Growing Zones

[Black Krim]

With another mild spring, that forced a look at growing / planting zones ....and trying to find a definition based on the coldest temps.

Based on this
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone

the lowest temps moves my area one zone warmer.

Anyone else think the zones need updating ??

[PaulF]

The current zone maps are from 2012. Adjustments are made "periodically". The last adjustment previously was six years. USDA is behind a bit. The map shows me at zone 5 and I have been gardening as though I am in zone 6 for the past four years. The Arbor Day maps are more up to date.

[Black Krim]

Will definitely check out the Arbor Day Map.

Ive never set out plants this early. Figured it was worth the risk. Being New England, a late frost is normal..... the trick is to use fleece to protect the tenderest plants. And cross my fin gers.

[Black Krim]

https://www.arborday.org/media/zones.cfm

This winter did not reach the Zone 6 lows, definitely in the 7 zone.

[eyolf]

While MY MN garden sems to have moved into Z4, some crops will still be problematic, and I wont go planting any almond trees or wine grapes just yet.

Back in the mid-90's, when Gurneys, Henry Field, and a few other old-tyme seed houses were still alive we ordered a couple of apple trees and some berries from Gurneys. They mixed our order up with someone elses...who had ordered some grapes and some berries.

We called and they sent the right stuff very quickly; I offerred to send the other stuff back, but they didn't want it. I babied those grape for 10 years, Severely pruning them back every autumn and burying them behind hay bales and snow. And they lived, and even sometimes blossomed and set fruit. But we never got any real crop from them.

At an open house at an ag experiment station I asked a grad student about that; SHE said that its complex...not just hours of cold, drying winds, or speed of warming...but degree days of summer warmth, even day length when dormancy breaks and when a cool day or two stops progress. The sweet table grapes I wanted just needed about 5 days earlier in the spring and 8 in the fall.

It IS a great deal simpler with annual crops like Tomatoes or beans. They just ask for a certain number of Growing Degree days.

[Black Krim]

Your zone definitely has limits different than mine.

Since moving onto this parcel of land some 25 years ago, the trend is warmer, butit can be punctuated with extreme cold. Several winters ago the temp never rose much over 32 for about 6 weeks. That severe cold knocked out a number of trees.

The weather has been much warmer the last few years.....selecting more varieties that are popular both here and further south, for this year.......

[Father'sDaughter]

Here's the USDA map where you can search by your zip code or view a static map for your state. https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

It gives my current zone as 6a, but before the last update I was in 5b. When enlarge the state map I can see that I'm actually very close to the dividing line between the two, so in my mind I tell myself I'm still in 5b.

[Jeannine Anne]

Interesting it puts my Canadian garden as the same as parts of Texas and Carolina..who would have thought.

[rxkeith]

i might be a zone 5 here, but the big issue is the summer time temperature.
it is mid april, and we had an 8 inch snowfall sunday-monday. could have been worse.
12 to 20 inches were predicted. now, that snow has to melt. should be gone the end of the month or early may unless we get more. first two weeks of june, weather can be iffy.
its not freezing cold, but its not beach blanket weather either. soil needs to warm up.
we just don't have that sustained summer time heat for a very long period of time.

some crops like apples, and berries can do very well here.
tomatoes, and peppers can sulk along sometimes.
you grow what you can.



keith

[JRinPA]

6B changed to a local spot border of 7a for me a few years ago. Or at maybe that is when map got more detailed? I don't consider it to mean much for spring crops though. Heck it is 7a way down at the NC line! They get a lot more direct sun than we do here at 40 degrees of latitude.

It is supposed to hit 30F here tonight and it is already down below 34, frosty breath and still out there. I covered up some peas and pots, may or may not help. The pear tree is in full bloom and I have to think this will hurt it a bit.

The first week of April I checked a long term forecast and it said the weeks 2-3 of April would be cooler and wetter than avg. So far it has been right.

Black Krim, what is your temp tonight? What did you plant out early, tomatoes?

Fingers crossed for this, pic from a couple days ago...I hope the freeze tonight doesn't wreck it too badly.

[Black Krim]

It got pretty cold that night. The bucket of water, a 5 gal oail, developed a thick ice on top.

All the peaches are in bloom. Might be a bust year. Can only wait and see.

The whole week the nights are extra cold and the sniw storm was not entirely welcome. The snow coveted view is always lovely and lifts my spirits but dampens my enthusiasm to put out plants.

No tomatoes in the ground. Putting flats in double green house tonight as 6am temp this morning registered 45. The clover was covered in frost and frozen stiff. Fingers crossed.

[JRinPA]

That freeze turned about...20% of the pear tree blossoms brown by mid afternoon the next day. We'll see how it goes, not much to do about it.

I didn't even start tomato seeds yet. It has been a mess here. Heat mats should open up tomorrow (peppers, eggplants started late as well) so it will be a hopefully successful 4 week sprint start to plant out. This seems to be the way to do it for me, seed right into soil blocks, a week of mats, a couple weeks under lights, then outside under agribon during the day. But I'd like it a bit earlier, week or two.

I just found a bag of tomato seeds that I haven't seen since at least 2017. It has all the blacks I had from the swap, plus some other sase. Paul Robeson, Black Krim, Black from Tula, Cherokee Purple...a few others. Maybe I'll try to wake some of them up this year, since it will be a short babysit. The years I started tomatoes in mid March, I was sick of dealing with them by mid-May plant out.

[slugworth]

April 15th used to be the traditional last frost date here for centuries.
We are 1 week beyond that and still getting frost.

[taboule]

April is turning out to be colder than last year. My tomato plants went outside mid-april last year. They're still in the basement this year. Will probably take a few out later this week as temps move out of the 30s.

The snow a ~ weekend ago got me worried as I had just planted a bunch of greens. The little guys were buried. Thankfully, they all survived. Here are some lettuce, i had to clean the snow around them to take the pic.
20200418_172024_resized.jpg

Walla walla row by the fence.
Wallas.jpg

[JRinPA]

It has been chilly for sure. I got some peas in around end of March while it was warmer and they came up quickly and are now 5-6". Other beds I did not plant for another week or so, and many of them have hardly germinated. March was warm, but April has been cold.