Winter in Aberdeen
jglmartin
expect, have and am making all the usual exotic and somehow feeble mistakes
that people point and laugh at, but seem to make it all worthwhile. My worry
at the moment is that, having planted various young perennials from a
catalogue ( raised somewhere in middle England) in Aberdeen, should I try
and protect them a little bit more than usual over Winter. I'm fairly
certain they are all hardy but it gets cold as brass monkeys up here and the
wind fairly does blow. I've a feeling I'm on a learning curve with using
catalogue stuff and I'll be lucky if 2/3s comes to fruition, but does anyone
have any suggestions to improve my odds?
Nick Maclaren
I suggest posting to uk.rec.gardening! The majority of readers of
rec.gardens are from a completely different climate, though there
is one from Juneau, Alaska, which isn't so different from Aberdeen.
And include which perennials - some will have no trouble, and others
will be beyond hope.
Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
Email: nm...@cam.ac.uk
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679
Ann
>Hello! I am currently falling in love with my first garden and, as you could
>expect, have and am making all the usual exotic and somehow feeble mistakes
>that people point and laugh at, but seem to make it all worthwhile. My worry
>at the moment is that, having planted various young perennials from a
>catalogue ( raised somewhere in middle England) in Aberdeen, should I try
>and protect them a little bit more than usual over Winter. I'm fairly
>certain they are all hardy but it gets cold as brass monkeys up here and the
>wind fairly does blow. I've a feeling I'm on a learning curve with using
>catalogue stuff and I'll be lucky if 2/3s comes to fruition, but does anyone
>have any suggestions to improve my odds?
Pardon my ignorance, but how cold does a grass monkey get? <G>
Seriously, if you're talking freezing or below, around here what we do
is mulch after the ground freezes to keep it frozen, that way
hopefully the plants won't heave out of the ground in a freeze/thaw
cycle. If it's an exposed, windy site, could you erect a burlap
windbreak? The drying winter winds can kill perennials, too. If the
plants are really tender, perhaps you should look into building some
sort of cold frame and dig the plants for overwintering, and replant
them in the spring.
Or maybe you need a private gardener who would love to see Scotland at
any time of the year. Send a ticket and I'll be right over!! <BSEG>
--
Ann, Gardening in Zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************
http://www.annzoid.com
Nick Maclaren
In article <f6ei3s41d9qh6hmga...@4ax.com>, Ann <ann...@thecia.net> writes:
|> "jglmartin" <jglm...@netlineuk.net> expounded:
|>
|> >Hello! I am currently falling in love with my first garden and, as you could
|> >expect, have and am making all the usual exotic and somehow feeble mistakes
|> >that people point and laugh at, but seem to make it all worthwhile. My worry
|> >at the moment is that, having planted various young perennials from a
|> >catalogue ( raised somewhere in middle England) in Aberdeen, should I try
|> >and protect them a little bit more than usual over Winter. I'm fairly
|> >certain they are all hardy but it gets cold as brass monkeys up here and the
|> >wind fairly does blow. I've a feeling I'm on a learning curve with using
|> >catalogue stuff and I'll be lucky if 2/3s comes to fruition, but does anyone
|> >have any suggestions to improve my odds?
|>
|> Pardon my ignorance, but how cold does a grass monkey get? <G>
Not as cold as a brass monkey :-) An old naval idiom, which I could
explain if you like.
|> Seriously, if you're talking freezing or below, around here what we do
|> is mulch after the ground freezes to keep it frozen, that way
|> hopefully the plants won't heave out of the ground in a freeze/thaw
|> cycle. If it's an exposed, windy site, could you erect a burlap
|> windbreak? The drying winter winds can kill perennials, too. If the
|> plants are really tender, perhaps you should look into building some
|> sort of cold frame and dig the plants for overwintering, and replant
|> them in the spring.
That won't work in Aberdeen, I am afraid. You can expect multiple
freeze-thaw cycles, well beyond the ability of mulching to keep one
side or other of the boundary, probably from November to April. The
warm spells are as likely to kill plants as the cold ones, even there.
Windbreaks can help, but the wind is unlikely to be be dry - freezing
fog is more likely.
Bill Morgan
Maclaren) wrote:
>
> I suggest posting to uk.rec.gardening! The majority of readers of
> rec.gardens are from a completely different climate, though there
> is one from Juneau, Alaska, which isn't so different from Aberdeen.
There are a fair number on rec.gardens who are from the UK. And some of
them have complained that the UK group is not as friendly as this one.
Hence, their presence here.
But really, I thought Aberdeen was in South Dakota!!!
Regards,
Bill
--
Bill Morgan <wtmo...@pilot.msu.edu>
"Those who do not learn the lessons of science fiction are condemned to
live them."
Ann
>Not as cold as a brass monkey :-) An old naval idiom, which I could
>explain if you like.
