are the seeds safe?...its snowing!

FamilyGardening 3/13/2012, 11:45 am

we woke up to snow this fine middle of march Shocked

here in the PNW

awwwwwk affraid

.....we planted sugar snap peas, fava beans, lettuce, spinach, carrots, elephant garlic, green onions (from the frig) and kale.....

we have the supplies for the hoops but havent put them up yet Embarassed

because of all the heavy rain we been getting the last few days Sad

.....here i was worried the new seeds were going to get washed away

.....now...its snowing What a Face

will our seeds be ok?.....or should we plan on replanting?

hugs

rose.....who loves the look of a white wonder land.....but not when its messing with her veggies cyclops

curio 3/13/2012, 11:54 am

I would think that as long as the seeds haven't sprouted above ground, they'll all be safe. The onions, garlic and carrots should be fine, as they are all underground, and if the tops of the onions or garlic freeze, they'll produce more.

I don't expect this snow to last too long... it's already turning to (you guessed it) more rain here.

Lavender Debs 3/13/2012, 1:33 pm

Watch out for sno-snakes! They prefer skiers but they probably like unprotected gardens too.

OK, I'm kidding, they only bite skiers (at least that is what my husband would blame his dramatic falls on)

I've had peas and their late winter friends survive 6 inches of snow. Stellar Jays scare me. Snow, not so much.

FamilyGardening 3/13/2012, 6:39 pm

Debs!

happy to report snow has gone to rain bounce

.....went out to peak on the garden while there was a break in rain showers and the sun was peaking out sunny

the garden looks to have stood its own from monday's wind storm and todays surprise of snow fall cheers

the only problem i found besides a few small tree limbs tossed here and there....i found what looked to be two pea pods that had come to the surface....they were pale with what looked like a little tail What a Face

.....i just pushed them back into the ground tongue

....not sure what spot they came from :scratch: ....but nice to see they were starting to sprout albino

hugs

rose

**Furbalsmom** 3/15/2012, 3:07 pm

We also had that unexpected snow here on the Coast, about 4 inches Shocked

I have a 2 ft long deck railing planter with Parris Island Cos Romaine and all seven plants survived the wieght of this heavy heavy snow and now soaking rain, rain, rain. They are less than 2 inches tall.

I also have some of the same batch of Romaine growing in a seedling flat on my enclosed but unheated porch that has not gone below 40 degrees this winter. They are over 3 inches tall.

FamilyGardening 3/15/2012, 10:12 pm

furb great to hear that your little seedlings are all doing fine even though they had a bit of snow come down on them! Shocked

i have a few lettuce seedlings inside moved to the kitchen window because they are so late going out to the garden.....had to up pot our brocs, cauli's, cabbages, artichokes, tomato plants and a few herbs......so we our out of room under the lights Shocked

hubby really needs to get the hoops on the box's.......but for some reason he keeps telling me he can only do one thing at a time....really....come on....we have grape vines that need to go out too....they have buds on them What a Face

hugs

rose .....who is wondering if she should still plant her taters this weekend????

GWN 3/15/2012, 10:48 pm

The books that Eliot Coleman wrote gave me great comfort in colder weather, with hardy plants.
He describes growing spinach all winter long in zone 5a, under plastic.
On very cold mornings when the temp has dropped down into the teens (farenheit) he goes in and all the spinach, etc looks dead.
However these plants have the ability to send all of the moisture down into the roots, and so when you go back a few hours later after the sun has heated the area, they all look normal.
It really is quite a wonder.

We have had temps here that dropped down to -20 degrees celcius (-4 farenheit) and the spinach I left in my garden last year (accidentally ) under plastic, is still alive and well, and I was even more surprised to find the spinach that was out in the garden without anything over it, was still alive.

Lavender Debs 3/16/2012, 8:23 am

GWN wrote:The books that Eliot Coleman wrote gave me great comfort in colder weather, with hardy plants....snip....

I am just getting into his books this late winter. Since the 70's I have depended on Steve Solomon's maritime gardening book, for West of the Cascades. He is the reason that I do not keep many of my babies inside. The green closet is not as safe as the cold frame I kept in the mountains (where the blanket was put over the cold frame instead of over the plants themselves, that is a huge improvement from Coleman) Solomon got into the science of why and how plants can survive freezing temps and why a sudden freeze is so much worse than regular exposure.

Debs ....wishing I had more time to read so that I can be ready to start "Winter Gardening" before June.

GWN 3/16/2012, 11:38 am

Its the kind of thing you can use certain aspects/principals to and not all.
Last summer I tried to do my tomatoes the way he describes, where you grow one vine up to 8 feet on strings and then cut back the branches at the bottom and essentially lay the plant down, loosen the string to allow it to keep going. Of course this would be indeterminates.
I did not quite have things set up well enough to carry this on into the fall. But I hope to this fall.
Which one are you reading? THe real details about tomatoes etc comes from the winter harvest handbook,

Lavender Debs 3/16/2012, 11:59 am

Right now I am working my way though the orginal (updated) Organc Garden but Winter G is sitting on the shelf waiting.

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