TOW N.H.Do in Dec - Garden
J.E. Shields (Thu, 04 Dec 2003 11:18:09 PST)

Hi David and all,

David makes a very relevant point! Here in Westfield, Indiana, we are at
40° North latitude. Not as far south as Los Angeles which is about 34°
North latitude, or as close to the Equator as Johannesburg, South Africa,
at 27° South latitude and Cape Town, at 34° South latitude.

Compared to Europe: Paris, France, 49° North latitude; Rome, Italy, at 42°
North latitude; London at ca. 51.5° North latitude.

We get more hours but perhaps not much more intense sunlight, as we have
lots of cloudy days from November into February. In the greenhouse, I
sometimes leave the overhead lights on all day long, for my own
convenience, in December and January.

Cold and frozen does usually apply, however. Our usual lowest winter
temperatures are about -10°F (-23°C). The ground is usually frozen from a
few inches to a couple of feet deep in December and January. We have had
frozen ground as deep as 4 feet down, at least one time in the past 10 years.

This definitely affects what and how we can grow outdoors and even in the
greenhouse. Take Lachenalia as the worst instance: when the sun does come
out here in January, it is hard to keep the greenhouse inside temperature
below 80°F in the afternoon. On the other hand, we usually have far too
little sunlight to make a happy Lachenalia. They survive and bloom and
multiply, but they also become very leggy long before spring arrives.

Best regards,
Jim Shields

At 06:18 PM 12/4/2003 +0000, you wrote:

*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA
Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP