Let’s go take a look at the plants before the big arctic blast hits later this week. It will be ugly, but why? Why are my generally cold-tolerant plants going to get knocked back? It has to do with science, weather and bad timing. I’ll discuss the process by which plants winterize themselves and how that can happen or not.
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Black Gumbo shares our suburban, backyard, sustainable gardening efforts. We work a small-scale teaching garden, much like the typical Zone 9a backyard garden and raised beds, the kind of gardening accessible to all. We tend to take the slice of life approach and hope you will enjoy our family, our dog, our cooking, our adventures, and occasionally some commentary and advice. We love family, joy and friendship, and we invite you to enjoy these things with us!
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44 Comments
Mines going to die too 😢
This makes ne want to check the weather. I usually don't look ahead. Nothing in garden but I have many trees ty so much.
Hi Scott, hope it’s not as bad as they say.
I heard Christmas Lights (not LED) can keep some warmth if you want to buy some wrapping material/cloth.
Good luck! I’m contemplating what to do in eastern NC during this cold spell.
It is 21 degrees here in NE AZ so I know it is coming your way. I hope your loss will be minor. The weather is always challenging our gardens. Your have such a great attitude. Merry Christmas to you and your family. TFS 🎄🎅🙏👍
We are already preparing to cover all vegetables, fruit and citrus. We will bring in potted plants. It is like you said a lingering cold. Good luck. Happy Holidays.
I’ve been so bummed about this upcoming freeze and what it will do to my garden. It’s truly flourishing, and after the brutal summer, it’s been such an encouragement on several levels. But hearing your words and accepting attitude is a good reminder to do likewise. I also read the book of Jonah to the kids yesterday which is a stark reminder that God causes the plants to grow and to die in His time and being upset about that sovereignty is petulant. I know there is much more meaning to that whole part of the story, but it does serve as a very literal reminder to this specific circumstance as well. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Scott! Your channel is very much appreciated! ♥️
Also, I’m going to try to get out to take pictures of my garden today before the freeze. So many of the things growing well are from the seeds that you gifted to me at the beginning of the year. Seeds for Generations gave me almost perfect germination in everything I planted! I’ve been meaning to tell you that. I’ll send those pictures on to you. 👍🏻
Scott sry for the language, don’t be a lazy ass. Get your garden covered …I would be doing everything in my power to protect the things I cared so much about and put effort into trying to produce a crop… get blankets get sheets u gotta have something. Put some sticks in the ground and throw a tarp over them.. why risk it.?? That’s laziness period.
Try moving blankets from Harbor Freight or Home Depot or renting them from U-haul. Good luck!
Get plastic . Some wood . Do a DIY greenhouse . Don't let them die .
Enjoyed the walkthrough with you. You said “been nice knowin’ ya!” To your garden- I can relate! I left my huge garden behind when I sold my home this summer. I have prepared a much smaller one, a fraction of the size, which is far less work but I will miss the huge variety I used to have. Going to sneak in some things around in the other landscaping hoping the hoa doesnt notice. They are so fussy! Anyway, looking forward to February, as that is when I set up my starting rack! I won’t have as enormous a variety of seedlings but there will be some 😀 Stay warm!
I have as many kale crops as you do, and I don't mind saying I'm pissed that I'll lose them all. I have one head of broccoli ready to harvest. The plant is in a 25 gallon container and did far better than those in the Birdie's beds. As Ralphie observed in "A Christmas Story" – “Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us.” Sigh…
I'm going to build a low tunnel with tension wire for chain link fence and cover with sheets or blankets. I'll use clothes pins to hold them onto the tunnel.
You might go to a thrift store and grab some blankets and sheets.
I have lots of cloth and tarps, busy today covering everything. On my Citrus trees I have for the past 15-years I wrap them in electric blankets and save the trunks. All citrus is planted on the south leeward side of the house. My large Lemon tree is under a large cold frame and gets a LP heater to keep it in the low 30's which it needs…. It just doesn't need temps in the teens!! Harbor freight and their discounts on tarps was my friend this summer!!
Same here in Houston Scott. Mine is a huge vegetable container garden which all are now in garage. Will cover with cloth and have xmas lights under. Strawberry tower, I've plunked a greenhouse over it and wrapped tower with c9 white non led xmas lights . I placed a few cold hardy plants & flowers in greenhouse that I don't care about, just to experiment with. Wind will probably destroy greenhouse, and probably will lose power.
I'm 😞 sorry.
I live in Georgetown SC close to the Atlantic the cold weather is going to hit Friday and Saturday night lows in the teens at night. I am going to tarp the garden hope it makes it.
