Mid-Atlantic - 3/27/12 - Cold snap

How is everyone in the Mid-Atlantic (DC, MD, PA, DE, Far East OH, NJ & Lower NY) faring through this cold snap?

How many of you had already planted? (I did - mostly because I teach SFG at my house and needed a little something to show at my first class on 3/17. Besides we teach that the beauty of SFG is that you can extend the season.)

Were you able to protect your crops? How? (I used a poly tunnel but because of the high winds I had to also put towels on top.)

My compost guy said he expects there will be another cold snap around Easter. Do you agree? (Yep.)

So far so good for me - the lettuce in the flower boxes on my front patio even seemed to enjoy it.

I'm still concerned because Gurney's sent my dwarf trees a couple weeks ago. Thankfully I was heading on vacation when they arrived & only had time to heel them into one huge pot so they were easy to cover. If they die, I'll be having a chat with Gurney's about this.

I planted peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes directly in the garden over the last two weeks. All of them sprouted thanks to the warm weather. I covered them last night by draping row cover over the boxes, but I didn't get a chance to remove the cover before leaving for work this morning. I'll check on them tonight.

I only had onions and carrots planted, and I'm pretty sure they're fine.. I checked them yesterday before tucking them in and I think all of my carrots had sprouted successfully, and my onions were growing like crazy !!

This is my first SFG (my first garden at all, really), and I worried I wasn't doing it right. I have chicken wire cages over each of my two 4 x 4 plots, and I stretched and weighted a tarp over that, so the plants were basically in a tent. I don't have any of the white plastic (poly?) that everyone seems to have in their pics. The plants seemed to be okay. I have 4 strawberry plants (a gift; I am waiting a bit longer to plant more), and they look unscathed.

I also got my bareroot plants WAY early. I planted large row of berry bushes (sweet cherry bush, elderberry, goji berry, gooseberry, blueberry, juneberry, and josta berry) and I covered each of them with a plastic grocery bag weighted down. One of the elderberries suffered some wind damage, but we'll see how she does.

It's funny how into this I have become since getting the book a few short months ago - it's fun!

~Amanda

I LOVE your enthusiasm Amanda.

This is my first sfg and I'm learning a lot from my mistakes. I have radishes and peas holding up well. Cayenne peppers too - for these I cut off the end of 2-liter bottles and put one over each plant - sort like their own private greenhouse. I've been watering them with warm water.

I also have a lot of seeds sprouting indoors and am wondering if I could put the carrots outside (with a bottle greenhouse over each for protection)?

gillenkl wrote:This is my first sfg and I'm learning a lot from my mistakes. I have radishes and peas holding up well. Cayenne peppers too - for these I cut off the end of 2-liter bottles and put one over each plant - sort like their own private greenhouse. I've been watering them with warm water.

I also have a lot of seeds sprouting indoors and am wondering if I could put the carrots outside (with a bottle greenhouse over each for protection)?

I've only ever direct seeded my carrots, so I'm probably not a good one to ask.

It's looking like we're back to typical mid-Atlantic spring weather, 50s and wet. Not that I'm complaining - the only reason I look forward to summer now is for growing things. I didn't put anything in the ground yet that can't survive some slightly chilly overnight temps.