TOW N.H.Do in Dec - Garden

J.E. Shields jshields104@insightbb.com
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 wrote:
>
>
>>I might elaborate a bit on Boyce's comments for the non-hardy bulbs, here
>>in the Frozen North.
>
>I just read this piece from a few days ago and was amused by the reference 
>to the frozen north.  I wonder how many of the readers of this list 
>realise Indiana is on the same latitude as south central France and that 
>central England is roughly ten degrees further north.  Whilst I am sure 
>the Jim will be getting colder temperatures than most of us over here, he 
>will be getting more hours of daylight each day and, probably, light of a 
>far better quality.  Today, it was dusk by around 3.30pm and dark by 
>4.00pm.  It would be interesting to understand the effects on growing that 
>these issues cause.
>
>Best regards,
>David Victor
>
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*************************************************
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


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