We were in the middle of a freeze 3 says so far, 32-33 at night and high 40s during the day. We'll see. Can I hit them with some swamp water at this time?
Roll of plastic and looks like a shovel to dig up them blocks to drop the plastic over them and to hold plastic in place.. you can do it!!
Very interesting update. The science was very helpful and I’ll be back to see what survives. The video also gave me insight into what to do this weekend – it’s going to be 55, and then drop to 20. The containers are coming in from the ingested back porch to my kitchen which can be kept cold or not. Odd but I find a cold kitchen useful in the winter. Thanks again!
So when do you plan to “start starts” for brassicas for spring. I’ve always done them as fall/winter so looking for spring timing help as I will probably lose mine this week.
The only saving grace for you is that it seems it will come and go quickly, not the two or three day event you had before.
I will every time I'm out in it!
I had to put my garden to bed back in November it just got too cold to garden but I do have onions still in my beds I'm hoping they do okay with this arctic front coming like you said I guess this is going to be a test to see how cold my onion plants can tolerate the cold
We are heaping tree leaves over our garden. Lots of insulation in leaves
Plus put tarps over the leaves.
I started with seeds, and have some seedling backups. The seedlings were not intended to be backups. I just didn’t have room to plant them in my garden space.
My marjoram isn't doing well this year. I use it in anything that I can use basil in. I love it's slightly floral aroma.
I am in California so I won't be experiencing the extreme weather that so much of the country will have to deal with. I hope at least some of your garden pulls through, as well as your trees.
In the low country of South Carolina we are preparing for low 20s for a few days. I can attest that Christmas lights (non-leds) help with a covering. I use drop cloth and lights. I can generally keep the plants 10 degrees warmer than outside. We shall see.
(Hi Pheobe! And to quote a well known comedian.. you aren't fat, you're fluffy!)
I start plants in 2-3 weeks for Spring planting here. Eeek! Hard to believe it's so cold now and I'm prepping to plant when it's warm again.
Holiday blessings to all. May we all find some peace in this utter chaos.
You could try running to thrift stores and see if you can get sheets to cover your plants.
Thank you for sharing the scientific reason why plants don't survive an artic blast.
I'm in Murfreesboro, TN and know all of my plants will die, including my lemon trees in my hoop house. I just started them from seed last year, so come spring, I'll start again. I could drag them all into the house for a week, but I grew them to see if I could keep citrus alive in a hoop house in zone 7. Next year I have plans for a better and bigger hoop house. My plan is to keep my chickens, turkeys and a compost pile in with my citrus trees. Two steps forward and one step back and plan for the worse and just except I can't control the weather. Meryy Christmas to you and I hope you have a very Blessed New Year—keep growing!
you missed two opportunities to save your plants, Covers and water
…go get covers, lettuce does great in 20 degrees with covers and you can cover citrus trees for days, they do fine. Another option is Christmas lights in trees, the kind that put off some heat.
Water…if you know you will lose your fruit anyway, why not try the water coating and test the results? It is a mixed solution, and works better with cabbage and brassicas, than lettuce.
I hope and pray all will be safe and keep electric on. SC mountains are getting hard hit too. I have citrus trees in a diy cattle panel greenhouse. The wind got it in the spring. So I hope we can beat the winds . Have a blessed day thank you. Merry Christmas 🎄
There is a lining to hard freezes, the bugs we fight aren't going to survive either. So count it a blessing.
Thrift store have blankets, sleeping bags, put those on the plants,trees, then even a tarp, or plastic, but not directly on plants, as the plastic transfers the frost.
my giant rosemary plant did not survive snowmaggedon.
Well it’s here for a couple more days. My plants didn’t acclimate either for -10* F with -25-30*F windchills 😂
The thing I’m afraid of the most for plants is we will be in the 40s next Thursday and rain. That’s not normal.
I would water the plants and double cover as your temps recover quickly. They say to make sure the plants are watered before cold spell hits. Yes, many in spring will turn sprinkler on crops when freeze threatens because the ice creates warmth.
Same boat as you. Crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I covered them but they froze solid and are still frozen lol. We’ll see at the end. If they don’t make it, just gives me more time to prep for spring.
My garden is all frozen, I hope your garden is doing well
Yes sir if its not one thing is two .
Thank you for this video. I was devastated by this freeze. I spent so much time and energy in my garden and just like that a lot of my crops were gone (maybe). I needed this video.
All my plants died. My peas, cabbage, carrots, beets, radishes and greens. I put 3 t posts around my grapefruit and orange trees and wrapped the poles with tarps. So far, they made it this year, but 2 yrs ago I lost all my citrus. It is so sad to spend the fall planting seeds just to have the devil come along and kill everything.