Chilly forecasts

Work continues apace at the farm this week as the weather takes a turn again towards wet and cool.  A couple weeks ago Doc insisted that we were in the clear and would stay frost-free for the rest of the spring, but I demurred.  I wish I had been wrong, but forecasters are currently calling for lows of 30 or 31 on Saturday night, so it looks like we're not done with cold just yet.  What does that mean for the farm?

These pea seedlings may look fragile, but the frost won't bother them.

Well, the plants outside should stand up to it fairly well, although I probably won't put in additional transplants in after this morning. (That's fine, it's going to rain all afternoon anyway).  Many people think that a frost will kill all of their vegetables, but that's not true - most greens can survive one fairly handily, including pretty much everything I have outside - mesclun, arugula, lettuce, radishes, bok choy, all should be fine.  Onions and garlic are also no worry, and neither are the peas and potatoes - after all, those are plants that folks will tell you to plant by St. Patrick's day, if you can, or in the parlance of seed catalogs "as soon as the ground can be worked." Obviously a frost won't stop them. But I will take measures to protect them nonetheless, and will likely spend some time Saturday afternoon laying out row covers especially on the newly-transplanted lettuces.

Inside the tunnel it's another story, as there are some susceptible little babies in there.  Tomatoes and peppers will complain bitterly about the cold, as will the basil seedlings.  I've been putting row covers over all of them during the cold nights of March and that provides a lot of protection - so does the greenhouse itself, which keeps out the wind and acts, much like a cloud cover would, to alter the humidity in a way that makes frost less likely.  We'll button the tunnel up tightly early Saturday and just let it hold as much heat as it can - a good watering will help, too, as wet soil holds heat much better than dry soil does.  The greens won't be bothered by the cold, but they'll appreciate the cover and grow faster for it.

We've still got pepper plants inside under lights, too, which I'd like to bring out - but no point doing that too early, now.  Looks like next week we'll start hardening all of those off.  All in all, although the cold weather will slow down lots of things, it should be survivable for most plants.  And the late spring will help us out, too, since the fruit trees are behind schedule.  Last year by this point there were flowers everywhere on those trees - this year, they haven't all opened up yet, so even if we get a hard frost on them I think they'll be a second cohort coming along.


Spring is getting here sooner or later and we'll be here waiting and growing for it!  Look for us at the New Cumberland Community Day market on the 4th of May, and don't forget to sign up for a CSA share if you want one this year!

Dave