Frost and foremost

Honest to God, you'd think it was the end of the world here.  The News has carried it every night in their headlines, urgent voices warning of the destruction that is imminent, and whilst it's not quite the end of the world, it has been the end of my zucchini, eggplant and pepper plants - FROST!

When I gardened in Ireland, I never held much hope for a winter crop.  I was too cold and too lazy to plant anything in the autumn, and when the freezing temperatures, hit I did not much mind what happened to the garden.  Springtime would come and I'd start again. 

Here it's different.  If I'm careful, I can have stuff growing all winter that I couldn't grow in Ireland.  But the question is, what will survive the frost and what won't?  I'm looking froward to the Master Gardeners program to get a more definitive answer to that question.

Last year, I took precautions when we had the one and only frost warning of the year in December.  I put bubble wrap over the lettuce, and they did really well surviving well into the hottest part of the summer before bolting. I'd heard that if peppers are protected from the frost they can be perennial, so I decided to wrap them in bubble wrap - some of them still had fruit on them.  I also wrapped up the egg plants too, more as an experiment than anything.

I also covered the little potato plants that had sprouted.  Notice the cherry tree growing in this plot.  I pruned this off a cherry tree that was dying and in the end needed to be cut down.  I used the cut branches as supports for peas and they blossomed!  It is still growing strong, and I'll move it, and three others like it, in Janurary. 

I had heard that you just need to cover the plant to protect it from frost, and that frost drops straight down. So I didn't worry about the pots that sit along the front under the eaves of the house.  I did experiment with other covering devices, like upturned buckets,

 and even garden chairs.

I made sure to cover the lettuce and bok choi. Only because they seem to me to be fragile, and therefore frost would make a difference - to be honest, I'm just guessing at this stage.

And so I went to bed content that I had done the best I could for my little garden. 

Why is frost and low temperatures so damaging  to some plants?


Well, when water freezes it swells, so if a plant freezes the water within the cells expands, bursting the cell walls.  That is why when the plants thaw out, they just flop over. 

The night before last the temperature dropped to 28F.  The zucchini wasn't covered and it bit the dust.

Where the basil was peeking out from under the bubble wrap, it got damaged, (right hand side of photo) but those leaves under bubble wrap seemed okay.

 The cilantro was very happy snuggled under its covers.

The bok choi were also well protected.

On close inspection the spuds were slightly damaged - you can see where the leaves have turned a darker brownish color.

 

 The leaves beneath seem okay and so my plan is to just leave these alone and hope that they recover to some extent.  I've also read that some other plants might recover too, and its best not to prune off the frost damaged parts.

 

Despite being covered, the peppers and eggplant took a a hit - that's how it goes, I suppose! I did however come across a website with great tips on frost protection (which you can read for yourself by clicking the link) that said to avoid covering with plastic - perhaps the bubble wrap was not as clever a plan as I had thought.

But the arugula was thriving.

 And the lettuce...

But wait a minute - I forgot to re-cover that patch of lettuce last night - so how did it survive the low of 29F?  After a garden fence clinic, (which usually occurs when I catch Al in his garden and quiz him on gardening matters over the fence) it transpires that, in fact, the lettuce is fairly frost resistant.  This was totally unexpected.  I turned to the internet for a second opinion and discovered that lettuce does survive a light frost. So, was all my nurturing in vain - those varieties that died were doomed - and covering those that were not susceptible, a waste of time?  

Not necessarily - the BBC website suggests covering lettuce when a frost is likely. Admittedly, British frost and Californian frosts may drastically differ, but if it does get cold enough, damage will be done. 

So, what makes a plant frost resistant? Apparently if a plant has a high content of salt in its cells, it is more frost resistant. This makes sense as adding salt to water lowers its freezing point. That why it is used on roads in the winter - not just to make them taste better for crazy people who may want to lick the road!
 
One thing I love about researching a question is that I tend to pick up lots of other useful titbits along the way.  From the same website I read,

"Growing tips

• Winter salads traditionally have a strong, robust flavour that can sometimes be a little bitter. If you find that your salad leaves are too bitter for your tastes, try blanching the leaves by covering the plants with an upturned flowerpot.
• Left like this for a few days before harvesting, the leaves will become paler and less bitter."

I'm going to try this with my arugula.

As for my kale forest - yummy - frost should sweeten the leaves!  A silver lining in every cloud.


Byddi Lee

Gardening Girl is GO!

This week I got great news - I was accepted to do the 2011 Master Gardeners Program with Santa Clara County.  The course is only held every two years and has only 50 places.  This year, I was told, there were 172 applicants, so I am well pleased that I was one of the candidates accepted.  Now, maybe I'll learn how to grow bigger veggies than Al!

Perhaps the fact that my compost is "cooked" will also help.  It seemed to do nothing for months on end, then one day I checked, and bingo - it had turned into this lovely, crumbly compost, ready for the garden.

 A full bin didn't go that far, but it is better than the shop bought variety.  You can see how much richer it looks in comparison.

It's been a slow harvest - my summer veggies are still ripening and I haven't pulled them all out yet, so I feel like I'm behind in getting my winter veggies into the ground.

I had great fun last Saturday at the California Native Plant Society plant sale up at Hidden Villa.  I used to weed non-natives at Edgewood Natural Preserve and though I don't go anymore, (The long drive totally negates the whole environmentally friendly aspect of it.) I feel like the Prodigal Child when I meet the fantastic folk who still volunteer up there.  They always give me such a big welcome.  The Edgewood Weed Warriors do an incredible job, not just of weeding but of educating people who volunteer with them.  That's how I first got interested in California native plants.  So, when I arrived at the Hidden Villa and my friend Howie was manning the car-park, I was excited to find out from him that a lot of the rest of the Edgewood crew were volunteering at the event too.

Here is Ken and Howie having a well deserved break.

The event at Hidden Villa was excellent.  The prices were reasonable, the proceeds going to a great cause (CNPS) and the plants were lovely and healthy, and so well labelled that complete beginners, like me, could find what we were looking for.

If you couldn't find something you wanted, there were plenty of experts on hand to give advice. Ken Himes managed to sell me a plant, that to all intends and purposes, looked dead.  But I have complete faith in his word that the Asclepias speciosa, Showy Milkweed, is dormant at this time of year and will grow back, though I know my husband took a second look at the withered stem.

Here, Paul is trying to extend my education some more, though I was so concentrating on getting the photo that I'm afraid I have no idea what he has in his hand! 

 

Another fabulous thing about the Hidden Villa sale was the free talks they held.  We went to one about planting and maintaining native plants.  I learned a lot from this talk, but two things in particular:

1) Dig the hole for your new plant an inch and a half shallower that the pot it comes in (i.e. the root ball) so that it sticks up above the garden's soil.

2)Make sure that the root ball is saturated with water before planting it.  I kind of knew to do this, but never really knew why.  Apparently, the garden soil, being drier and usually more densely packed, wicks away water that you apply after planting.  A water soaked root ball will attract water because of water's cohesive nature.  A good way to get the root ball really soaked is to have a 5 gallon bucket of water and put the plant into it after you take it out of its pot.  When it sinks you know that all the air pockets are filled with water and its good to plant.

Last Sunday it rained.  We were headed on vacation for a few days.  Typical to get rain the one day you are going away!  But it was good to go and know that the temperatures were cooler and that there was some water, though our neighbors are great about looking after our plants when we are gone.  Next week, I'll tell you all about that trip.

I aim to start putting my natives into the ground in the next couple of weeks.  My Mum is coming to visit then - it's always good to save some back-breaking work for visiting family members!

Byddi Lee