The Cold Snap Has Put Cold Water On My Plans

15 years ago

I'm slowly, slowly building vole proof beds around our property. Working with hardware cloth to build planting baskets is a PITA, but still pleasurable when the weather is warm and sunny.

It turned cold here last night, and it's sixty degrees and windy outside right now. I'm such a spoiled California wussie that I'd rather stay inside and talk about gardening than get out and do it.

If I didn't think the plants would dehydrate in the wind, I would even skip the daily watering rounds.

Is anybody else feeling the chill?

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Comments (13)

jll0306
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, I just visited the winter garden forum and I must say, I feel much better about our weather. heh!
hosenemesis
15 years ago
Agreed! But my face is still beet red from the Santa Anas yesterday. I'm not going out there today!
Renee
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Hi Steffie! Your experience with bermuda grass reminds me why I HATE bermuda grass. :) My brother put down black plastic (plain old black plastic like trash bags are made of, not the fabric mulch type) on a newly tilled flower bed and planted perennials right through it. When he removed that plastic FIVE YEARS LATER, there were still those long bermuda runners everywhere. I never try to make a new lasagna bed without removing the sod first, having learned the hard way. I found it interesting that your grandmother raised her crops in stages. I do the same thing, and have never met anyone here who does it in the precise, regimented way that I do. I'll use tomatoes as an example since they are the crop I grow the most of. I start my earliest seedlings, about 70% of my main season tomato crop, on Super Bowl weekend. Then, six weeks later I start the other 30%. I plant out in cycles, beginning in mid to late March most years, and get the late ones from the second planting into the ground by late April. Then, in mid to late-May I start seeds for fall tomatoes, or take and root cuttings in mid-June. I get the fall tomatoes in the ground in late June to early July. In late August I start seeds for a few winter tomatoes in containers, generally small-sized ones like Window Box Roma, Red Robin, Yellow Canary, etc. These tomatoes in pots can go into the garage or house during cold spells and extend the fresh tomato season quite a bit. I do similar succession plantings of most veggies, including beans (every three weeks), corn (every 5 weeks), melons (generally an early planting in mid-April and a late planting in late May), summer and winter squash, peppers, okra and black-eyed peas. I do the same thing with flowers. Take sunflowers. I plant different ones for each season. So, my spring sunflowers which will begin blooming in May most years, are some of the ones lightest in color like Italian White and Moonshadow and any of the ones with the lemon-yellow petals. The summer-blooming ones, which usually begin blooming in July, are the really golden-colored ones, of which there are many varieties. The late-summer to fall blooming ones are those in tawny fall-type colors like Autumn Beauty, Earthwalker, and any of the red-flowered ones like Chianti or Prado Red. So, I always have flats of replacement plants started and it is easy to put them in the ground and plug them into holes in my garden at any time. It can get rather complicated to keep track of what needs to go where and at what time, but by staggering plantings, I have found I can have a wonderful garden each and every week of the summer. Right now, I am starting flower seeds in small paper cups. These plants will go into the ground in mid-May. The first week in May, I start flower seeds that will go into the ground in June for blooms beginning in July. And so it goes, on and on and on. With all the stages of planting, I always have something new coming along and that pleases me. Dawn
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jll0306
Original Author
15 years ago
Your user name tickle me, Renee. It's usually the hose that is my nemesis here. I know there must be some kink-free way to use it, but I haven't found it yet.

You had a Santa Ana, yesterday? Lucky you. It was just a freezin-ass cold 60 mph wind when it passed through the high desert!

