the mulch in the walking areas of the garden were frozen solid as was the soil, at least the first few inches, in the open beds. As you can see above, the birdbath was a cake of ice through-and-through. The good news was that the dark green quilt over the bed of peas held the temperature on the underside to 36 f which was a relief. In peeking under the blankets, I could see that the spinach and lettuce had survived as well.
With a good deal of sun today, I covered some of the protected areas with black plastic trash bags. The sun beating on the dark plastic will raise the temperature in the coverings and soil for another cold night tonight. Today's high temp here was 42 f.. There's no doubt in my mind that it will drop very quickly after sunset. But, as I wrote a few weeks ago, this is the chance a gardener takes when starting early in the spring. It's definitely a gamble!
It looks like the hyacynths will survive the cold snap, but clearly have some damage.
Taking a break from the cold outside, I remembered that Mike B. started some tomato plants earlier this week. So, I thought I'd get mine done too. It's definitely time! Just 5 weeks or so until planting time. Shown below are 2 yellow tomatoes, 2 better boy tomatoes, 2 chianti rose tomatoes, 1 each of jade, yellow, and emerald squash; 1 each of red, gold and orange peppers, 2 cucumbers, and 1 catnip. Now I just have to hope for many days of bright sunshine.
I hope to see you here again soon. Next time: Your Garden's Good Guys!
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