Bomb Cyclone!

Just in time for Christmas, Mother Nature delivered winter with a vengeance. An historic winter storm and arctic blast descended upon a vast majority of the continental United States last Friday, December 23rd, effecting holiday travel and leaving many folks without power. Indeed, our power was out for 18 hours due to downed trees and power lines! With big winds and plummeting temperatures expected, I was worried about my little garden. Could my winter-hardy plants survive temperatures in the single digits? made worse by the crazy winds?

Before the power and my internet went out, I found this very informative article about winter kill temperatures of cold hardy vegetables by Pam Dawling, who writes a blog called Sustainable Market Farming from her place in central Virginia. After reading her data I decided to harvest all the nicely developed rosettes of pak choi, pick the biggest leaves of the beautiful collards (morris heading and georgia southern varieties), thin the kale, then securely cover all the main beds with lightweight fabric row cover. The herbs and the garlic remained uncovered. With fingers crossed, I hoped for the best.

When we woke up on December 24th, the thermometer read 9 degrees (F). Compare that to one of our not-so-unusual December days, like today, for example ... 32 degrees when we woke up and a very nice 62 degrees this afternoon! Anyway, here's what happened in the garden on that frigidly cold night:

• The hakurei turnips and hen-pecked mustard greens were most damaged, showing dead and dying foliage. Even the globe of the turnip roots had frozen.
• The nevada lettuce plants got knocked back pretty hard. I wonder ... might some recover?
• The large outer leaves of the cabbage plants were definitely cold hurt, but the heads should continue to develop.
• The kale bed had limited damage. Most of the leaves are still quite healthy looking.
• The collards show very mild damage to a few leaves, but overall, they look great.
• The dark green Bloomsdale spinach is perfect, and so sweet!
• The garlic is keeping on.
• The cilantro (first time in my winter garden) is gorgeous!
• Other herbs fared quite well, including the rosemary, lavendar, thyme, sage, and oregano. The sorrel got a bit nipped but should recover. 

Photo Gallery of the aftermath:

top to bottom: mustard greens, caribe cilantro, hakurei turnips

cabbage with damaged outer leaves

recently cut collards with mild discoloration on a few leaves

lovely spinach and damaged lettuce

kale with white discoloration from cold-hurt

garlic - hanging in there!