From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Mount Prospect,illinois

Chicago gets an early winter. I am depressed.

12/1/2006 7:35:43 PM

Montoursville, PA

View it as free nitrogen and fat off behind the belt buckle.

12/2/2006 10:05:27 AM

Rhode Island

that ten inches of snow actually acts as a blanket over the soil in your patch. keeping it a bit insolated from a deep freeze,etc.
pap

12/2/2006 2:24:24 PM

Mount Prospect,illinois

I know there are benefits from this snow cover. And i do like some aspects of the snow (skating/skiing). I just find myself liking the winter less. Now that i have discovered growing (small) giant pumpkins, the winter is less attractive.

12/2/2006 3:44:01 PM

Rhode Island

once you get the fever for the giants your winters are never going to be quite the same again.
as you get older you may even entertain thoughts of living half the year in flordia (just to give it a try down there) lol

pap

12/3/2006 1:05:32 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Thought of moving to Florida Paps, wife has sisters and is orignally from down there. Had a chance to buy a house from Lorenzo, an intense gardener from Italy, he grew everything imaginable oranges, lemons, avocado's, FLOWERS>>> etc...)like I have always wanted to and cant in Colorado. Till he showed me the bugs, the humidity, he said the heat was killing him.....he wanted to move to Colorado......lol

12/3/2006 9:26:42 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

Oh yeah.....12" of snow in the Wiz patch and two nights ago.......minus 2. Bet the d@mn white flies are cold........lol

12/3/2006 9:35:07 AM

Mount Prospect,illinois

Pap,
I have already thought of that. and i havent hit 40 yet. My mother lives in Naples (btw it was 85 down there on Friday). Maybe i can "vacation" there of a few months. ya think my wife and kids would mind?

12/3/2006 4:31:01 PM

Clinton, Iowa

I thought a good deeep freeze was a good thing in the garden and or patch. Wouldn't that help kill off some of the bad guys that try and harbor over in your soil year to year? Just asking
DAN

12/3/2006 4:50:32 PM

Sort of Sunny Sometimes, WA

I like snow and ice. They make me appreciate being able to walk across a parking lot without looking at my feet.

12/3/2006 6:08:51 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Yes,
the deep freeze does kill off the bugs, and spores of some of the bad and good, ITs also why we dont have some species of worms like the red wigglers because they live in the top inches of the soil and around here the dirt can freeze to 12", I bet Ice-Mans soil freeze's alot farther down......

12/4/2006 10:14:43 AM

Pocatello ([email protected])

There are some benefits to this climate. We NEVER have squash vine borers. They simply don't exist here. Most years we don't have cucumber beetles. I haven't seen one in the last two years. Aphids, we sometimes have aphids, but they usually settle in a tree. Just douse the tree with a soapy water solution and the aphids are ALL DEAD within 20 minutes. Anyway, I haven't used an insecticide like Sevin or whatever in several years.

On the other hand, your plants may be frozen black in August........... ;-( And July is the only month where you truly don't need to worry about below freezing temps!

It will be below 10 F every morning this week here. Then on the other hand, we can have 40 days over 90 F in the summer.

12/4/2006 11:25:58 AM

Lloydminster/AB

I hope the cold kills powdery mildew, had that for the first time. I had 12 inches of frozen soil by mid October and that makes for hectic weekends after the weighoff. We have had -25 c for a couple of weeks now but there has been snow on the ground since mid October so that should limit frost to 5 or 6 feet. A few years ago we had no snow till late December and the ground froze well past the 7 foot mark according to someone I know who works fixing broken water or sewer lines.Our lines are only a foot or so deeper than that!

12/4/2006 5:13:17 PM