Are you ready for the cold?

By Rennie Phillips

Up until a few days ago, we have had some light frost, but not a killing frost.

Our outside tomatoes and zucchinis and such were still doing fine. But then the other night, it got down to 28 degrees. That sure took care of most of our garden.

There was a smell in the air of plants that had been frosted when I went out to feed our baby calves. I checked yesterday, and our Chinese cabbage, turnips and radishes are still looking good. There is some cold weather forecast in the next couple weeks, so we need to pull our cabbage and radishes. The turnips will stay out all winter.

One thing we have that is a great season extender is high tunnels. A high tunnel is an unheated greenhouse that can be opened up on all four sides. I can open both ends up as well as both sides. So essentially it becomes a garden with a roof. When we have cold temperatures in the forecast, I simply close up the sides and ends and it stays considerably warmer in the tunnel. Then during the day, I open up the ends to let some of the heat out. With the sun shining through the plastic cover it gets downright hot in the tunnel, so we need to let some cool air in.

It got down to 28 degrees the other night, and it didn't affect the Swiss chard, radishes, tomatoes or beets growing in the high tunnel. Last year, the overnight temperatures had to get down to about 25 degrees before the veggies in the tunnels were affected.

With enough heat, you could probably grow in them year round, but it would cost a fortune to heat them. The beets and turnips will take a lot of cold, so they should be good all winter.

With the colder weather there are a few tasks that need to be done so the cold temperatures don't cause problems. Hoses need to be unscrewed off our outdoor faucets. We had one of those frost-free faucets on the side of our house freeze many years ago because we left a hose on it.

We usually roll up our hoses and store them in out of the weather. We use a couple all winter, so these we drain every time we use them. I use a hose to fill the tanks where our cattle water, so we need them all winter. I simply unscrew it off the faucet and drain the hose.

I have a bunch of shut-offs on my watering system for our garden and trees, so these need some special care. I go around and open up all the shut-offs to allow the water to drain out of them. I learned this the hard way. We also have some water filters on our water system and these I open up and drain. Most of our lines are black plastic pipe, so it normally isn't affected by freezing temperatures.

And since we have tractors, I need to check the antifreeze and make sure it is strong enough. In the area we live it will get down to zero but not much colder, so I make sure our antifreeze is good to about 20 degrees below zero. Plenty good enough. You might also want to check your four-wheeler if it's water cooled. Normally the shops where we have our oil changed check the antifreeze in our vehicles, but you might want to check and make sure.

I also use a bunch of sprayers for our place out here and for our garden. I normally wash out these sprayers and then get as much of the liquid out. I fix our hand sprayers so they are on or open and then store them with the wand up in the air to allow water to drain out of the wand. I do the same with my tank electric sprayers. Try to drain the hose on these sprayers so the pump doesn't have water in it.

Marge and I also put some winter clothes in our vehicles. Marge has a plastic box with warm clothes, shoes, a blanket, flashlight and so on in the box. In the fall she simply slides this box in the back of her RAV and it stays there until spring. She may never need it, but just in case. I have an extra pair of coveralls, so I put them in the back of my pickup along with a pair of pack boots, gloves, cap and so on. I have a flashlight in my pickup, so I'm good there.

How about the batteries in your vehicles? My pickup was going on six years old and it still had the original battery. So I bought a new battery and had our son install it. Some auto parts stores and shops can test your battery and determine if you need a new one. Winter puts extra stress on your battery as well as making your car harder to start. Many would disagree, but after about four years it would be a good idea to replace your battery.

Since gardening is over until spring, you probably have a bunch of seed left over. I put my seed in baggies or containers if they aren't still in the original packaging. I then put all my seed in the freezer.

I use an old chest freezer that doesn't have the auto-defrost feature. I wouldn't store the seed right up against the side of the freezer. I'd put it in the middle of other frozen goodies.

The weather has sure cooled down, and we are heading toward colder weather. I spent some time yesterday filling our wood box in the house as well as two garden carts with firewood.

I'm looking forward to some colder temperatures and maybe a little white stuff. No ice! Just a little white stuff.

Until next time.