Florida’s cold snap season
Yes, it happens. The bad news, it’s really, really cold. The good news, it does not last.
My outside temperature Wednesday morning was 44 degrees at 7:20 a.m. and 48 degrees at 8:20 a.m. That was a kind of hopeful warming trend.
A brisk north wind was definitely not helpful as it blew full blast into the lanai. Overcast skies, well that is considered a good as it actually creates a blanket effect and keeps the temperatures stable until we can get some sunshine breaking through.
The cold snaps will be coming and going now.
Watch the weather forecasts and believe it when they forecast cold fronts. They know.
Cold front is really the correct term for these seasonal fluctuations. I call them cold snaps because it sounds less severe to me and also that was what we called them in the “old days” up North.
Your nice warm Florida wardrobe will need to have space for cold weather clothes, not a lot but several things such as turtleneck sweaters, sweat shirts, a pair of mittens or gloves, maybe even a pair of long johns, depending on your age and activity level. I used to have a pair of earmuffs but did decide to donate them to a re-sale store because I felt uncomfortable walking around with fuzzy ears and not hearing well. They were also just something else to take off and leave someplace.
We moved into our home the second week of December over 18 yeas ago, and the husband did not like the idea of electric heat – a nice clean heat but expensive up North. We were told not to worry, you use that heat very little here. Two weeks later we had a three-day cold snap in the 30s. Not a happy thing, but we were snug and warm and the cost was not sky high, so we adjusted.
That event turned out to be a good story to tell all of our northern visitors over the years. It just proves you cannot believe everything you read and a lot of what you hear but you can adjust to change, when you want to.
You will be surprised how all the beautiful tropical outside here tolerates these extreme changes from the 90s to the 40s. You lose a few things completely, but more things will adjust and just drop a few black or crisp leaves and, after a bit of trimming, be just fine. You do not want to be out there trimming off every dead leaf the day after a cold front. Just wait. If something was really too tender to come through the cold, you can trim fast, however, this will encourage tender new growth which will surely be killed off with the next cold spell.
Talk to neighbors, garden centers, attend some classes or use the computer to learn how to adjust your space correctly.
Make local weather forecasts a major part of the evening news. Mother Nature is fickle and a weather event may suddenly turn worse, or even better yet, slide off into the gulf. The forecasts will alert you to sudden changes as well as inform you what to prepare for. Forecasts are not perfect but they will be better than you trying to figure out what is going to happen, and when. It is boring to just set up a garden and never have anything to do for the next several months. That is just not gardening. I agree, a few weeks of peaceful viewing our efforts with little actual physical work, is great. That is not the norm. You have to always adjust something: food, water or actual growth pattern.
Do not let anything, especially in pots or a hanging basket, become dried out. Soil needs to be a least damp, not dry for roots to stay pliable and able to take up nutrients. The cold wind is especially hard on hanging baskets.
Garages or storm shutters on lanais that can be closed easily are good places to place anything you can move. When it gets really cold, you can always use old sheets, as I do, to cover garden veggies and plants for overnight. You must remove these coverings first thing in the morning, however. Check out garden centers for different coverings.
Remember, it is the soil and roots that need to be moist, not the greens.
Also remember nothing lasts forever, why would we even garden if we never had anything out there to be gardening? Great exercise, good social activity – join a garden club – and just a nice ego thing when things work out.
Keep warm this weekend. It will be cool again soon.
Happy gardening until we met again.
H.I. Jean Shields is past president of the Garden Club of Cape Coral.