What Should I Do?

[Nyboy]

So true Red !!! 60 degrees and they dress for northpole.

 

[baymule]

60 degrees isn't cold.....and blah, blah, and blah, blah....... sitting here in my sweat shirt and sweat pants all cozy because it's getting down to 42 degrees tonight...... good thing it's warming up tomorrow or I'd have to wear tennis shoes instead of my flip flops.

 

[thistlebloom]

NYboy, it might warm up, but if your soil is already frozen a couple of warm days isn't going to help much.
I thought I'd plant a perennial I'd forgotten about when we had our recent warm spell, but the ground was still too frozen to dig without a lot of effort.
They'll be fine potted up if you don't let them dry out. I've done it a lot with success.

 

[baymule]

@thistlebloom just checked that frozen bowl of dirt in my freezer--and thought about you!

 

[thistlebloom]

@thistlebloom just checked that frozen bowl of dirt in my freezer--and thought about you!

Awww....it's so heartwarming to know that frozen dirt brings me to mind!

 

[secuono]

I don't get the whole 'plant in fall/winter' thing.
Right now, we're having winter, might not be official and weather jumps around, but to me, if it ends up at 19F for even a day, winter is here.
I moved some willows in September, if I did that now, I almost guarantee they would freeze and die. I really don't know how anyone plants trees in fall and the don't freeze....
Spring, all I do is dig a hole and let the weather water them. It's spring, always raining, days it doesn't I'll water. =/

So then, what is the logic behind fall planting, why don't they freeze if the frost line is 1-3ft for most people. They should freeze very easily.
?

 

[Nyboy]

Well I potted up my sticks, used left over bagged potting soil.

 

[Nyboy]

Secuono I think there is early fall and late fall. Planting in early fall is to give roots a chance to grow with out the stress of summer heat. My trees came almost at winter time.

 

[thistlebloom]

So then, what is the logic behind fall planting, why don't they freeze if the frost line is 1-3ft for most people. They should freeze very easily.
?

"Fall" planting is really intended for the fall, or very late summer.
The benefit is that the roots of trees and perennials will continue to do some growing - even when the tops have gone dormant - until the ground actually freezes. Then in late winter/ early spring they begin to grow again before you see signs of life aboveground. So fall planting gives the roots a head start in growth before the rest of the plant starts making demands on them.

NYboys dilemma is not the usual fall planting one, because winter actually has arrived, even if the calendar doesn't say so.

Obviously roots can freeze and survive if they are below ground and have not gone dry before the ground freezes, or else there would be barren landscapes everywhere the ground freezes deep. It's just that new transplants need protecting until they establish themselves.

Spring planting works fine too, and it's usually more enjoyable.

 

[thistlebloom]

@Nyboy and I were typing at the same time. We said the same thing, only he used fewer words!