ground still not frozen!

14 years ago

I am in southern NH, ground still not at all frozen! I am wondering how long to wait to put some protection around the new roses (bands from 08 and this spring). I am afraid that before the ground freezes, we will have a 5" snow fall to make finding them difficult! My plan is to make little teepees out of old screening, holding in piled up oak leaves.

What would be the danger of setting up the protection before the ground freezes?

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Comments (7)

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
14 years ago
a) small animals thinking 'ooh, the nice human is building us a comfy house'.

b) small fungi thinking 'ooh, the nice human is building us a comfy house'.
judith5bmontreal
14 years ago
Hi Sunny; a couple of years ago, the snow came before I had a chance to put on protective soil mounds (for the same reason - the ground had not yet frozen). I posted on here, all in a panic, and was advised to just pile the protection on TOP of the snow. It worked like a charm - I didn't lose any roses. You really do have to wait, though, just as Mad Gallica says.
Our temps here have also been unseasonably mild, but it's coming to an end this week. I've got my bags of soil ready and waiting in my garage....
Judith
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I totally agree with removing any unsightly old stems sticking up before this years' growth comes on. Doing it in the spring is fine, and that's what I did when I lived in 5b. The old stems/leaves help catch leaves and snow, which help insulate the roots from wild temp swings over winter. Buried under snow and ice is wonderful (for plants hardy to locations where that kind of weather is normal.) Many Hydrangeas bloom on old wood, so trimming that kind now would likely eliminate the blooms for this year. If all above-ground parts are crispy and dead, that's a moot point, and probably not the kind you have. If you wait until you see new growth at the bottom, you'll know if anything above is still alive since it will have swollen green buds by then too. If not, you can know you're not removing anything good if/when you trim close to the ground. I do the same with the roses, if you have room for a larger bush. If much of it is still alive above ground, you might be able to leave more height/bulk after trimming for overall shape, removing any floppy and wild canes. If they are hybrid teas, that might not be good advice. This is how I do the knockouts, climbers, and NOIDs (which may or may not be hybrid teas.) Never had Weigela, I'm sure someone will address that one for you. I don't think you can go wrong with seeing what's still alive in the spring, then trimming it to desired shape/size, though some people just don't like to look at 'dead stuff' all winter. Neither is more right or wrong, just personal preference, and what one's schedule and weather will allow. The exceptions are the shrubs that bloom on old wood. If you have any other shrubs and don't know whether they're new wood or old wood bloomers, the shrub forum folks could help with that. For old wood bloomers, one should wait until just after the bloom (whenever that is) to prune so a years' blooms are not lost. Those that bloom on new wood are those one would trim on a schedule, in the fall, or in the spring after seeing what parts are alive/dead. There's no rule that says shrubs must be trimmed though, aside from maintaining a pleasing shape and removing dead parts. Unless they will be too big for the area they occupy, trimming shrubs just because a year has passed is optional.
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Songbirdmommy you have the right idea. In lasgna gardening most people line the ground with several layers of newspaper or one of cardboard to block weeds, then build right on top of them. You layer things like compost, manure, grass clipping, kitchen waste, shredded paper, etc onto the newspaper or cardboard, then you can either let them self compost (with the help of worms, which seem to be drawn by the paper products) or you can plant directly into them right away. Amazing, right, but they are supposed to work great and if you mulch them with straw or grass clippings (my favorite) the weeds stay at bay and the bed stays wetter and requires less water. I have been doing some reading on permaculture, which is a way of having each part of the yard or garden set so that it creates beneficial relationships with other parts of the landscape (an interesting concept, but it's hard to get specific details on how to do it), anyway, he does the same thing. The only thing to watch for is bareroot plants and trees can't be planted in lasagna beds unless they are will composted, so you have to dig into the ground to set their roots, or at least most of the root and root ball. Because you don't *ever* till the beds, only add more mulch to them periodically, they are supposed to be much easier and less work. If you go to gw forums, accessible gardening, there are lots of posts about this technique, and they can give a lot more info on it.
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klinko16
14 years ago
wait until a good hard frost or three.
i have already covered mine with mulch, but i have 50 yards of rose hedge, so a few mice here or there means nothing.
there is no problem with waiting, but keep your eyes open on theweathernetwork.com and let that be your judge.
Just MAKE SURE that you have a good supply of UNFROZEN compost to protect the bushes. I used oak leaves many years ago, and they are bad news. for oak leaves just put on a few inches - if you pile them, like what you're saying, the snow will pack them down, in the spring they get wet and full of molds and fungus, which makes a MESS of the roses. I would say NO! don't use leaves, but if you have to, use only a few inches.
sunnysideuphill
Original Author
14 years ago
I have had no trouble using leaves in the deep ditch for the pots, but the mouse/mold thing does sound more threatening for these little ones. If I use compost, I could skip the screen teepee. Hmmmm sounds easier, just need to put the bag in the garage so so it doesn't freeze until I need it. Thanks!
elks
14 years ago
If you have a bunch of 2 litre, plastic, water bottles, you might cut the bottoms off of them, and use them like little greenhouses. The critters won't be able to get at the canes. In spring, remove the bottle caps to release pent up moisture and the chance of mould forming.I've been doing this for years with roses I've begun from cuttings.

Klinko, I'm surprised you had trouble with oak leaves. They are the only leaves that remain good through winter for me. Others, like maple, become a slimy mess, but oak retain their integrity.

Steve.
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
14 years ago
Depends on where you are. I have trouble with oak leaves. I have trouble (of a slightly different sort) with pine needles. It's not the winter lows that cause the problems, but the highs. When you regularly get a week above freezing in January, winter protection gets difficult.
sunnysideuphill
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm with Mad Gallica on that January thing - we always have the "January thaw", and it doesn't help that my gardens face west/southwest,so that the afternoon sun really can heat things up, and inevitably there's a hard freeze that night. I have never used the plastic bottle technique because of that risk - a friend used large plastic igloos for new HT's some years ago, and they turned into saunas, she lost some, and had to remove most of the canes on the survivors.

ground still not frozen!

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mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

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ground still not frozen!

Comments (7)

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

judith5bmontreal

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