Sunday, January 10, 2010

Four Season Gardening = Fail

Well, not a total fail - but definitely not a success! The plants under my rowcovers have been dead since it first dipped into the low 20's back in early December. Here is what the greens bed looks like today:
Even the mache is frozen. So much for that!

And here is the bed of carrots. The turnips look the same.
I wish I had known this was going to happen, so I could have at least picked everything when I saw the temps were heading down that low. A lot of good food was wasted. My brother says I can still dig the carrots up and eat them, but I've read in other places frozen ground will turn them into mush. In any case the ground is frozen hard right now, and it is so cold out I have no intention of going out there to dig. Nope, I'm staying right here on the couch with my fuzzy blanket, snoozing doggy and tea.

Overall, I don't feel too bad. At least it was a learning experience. Now I know what the Agribon can do, so next year I can plan better. And it did at least make everything last until early December. If it hadn't been the coldest winter on record in over a decade, it might have worked better. I'm also still glad I built the rowcovers, because I'm sure it will help me get an early start in the spring. Now I've just got to be patient and wait for horrible January and February to pass!

C'est la vie!

Update: Looks like the problem is I needed an additional layer of poly. Thanks Robin! I am definitely going to try it. http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=833

1 comment:

Robin said...

Adding a layer of poly (greenhouse plastic) will help a lot. Rather than tying down the Agribon, let it sit on top of the ribs.

Don't give up yet. The plants might be dormant rather than dead. Give them so good cover now and you might have great greens early in the fall.

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