Frost Zones and Seed Packets

A completely anonymous and unknown blogger (OK Pat?) wrote with a couple of questions. The first was about the growing zones you see in gardening articles, seed packets and catalogs. Most of St. Lawrence County is in zone 4, with the areas nearer to the Adirondacks in zone 3. The zones move from north to south, with the lowest (2) being lost somewhere in Canada, and the highest (8) in Southern Florida (Or Cuba) – if Cuba recognizes our zones. Anyway, the zones represent the latest frost date in the spring and the earliest frost date in the fall. Contrary to popular belief, these estimates are basically a WAG (Wild-assed guess), but they are a starting point. Zone 4 is supposed to have its last frost on May 20^th, and the first fall frost on September 10^th. These dates vary widely but give gardeners a crap shoot target. I personally very seldom set tender plants out in my gardens before June 1^st, sometimes because of the weather and sometimes because my gardens are so wet I can’t get them ready any sooner. To further complicate matters, there are no road signs or lines painted to show where zone 3 becomes zone 4, etc. I usually look up the dates of the full moon in May (old myth) and if there is a full moon toward the end of the month, I wait until it passes. I find that some seed will do nicely by being planted early, especially in my raised beds. Lettuce, beets, and carrots are usually in whenever it is nice enough to work the beds up, onion sets are bothered little by cold, many large bulbs that are considered tender can be planted before the first frost date because they are in the ground a few inches and a light frost will not touch them. One of the things that will not tolerate early planting is beans, which will sit and rot if the soil is not warm enough. I wait until I think the soil temp is up to at least 50 degrees before I plant beans. If you want to measure the soil temp, stick an ordinary cheap thermometer in the soil a couple of inches and make a note of the temperature in the morning and in the late afternoon. The average is the number to go by. I find that sticking my fingers in the soil is just as accurate – if it’s warm, it’s OK. Setting out tender plants (tomatoes, peppers) is much more dependent on the weather. These plants will not tolerate frost at all. You can cover them with those “wall of water” things, but you find that you are spending about $5 a tomato when you start buying those things.

A second question concerns the accuracy of the information on seed packets. I believe that for the most part, you can depend on what is written on the packet. The seed industry is pretty carefully regulated by your government (We are the government and we are here to help you). One of the things you can not believe at all are the labels on trees, shrubs, and hardy plants you find in big box stores. Most of this stuff is imported from southern greenhouses and farms and comes up here too big, and too far along to do well. If the local trees are not leafed out, and you buy a tree with a full set of leaves, you should understand that you are headed for trouble. The best way to buy stuff, especially fruit trees, is to go to a local nursery which grows their own stuff. The owner will usually give you the short course in tree culture and keep you on track. The big box guarantees are useless, also. If a tree is guaranteed for a year, you take it home and plant it, it thrives through the year, goes into dormancy in the fall, and quietly dies during the winter. By the time you realize your tree is croaked (You can tell this if you have a brittle stick in your yard with no leaves) your guarantee has expired.

My plants in the cellar are doing nicely, and I am already running out of space. I suspect I will have to rig up another shop light and bench to keep up with the traffic.