If you can see frost in the morning, then the top layer of soil must be frozen. But it might only be frozen to a depth of 1/4 inch or so. It takes several months of cold weather for the ground to freeze to a depth of more than one foot. The longer & colder the winter, the deeper is the frost line.

Thanks, Eric. I'll probably be OK if no more than a few inches are frozen.

You might be able to get an idea by looking at the regional soil temperatures in the December 4, 2009 UMass Landscape Message.

Scroll down to the Environmental Data table and you'll see the soil temperatures at 4 inches depth for different regions in Massachusetts. The zones range from 5 to 7, but none of the soils are reported to be frozen yet. (This link will update automatically in January).

For comparison, the January 9, 2009 UMass Landscape Message from the Archives shows all of the soil to be frozen at a depth of 4 inches. It's likely that the conditions will be similar next January (a month from now).

Claire

Claire, what a useful page. Thanks!

You do what you can do while you can do what you can do.

I'm drinking, but just the same, it makes sense, n'est pas?

Soil will only freeze after some time of below freezing average temperatures. The presence of frost is not an indication of frozen soil, only that the soil might freeze some time later. Because the average temperatures around here have been in the mid thirtys my soil, even as saturated with moisture as it is, has not yet started to freeze and now with 3 inches of snow cover, and more coming, it may not at all.

(Ut oh.

I sure hope here was the only place I posted last night. It made perfect sense at the time.)

AP, your post made more sense than "will only freeze after some time of below freezing average temperatures" from the USDO.

:-)

Loid

P.S. USDO = U.S. Department of the Obvious

nygardener

Wow, that is really a nice power plow you got. I never seen any rototiller work like that before. It must of cost you a few pennies.

I understood you perfectly, annpat. You said what you said and you meant what you said you meant.

drafted, yep, it did cost a couple bucks. People seem to think it's a good plow. I'll post here about it after I've had a chance to use it.

Cool tiller!

I don't know. You might want to swap out that engine for one of the B&S Intek 1600 engines. 342cc's, 15.5 lb/ft torque. You could get more work done. (More power, grunt, grunt)

"You do what you can do while you can do what you can do."

Isn't that like the old saying
"The best time to transplant a plant is when you have a shovel."

Claire

Now,(That) would turn EG's compost pile!

Curt :-)

I’m in the same boat.... lots of bulbs to plant...yikes....

(Oh, dear god. I wish people wouldn't resurrect old posts. I don't drink anymore.)

gardengal, for some reason, I associate you with Stewartia. I've wanted a Stewartia for years, and finally purchased one this spring. I stubbornly stuck to the poor location where I wanted to put it, and planted the 7' tree on a six-foot-deep construction soil hump---my yard---where I've been seasonally amending the soil with compost enough to grow vegetables for 25 years. After placing the tree in the hole, I replaced the construction gravel, and lightly mixed it with some compost in the top 6 inches. I'm wondering what kind of winter protection I can provide it? Should I provide ground protection around its base? Tree boughs? Pine needles? Would you protect the 2" diameter tree trunk? I'm in Maine and we've had a frost (and a first snowfall, for that matter).

LOL!! I am exceedingly fond of Stewartias........I like them so much I planted a grove of them at my old garden :-) But I have no experience with them in a colder climate. If planted this spring - 6-8 months ago - then I can't imagine you would need to do much. A good layer of mulch should suffice (and any mulch of your choice). Protecting the lower trunk is good if exposed to winter sunlight that could heat up fluids and cause splitting but I'd be most inclined to do so as a protection from whatever tree-gnawing creatures might be present.

I do hope your tree thrives and that you will enjoy it. They are really quite stunning in any season......I'd have a hard time picking what time of year I like it best :-)

A grove! How nice! It's already a beautiful tree; I had some flowering and some beautiful Oct. foliage. I wish I'd been able to afford one when I was younger and might have seen it achieve some size. I remember some really old discussions about Stewartias and you must have commented, because I always associate you with them. (Thank you.)

Can't say I ever protected my Stewartia from cold, perhaps I should have as it died after 5-6 years, but I did need to protect it from rabbits. The fur rats mowed my first attempt down at the 1 foot mark. Your 2" caliper would be safe from being mowed down but the bark may be on their menu.

tj

Annpat, I have a Stewartia pseudocamellia var. koreana chosen (based on the enthusiasm I found for Stewartias here along with the koreana’s reputation for perhaps being a tad hardier) that was planted as a small sapling in 2012. I do nothing to winter protect it, and my area gets to between -17F and -23F every winter at least once, and at times we spend more than a week below 0F. It has had no winter damage at all, though if you have rabbits or deer, you may want to give it a wire cage to prevent chewing. I know of two other Stewartia, one at Cole Gardens in Concord, NH, and the other at UNH in Durham, NH, both perhaps half a zone warmer than my place. Both have been there for at least 15-20 years and I have not witnessed any damage to either, so unless you are colder than a usual zone 5, yours will likely be fine without any special protection. Mine and the one in Durham are both in part shade, but the one in Concord gets full sun. All have nice autumn color.