Cold announcements

Ontario went from summer-like fall weather to winter in a blink of an eye!

First, the shipping of the moist packed seeds has been cancelled as of today!
With apologies to the few people who had them included in the recent orders; there is no point to ship non-viable seeds.

Second, are your seedlings prepared for the winter? We cannot leave our ‘precious’ unprotected. Besides new fall sowings, there are always young seedlings still in pots.
We touched on this subject here and there, but I think it is best to do a resume; this is for people living in a cold climate, zone 6 and below.

We are talking about 1-2(3) years-old seedlings still in pots and newly sown seeds.
Those who have a proper cold frame, know what to do with them, so let’s see what other holding conditions can be improvised.

The easiest, if you have just a few pots: find a place between perennials in the garden, and dug them in. Place a mesh on top to discourage the critters and a pile of leaves/or mulch on top. Water the pots well one more time before doing this!

For a larger quantity of pots, you need a larger empty area somewhere in your garden.
Water well, gather all the pots together and have various materials handy: bubble wrap, fleece, shading/frost black cloth, tarps.

As seen in the picture, some of my pots (2 years old dormant seedlings and ungerminated seeds of last year) are in plastic boxes. This already offers them a bit of protection. Seedlings of this year are wrapped in cloth. The wooden frame is not really necessary (although very easy to do); and way smaller for my needs!

Arrange everything tight together and start adding layers, finishing with the tarp.

Instead of one big pile, you can do 2: one for new sowings, one for young seedlings (these need more protection). I was in a hurry and there will be warmer periods when the big pile can be rearranged.

Ideally, it will snow on top of the pile and that would seal the deal. If not, fingers crossed….
It is not that these pots won’t freeze at all; they will, believe me (I would find them frozen in the spring even in the cold frame). But we hope to attenuate the extreme low temperatures: -3C is OK, but -10C is already a different story.

Notes: make the pile in a place where the snow gathers well (for example, under big evergreen trees there is always less snow). If possible, the area should be in the shade, so the snow won’t melt too fast during the sunny days.

You are not prepared to protect your seedlings yet?
Take them all in the garage or any other cool area until you have everything ready. Night temperatures of -9C have been announced for the end of the week, for few days in a row!

Other method I know in use: arrange all pots/flats within a pile of compost and tarp it (this is a bit dangerous if you have mice on your property though).

I’ll end with a Helleborus foetidus image; always a happy looking plant, no matter the temperature. Plus, look at those fatty flower buds just awaiting for spring!