J.
toyo2960
15 years ago
Well, along the beach, it got down to 49 degrees. Okay, that's mild. But cold enough that the heater went on. (I keep it at 55 degrees) in the greenhouse (orchids). But all is a sign that winter is on its way. Hopefully we won't get the freeze we did a few years ago. Man, that was bad. killed nearly orchid that wasn't in a greenhouse. But what I'm worried about is rain. And the lack there of. We are really in a bind with this drought. Another winter without rain is really going to be terrible. Not only for us but for our plants.
wanda
15 years ago
Windy and coolish (60's) in the SF Bay area too. The wind made it feel much cooler than the air temps. Had to water a bunch of 4" plants (a recent trip to Annie's Annuals), not from heat, but from the wind. A high is supposed to be moving in and they're calling for low 80's by mid week.
I'm just sooooo not ready for winter yet.
gobluedjm 9/18 CA
15 years ago
It's been very windy here since Thursday and hasn't stopped. Was woken up several times Friday night.
I planted in cool winds yesterday and today and watering the new groundcover more due to wind. That was difficult to do since I didn't want to waste any due to evaporation or blowing away.
Local news said Santa Ana's to arrive at 10pm tonight...45 minutes and tomorrow upper 80s and gusting to 50mph...sigh...we already have one fire in socal.
jll0306
Original Author
15 years ago
Toyo, last year, the overnight low got down to 7 degrees. It was the worst freeze ever, even killing the salvia greggii. But that's an easy-to-grow-from seed-first season-bloom plant here You, on the other hand, must have been heartsick with the loss of your orchids.

Wanda, Seems like this was the first time in nine years that I've ever turned heat on in the house before Thanksgiving. I'm sooo not not ready for winter yet, either.

I read that 2000 acres have been burned in the LA fire, Jim. I hope you aren't in its path.

Go blue, indeed! (Oh, well, maybe next year...)

j
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
It's been very mild,even warm in the east bay area.Nights about 50-52,today it's 80 and still going up. Urban warming isn't so bad this time of year...
cabrita
15 years ago
Huge branch broke off from my pecan tree and fell on the power lines. Fortunately the power company came promptly and replaced the cables going to the house. In the mean time, the front yard is a mess of broken branches, and I lost a few branches form several fruit trees (this is the second branch that fall in the last 2 weeks...). Does anyone know a good arborist in the LA area? around Pasadena? The tree needs some attention and it is more than I can handle (it is very tall). Darn, I am going to have to postpone my planting until I get this mess cleared up. Silver lining is that fruit tree wood ashes are rich in potash, which seems to be missing from my soil.
jll0306
Original Author
15 years ago
oh, sheesh, Cabrita! You got the worst of this spell. I'm so sorry.

Did you plant the pecan tree yourself?

We want to add some non-citrus trees to the edible list here and love pecans, but the trees can get awfully large.

I'm considering dwarf apples and a self-fertile almond tree, but I don't want to rush into any long term relationships without some heavy consideration first!

j.
kristincarol
15 years ago
Yes, it got down to freezing here in Northern California where I live (Humboldt County/Eureka area) a couple nights in a row over the weekend and I noticed that the nasturtiums were drooping when I checked the garden yesterday, but nothing very far out of the ordinary here even if it seems a bit early.
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
I am truly amazed at how much colder the countryside in Nor Cal and farther north has been than in the bay area. 32-34? in October?..my lowest temp all last winter was 36.
Even inland soucal has dropped like a rock. Still forecast to be 80 for the next two days here. No complaints!
cabrita
15 years ago
Jan, I did not plant the pecan, it must be 30 feet tall? don't know how to estimate, but as you see my street from the closest intersection, the tree is the tallest thing in that street. I know the back cabin was built in 1895, so some of the trees could be 100 years old for all I know. The figs look like they might be that old.

I would say avocado but mine died. Actually 3 avocado trees have died on us already, we are experts in killing avocados by now.... :-(

There is a nursery in the San Fernando valley called papayatreenursery.com

They have several types of dwarf fruit trees, so maybe something you would like? We have a plum tree that we love, plums might do well where you are. Why not apples or pears? Whatever you get, look into getting a dwarf variety.

The Cold Snap Has Put Cold Water On My Plans

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