The weather has really turned on us, yet again. It looks to be very cold tonight, in the high 20’s! For all those who decided to defy mother nature and planted their gardens early, make sure you cover them tonight. Use whatever you can… blankets work well, just make sure they don’t crush the plants. We use a special fabric called remay, as well as plastic sheets. Although we didn’t put any plants out in the field yet, I’ll still be covering my most precious flowering shrubs.
So how long can we expect this cold weather? We recently had a young man interview to work with us, who was really eager to get started planted, and thought we would be doing it now, since the temps were in the 70s. I explained to him that in Michigan our last “frost-free” day is often mid-May. Near the lake, it’s much earlier, but on our farm, we don’t risk it until around May 15. That’s not to say that it will be cold everyday, but those low temperatures, for an extended period of time at night, can really kill more tender plants. Anything that bears its fruit in August-September is usually something you want to plant later i.e. tomatoes, peppers, melons, cucumbers, some flowers…
Good luck! Hope your gardens grow well!
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