Climate Zone

I've been doing a bit of research on the climate here in Burlington, Vermont. According to the 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, Burlington lies within a narrow band of light blue surrounding Lake Chaplain. The 1990 map had listed the area as zone 4b but now it appears we are officially zone 5a. While this warming trend may benefit the growers in our area, I can't help but wonder what devastating effects it may have on other parts of the world already prone to such things as drought or flooding.

As a gardener, I must admit that I like the sound of 'zone 5a' much better than 'zone 4b'. Whenever I look at a fruit tree catalog these days, I always get discouraged to see the number of varieties that are only suitable for zone 5 or higher, like most sweet cherries and Asian pears. (I particularly love Fedco's Tree catalog, which gives great advice on specific varieties that will grow best here in New England.) If we decide to remain here for the long haul, I would definitely try to grow some marginally suitable varieties.



When researching Burlington's average frost dates, I found this great chart put out by National Weather Service. I'm horrible at interpreting these things but if I'm reading this one correctly, it seems that May 7th is the median frost free date. We have a 25% chance of frost on May 13th and only a 10% chance on May 19th.



Fast forward to fall, our median first frost date is October 6th with a 25% change of frost on September 29th and a 10% on September 25th.

So how does this compare to what we've been accustomed to our zone 6a garden in northeastern Massacusetts? Well, it looks like we'll be losing about 2 weeks of frost-free days at each end of the growing season (one less month of growing). What's even more striking are the average maximum temperatures during the summer months here in Burlington (June - 75.8 F, July - 81.2 F, August - 77.9 F), which seems much milder than what we're used to.

I imagine my first year of growing here in Vermont should be an interesting one. I'll be curious to see how our tomatoes, peppers and melons fair this year. At the very least, it will be a learning experience for this veggie gardener.

Fire, Frost and Fertilizer

Hello everyone! I must apologize for being MIA this past week. Admittedly, I'm still slowly adjusting to the change in seasons - my motivation to get things done seems to be deminishing as the days become shorter. It seems as though my fall veggies are feeling the same way as their growth has slowed way down.

A few weeks ago, we had a cord and a half of wood delivered. We love our fires so hopefully, this will get us through the winter. Last year, we burned almost two cords. One of my favorite things is coming home from a stressful workday (especially when it's cold and rainy outside) and seeing that Marc has gotten a good fire going. I feel instantly better.

The nights are dropping down into the mid to upper 30's F now and this morning, I noticed frost on our front lawn. Luckily, it didn't reach back into the garden. I guess it's time to put up the hoops and plant garlic. It will be a busy weekend for sure.

On a final note, I came across this rather disturbing NY Times article this morning. Here is an except:

"Saskatchewan is home base for the Potash Corporation, the fertilizer company...A consortium of state-backed Chinese companies and financiers may make a takeover offer for Potash that rivals a $38.6 billion hostile bid from BHP Billiton, and that prospect has lawmakers in Washington, regulators in Canada and bankers on Wall Street all talking...45 percent of Potash’s production is sold to farmers in North America. The big worry, in part, is that the Chinese could seek to redirect that supply to China, starving other counties of a much-needed commodity."

Our world seems to operate on the notion that all of the material things we take for granted in our daily lives will be readily available to us in perpetuity. It makes me wonder how the present and future conflicts between countries and multi-national corporations over the world's precious resources (in this case, fertilizer) will impact our children's generation. All the more reason, in my opinion, why it's imperative that we as individuals take on more responsiblity for own personal (and sustainable) food production.

Should we be alarmed?

First Frost Warning

There's a frost advisory for our area tonight - the first of the season. (Yikes!) I'm a bit caught off guard by it to be honest. I had it in my head for some reason that we wouldn't get one for a least another couple of weeks. Like last year, I had to work under the glow of our spotlight in order to cover several of my beds with fabric row cover. Part of me thinks that I'm overreacting as most of my fall crops are frost-resistant to a certain degree. However, I decided to play it safe anyway. (Mental note: I should probably harvest the bulk of my basil tomorrow to make pesto.)

I also moved all of my citrus trees to our covered porch. They generally do not require added protection unless the temperature drops below 32 degrees F.

To all of my Eastern Massachusetts gardeners - Slept tight! Hopefully all will be well in the morning!

Potato Update and Freeze Warnings

This past week, I harvested another 0.93 lbs of radishes. Jonathan has developed quite a taste for them so I'm glad to say that I am no longer the only person in the house who eats them.

On a sad note, all of my white-stemmed mini bok choy bolted while I was away. (I have found that the white-stemmed varieties tend to bolt much more easily than the green.) And so, they all ended up in the compost pile. I hate wasting food and the feeling becomes much more acute when you put so much time and energy into growing it yourself.


I thought I'd update everyone on my potted potatoes. Pictured above is the "Red Thumb" variety...


...and here are the "All Blue" potatoes. I never knew that potato leaves were so striking. I just love how the stems and leaves are streaked with the distinct color of these varieties. I'm also impressed by how fast these have grown.


The "Rose Finn" fingerlings are growing a bit slower than the rest, but for some reason, I had expected this. I'm just glad that they have all made it this far. Hopefully growing potatoes will be as easy as they say it is.

Finally, before I say "good night" to my fellow New Englanders, I just wanted to remind you all to protect your outdoor plants. Apparently, we have another frost warning tonight. Hopefully, this will be the end of it.

Another Chill

It looks like the temperature will be dropping down into the upper 30s again tonight. Needless to say I will be gardening in the dark again, row cover in hand.

Gardener at Midnight

Like many of you out there, I like to stay up late sometimes and catch up on my blog reading. I stopped by Skippy's Vegetable Garden and read Kathy's post about tonight's frost warnings for certain areas of New England. I scurried back to my own blog, looked at the sidebar and noticed that the low for tonight was expected to be 39 degrees in my area. Panic or paranoia - whatever you want to call it set in and I soon found myself (at 11:30 pm to be precise) putting floating row cover over my entire garden, which I'm happy to say only took about 15 minutes. The star fruit and citrus trees also came inside. Luckily, we have a huge spotlight in the backyard so I was able to see what I was doing. (I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled.) Call it being overly dramatic but I REFUSE to underestimate mother nature this year.