How does your garden grow?

[NotHardUp1]

And what kind of feckless, delicate snowflake roses would flame out at -4F?

Huntsville is in Zones 7a to 7b for hardiness. That means our average minimum temperature is usually between zero to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nurseries here sell cutivars that are suited to that range, and minus four, sustained, would be, to quote The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch blurb, "right out."

The fact that the roses had grown to full bushes and were well established bore testimony to them having been cited well. It's just unfortunate that the severity of the cold was too much. I'm sure all the losses locally, and there were many, are being replaced with hardier varieties.

The only thing I lost was a couple of buddleias and a large Dakota fig up on the hill. I also had duranta repens and jasmine in large planters, but had no reason to expect them to survive such severe lows unprotected.

I believe Toronto is in US hardiness zone 5, so you would indeed have plants selected for much colder minimums.

 

[NotHardUp1]

That reminds me of a place where I worked 20 years ago. They had a large American flag at the main entrance. One day I mentioned to a coworker that the flag was torn and tattered, and that would be a turn-off to the people they wanted to impress by flying the flag. My coworker must have mentioned it to the higher-ups, because it was replaced by a new flag within a few days.

I remember calling a car dealership south of little rock about 40 years ago to tell them to take down their massive flag for the same reason, as it violated the US Flag Code. Atlas shrugged.

 

[rareboy]

Huntsville is in Zones 7a to 7b for hardiness. That means our average minimum temperature is usually between zero to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nurseries here sell cutivars that are suited to that range, and minus four, sustained, would be, to quote The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch blurb, "right out."

The fact that the roses had grown to full bushes and were well established bore testimony to them having been cited well. It's just unfortunate that the severity of the cold was too much. I'm sure all the losses locally, and there were many, are being replaced with hardier varieties.

The only thing I lost was a couple of buddleias and a large Dakota fig up on the hill. I also had duranta repens and jasmine in large planters, but had no reason to expect them to survive such severe lows unprotected.

I believe Toronto is in US hardiness zone 5, so you would indeed have plants selected for much colder minimums.

Our farm is actually more of a Zone 4b, but many winters more like 4a when the temps really plunge and we have bitter wind chill. I had a rose bed over on the west lawn that I had planted out with about 100 different varieties that were grown with root stock to suit Zone 4 b as well as a lot of Morden roses bred for Zone 2b.

We had one winter that wiped them out.

Even now, every year, even when we have deep snow cover, it is a struggle outside of the inner garden to keep all of them...the biggest problem is that they just don't harden off.

I have to be content with rugosa and canina.

 

[eddielee]

^ Totally this.

The other option is a meals program for organizations that feed the homeless. We do this now, but I realize you need to be in a community that has this type of program.

And yeah...peas....

mmmmm

And what kind of feckless, delicate snowflake roses would flame out at -4F?

Shame on them. My recommendation....

Morden Sunrise Rose (Rosa 'Morden Sunrise') at Ron Paul Garden Centre

Find Morden Sunrise Rose (Rosa 'Morden Sunrise') in Winnipeg Manitoba MB at Ron Paul Garden Centre

plants.ronpaulgardencentre.com

Although I would point out that they do not like -30C.

I will check that rose out. My 2 favorites now are Fragrant Cloud and Mister lincoln.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Mr. Lincoln is timeless, isn't it?

 

[rareboy]

There. The veg bed is all mulched...one of the last moments when it will look all civilized and under control.

But without rain, this will help hold the moisture in the soil while the plants start to really take off over the next few weeks.

 

[me203]

There. The veg bed is all mulched...one of the last moments when it will look all civilized and under control.

But without rain, this will help hold the moisture in the soil while the plants start to really take off over the next few weeks.

I can remember reading an anecdote of a family that didn't have time one year to do much with keeping the garden under control. Supposedly, it was a good year for the crop, though, which is what matters in the end.

 

[rareboy]

When I was about 14, my Dad thought it would be a great idea to plant a garden behind the house my grandparents had moved into.

But he was a terrible gardener and while they spent the summer in Holland that year, we only got to the garden about twice a week at most because it was about 25 minutes drive away.

And because he was at heart a lazy gardener, he used a rototiller to break up the soil before it was planted.

You know what happens if you chop up one hogweed plant? You get 1000 hogweed plants. All 4 feet tall.

And my sister and I were supposed to keep the garden weeded.

My garden now is all hand turned and hand weeded throughout the year...and hopefully the deep mulching will also discourage the windblown seeds from taking hold.

 

[me203]

It seems to me I've heard before that mechanical plowing devices create a lot of problems with weeds.

Although when I was young, it was a jolt when a teacher commented he was about to get someone in to till his garden for the year. I'm not sure about this, but it's possible I had no idea that this was possible. My father had done all sort of stuff old school with hand tools. Indeed, I can remember him starting a garden at one house. And then every year for a few years, he increased the garden size.

 

[rareboy]

I have done the same.

Each year I have added a strip of about 60 feet at one end in order to plant one more row up in the barnyard patch as I convert the gardens near the house to flowers and herbs.

 

[72-Jay]

there isn't a single "garden" .. its kinda spread around the yard where I could find space. .lol.

And I'm pretty sure its all done for now......

