Covering for winter

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

suziquzie

Chef Extraordinaire
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
11,488
Location
MN
Yes I've barely got anything big enough to consider eating, and I'm jumping the gun a little....
I have a few herbs and flowers that are only hardy to zone 5, the border of zone 3 and 4 litterally looks like it runs thru my yard when I look at the zone charts.
I'm going to attempt covering those with a layer of straw for the winter to see if I can keep 'em... do I cover before or after frost? When do you uncover in spring?
 
Oh, dear--zone envy rears its ugly head.

Your zone 5 things may do just fine, as long as you get a good snow cover before the temperature drops below 0.

If you want to cover, wait until cold weather has set in for good, and the ground is cold. In the spring, begin to uncover as the weather warms and things begin to green. Keep the straw handy, just in case you get one of those late frosts.

You can probably get better info from your Extension office, as far as specific dates. Another, maybe even better, source of info is to look around and see who has a great garden. Most of us gardeners are more than happy to share our expertise.

Where are you in Minnesota? I spent 5 very long years in Ely, and am very happy to be in Missouri now, as far as gardening goes.
 
LOL zone envy for sure!!
I'm in North Branch, about 40 miles north of the twin cities. This is as far north as I go!!! I was born in NY and lived there til I was 13.
I've spent alot of time in MO, my Dad is from Chester, IL, and his sisters now live in St. Louis and Washington.
My grandma had a HUGE garden in Chester when I was little, plus quite a few apple trees on a few acres.
I'd move there in a heartbeat for gardening weather...... but you get worse weather for people it seems....
 
Suzie, honey, you should be Ban from the site for talking about winter when we barely entered the summer, please. I can't even think about frost, makes me sick to my stomach. :sick: Just yesterday I was thinking how beautiful it is outside and how wonderful it is not have to have to get dress and get all the kids dress before taking them to school. And here you are have to talk about winter. No, no, no, not until end of August you are not allowed to talk about cold.

And even then you will not have to. Didn’t you hear they promises us Global Worming, so next winter temps will be around 60+ here, so no worries, please, let me enjoy a little bit of worm weather, though it doesn’t look that worm today. You see it’s your fault. ;)
 
I know I know charlie I'm so sorry!!!!!
That said, I'm taking off for a walk before our next monsoon and cold snap!!!!
 
Oh, dearie me. We had such a harsh winter! I'm astonished that any of my perennials came back. I sure as heck didn't want to! Zones here in Galena are so odd. If you look at any map, you'll see an odd little dot that is us! In planting and such, I err on the side of Wisonsin, rather than Illinois. I am amazed at some of the stuff that came back this year. But I wouldn't count on having a real winter garden. Just protect the stuff that you hope to have come home, and for that straw or mulch or whatever should work ok. I'm often surprised what comes back and what 'volunteers'. I had cilantro volunteer this year. Good lord, you have to be kidding!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom