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| Good bye, until Spring, farmer's market favorites |
I can’t complain, we had a mostly sunny October with almost
no rain, one of the driest months on record for usda Gardening zone 8b. It has felt
really cold to me at night here lately, I panicked a little when I thought it
may have gotten down below freezing already; I have woken up plenty of
mornings in October to see the thermometer at about 40 degrees F. I was
relieved to find that the first frost for Portland hadn’t come yet, and on
average the doesn’t come until November 21-30th– (http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-oregon-first-frost-date-map.php)
Some plants growing in my backyard over the winter will need
to be covered for protection from frost, possibly snow and heavy rain. I don’t
have a lot of experience covering plants, in the past years I have only covered
strawberries and used the hay like mesh recycled from the bottom of a wire
hanging plant basket, this worked well as a filter for rain. In addition to the
strawberries, I have onion sets, garlic cloves, and leaf lettuce I need to cover. Fortunately, one can get very elaborate or stay
basic when it comes to covering plants. I did some research and found some
methods that I plan on trying out.
Cloche
The Original cloche was a glass bell shaped jar placed over
delicate plants to protect from harsh elements, especially at night. Although,
lettuce can be tough I will plan on protecting and extending my lettuce crops
with a modern, less elegant version of the original, the plastic milk jug
cloche (cut the bottom off.)
Cold Frame
A cold frame is a protected plant bed ( it can be made portable and placed over different crops). Cold frames rely on
the heat from the sun alone for warmth. It is usually only 5-10 degrees warmer
in a cold frame than the outdoor temperature, but these few degrees still help, along with
shelter from harsh wind and rain that a cold frame provides. Common
materials used for cold frames are: wood, plastic, fiber glass, and glass.
I’m not
much of a carpenter, so I was thinking of a way I could use the raised beds that I
plant in as a frame. Then stretch plastic across the raised be and secure it with
nails on one side then a less permanent seal for another side providing access
to the bed and plants. um yeah...well...I have a couple of weeks yet to plan it out.
Let me know what you do to protect your crops from the cold.
Find out the average date for the first frost in your area;
For more info on Cold Frames, Cloches, and Winter Garden
care:
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/2504/cold-frame-gardening/page/all