 

[Vannie]

I'm remembering my Dad built our large farmhouse where the backyard backed up to farmland. We had a long driveway that was lined with plain white candytufts.

Our front porch had 2 long deacon benches that I contemplated trying to steal years ago. My Mom loved geraniums so large pot lined the porch and hung from the front soffit? ceiling as well.

I would have liked to purchase our home but timing was not right. Recently rode by and everything is in shambles. Sad it was.

I don't really have a green thumb today do enjoy playing with some herbs and things in pots.

2 cents

 

[NotHardUp1]

And because he was at heart a lazy gardener, he used a rototiller to break up the soil before it was planted.

In defense of many, many hard-working, smart gardeners, it's not always an equation of laziness vs. not. Many gardeners have plots that would be impossible to turn by spade and hoe alone, but are able to disc or till the acreage and have much greater yield than that which would come from a small plot. My great-grandmother hired a neighbor to disc up about an acre or two each year, and she then plowed it with a push-plow and wheel.

She hoed it each day by hand, and I presume occasionally watered it, if rarely. She continued doing this through her lifetime, not stopping until she was 85 or 87. She canned all she could.

There wasn't a lazy bone in her body. But she knew the importance of putting back food against hard times. And she was widowed for over three decades, so had no help to keep that garden.

It's unfair to impugn tillers. People prefer what they prefer.

Whereas it's true that seeds near the surface will sprout, they are quicly dessicated in the loose soil by light hoeing.

And, anyone who tills usually rakes the clumps and weeds to minimize regrowth, not to mention mulches, often with leaves or straw.

 

[Kahaih]

/\ There is a huge difference between the people who grow their years supply of food out of necessity, and the hobbyist who enjoys a few fresh tomatoes grown next to the front porch by the azaleas.

~

Just curious; how did your grandmother keep the deer and rabbits out of her garden? It only takes a deer minutes to do a lot of damage. Did she keep dogs?

 

[NotHardUp1]

My great grandmother owned 30 acres, and was on Social Security and food stamps during her widowhood, for three long decades. Her husband had been a truck farmer. They originally would have had chickens on the property, as well as a milk cow and horses. By the time I came along in the 60's, it was just her and the gardening. She didn't have to grow her food. It was tradition and force of habit to be independant. Her elder son, my grandfather, only lived two houses away from her until he died at 64, some seven years before she died at 92.

So, she never knew want as an old woman, nor likely any time in her adult life. She never drove a car. Her groceries and dry goods were delivered to her from a local grocer who delivered.

As far as vermin, she had no dogs during my lifetime, but had them previously. In the 60's, I imagine she could still fire a shotgun, and it would not have been a thing to set traps or snares if rabbits or deer or possums or coons had taken liberties too often. Her garden was fenced, but I imagine any deer trouble would have been handled with a gun. Rabbits would have been easy targets, as they are not afraid to go out in the daytime. Deer would have been a bit more. My guess is that she asked a neighbor or my grandfather to come down and dispatch them. I don't know though. Never remember her ever complaining of them. I'll ask my uncle if he knows.

Gardeners of her sort were much more common before everyone moved to the city. They lived outside our city limits before they grew out to meet them. Her father left Leeds in 1865 and arrived in Boston, but had no farming experience, although he raised chickens. His father owned a large woolen mill, and that was his experience. So, she learned farming from her stepfather, a native Southerner whom her mother married as a very young widow.

My great grandmother grew up in that 2nd household, one of many children, and I'm fairly certain she knew hunger. That helps explain her full canning pantry and general prudence.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I called my uncle. He said there were far fewer deer back then, as there were so many poachers and country people never hesitated to take a deer on the property. Likely, the deer were much more averse to getting near homes when they were shot so often there. Just a guess.

 

[me203]

But she knew the importance of putting back food against hard times.

I found all this talk interesting!

Both sets of my grandparents had a garden. I've never heard any stories about whys or wherefores. But I've wondered if a motivation for one grandfather might not have been memories of the Depression. There are other stories that suggest that living through that left an impact on him. Past this, I've thought a garden might have been very practical, maybe even necessary. Neither family was particularly well off when my parents were growing up. So gardening and hunting were a way to help put dinner on the table.

 

[me203]

I called my uncle. He said there were far fewer deer back then, as there were so many poachers and country people never hesitated to take a deer on the property. Likely, the deer were much more averse to getting near homes when they were shot so often there. Just a guess.

It seems to me I've heard that deer population has increased in at least some places. Past possibly fewer people hunting or poaching, it seems like a problem in some areas might be the growth of the area. I know places in my area where there are new houses that not too many years ago would have been a wooded thicket possibly ideal for deer to live.

 

[me203]

The first year I tried growing anything in pots I had a crop of tomatoes eaten by deer. I wasn't in a position to do anything with fences. But someone into gardening suggested using blood meal. The scent can repel deer. I think I also see commercial deer repellents, although I suppose that could be impractical if you are gardening seriously. More practical for a few rose bushes, not a huge plot of vegetables for the winter!

As for rabbits, I actually knew someone who grew lettuce for the rabbits. He said all the lettuce he ate he got at Wal-Mart, where it was cheap enough.

 

[72-Jay]

And I'm pretty sure its all done for now......

Just to clarify my late-night post made when I was tired .lol. ...by 'all done' I mean its basically gone/dead.