Damn. That'll teach me to post before tea! Yes, Nick, I'd love to
know about *b*rass monkeys. :o)
>That won't work in Aberdeen, I am afraid. You can expect multiple
>freeze-thaw cycles, well beyond the ability of mulching to keep one
>side or other of the boundary, probably from November to April. The
>warm spells are as likely to kill plants as the cold ones, even there.
>Windbreaks can help, but the wind is unlikely to be be dry - freezing
>fog is more likely.
Oh, icicles and everything...and me without my shawl.....
Allan&Teresa Widner
someplace cold and dreary like that. Where I want to spend a year or two
doing the "artist goes abroad to paint, isn't that just divine?" thing.
That way I could increase the value of what was already on the market, come
back with a bunch of "Scotland" paintings, and enjoy living in what always
looked to me like one of the most beautiful pieces of cold, wet, and
generally hostile real estate ever inhabited by humans. My kind of country.
Besides, I have a healthy respect for any culture that considers hurling
telephone poles and large iron balls through the air a *sport*. Not to
mention what modern police and investigative theory the world over owes to
one Robert Peel. (Which is why many police departments in this country have
a kilt as a full-dress uniform option and a few members who play the great
pipes. The Illinois State Police bagpipe and drum corps is absolutely
fantastic.)
Dang, I had better head for bed soon, and *try* to sleep - I think I am
rambling most irrelevantly.
Hawk
http://home.att.net/~atwidner/
Bill Morgan wrote in message ...
Nick Maclaren
In article <bm1k3s4p12vlbldre...@4ax.com>, Ann <ann...@thecia.net> writes:
|> nm...@cus.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) expounded:
|>
|> >Not as cold as a brass monkey :-) An old naval idiom, which I could
|> >explain if you like.
|>
|> Damn. That'll teach me to post before tea! Yes, Nick, I'd love to
|> know about *b*rass monkeys. :o)
The expression is "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass
monkey." The most popular report of its origin is that a monkey
was a triangular bit of brass that held a pile of (iron) cannon
balls. In very cold weather the differential contraction led to
the balls falling off. I have my doubts ....
|> >That won't work in Aberdeen, I am afraid. You can expect multiple
|> >freeze-thaw cycles, well beyond the ability of mulching to keep one
|> >side or other of the boundary, probably from November to April. The
|> >warm spells are as likely to kill plants as the cold ones, even there.
|> >Windbreaks can help, but the wind is unlikely to be be dry - freezing
|> >fog is more likely.
|>
|> Oh, icicles and everything...and me without my shawl.....
Yes, quite. And, worse, icicles forming on your shawl (in the
cold spells) and dripping down your neck (in the warm spells) :-(
Aberdeen is generally reckoned to be the British city with the
most miserable weather, largely because it is the most northerly
major city.
Gardenman
of the Army ordnance museum.
Bill Morgan wrote:
> In article <81bc9l$pq3$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>, nm...@cus.cam.ac.uk (Nick
> Maclaren) wrote:
>
> >
> > I suggest posting to uk.rec.gardening! The majority of readers of
> > rec.gardens are from a completely different climate, though there
> > is one from Juneau, Alaska, which isn't so different from Aberdeen.
>
> There are a fair number on rec.gardens who are from the UK. And some of
> them have complained that the UK group is not as friendly as this one.
> Hence, their presence here.
>
> But really, I thought Aberdeen was in South Dakota!!!
>
> Regards,
> Bill
>
> --
> Bill Morgan <wtmo...@pilot.msu.edu>
> "Those who do not learn the lessons of science fiction are condemned to
> live them."
--
Stop bye and I 'll help your garden grow
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~frisch
Gardeners at Large
Building a better world,
one yard at a time
Ann
>Yes, quite. And, worse, icicles forming on your shawl (in the
>cold spells) and dripping down your neck (in the warm spells) :-(
>
>Aberdeen is generally reckoned to be the British city with the
>most miserable weather, largely because it is the most northerly
>major city.
You know, Nick, I was thinking about this last night. You said there
were too many freeze/thaw cycles for a heavy mulch after the first
freeze to work well in Aberdeen. But that is exactly what we have
around here, in the coastal area of Zone 6 that I live in. Our
winters are wildly variable, it'll go from -5° to 55° in one day, and
then back down again. We have stretches in January and February where
shorts and T-shirts are in order, then the next week there'll be 18"
of snow on the ground. Some years we'll get no more than 4" of snow
*all winter*. Is that at all similar to Aberdeen? I'm just trying to
get a perspective on it, tis all.
galyles
Allan&Teresa Widner wrote in message
<81dch9$2ar$1...@bgtnsc04.worldnet.att.net>...
>I *think* there is an Aberdeen in Scotland, north coast or Highlands or
>someplace cold and dreary like that. Where I want to spend a year or two
>doing the "artist goes abroad to paint, isn't that just divine?" thing.
>That way I could increase the value of what was already on the market, come
>back with a bunch of "Scotland" paintings, and enjoy living in what always
>looked to me like one of the most beautiful pieces of cold, wet, and
>generally hostile real estate ever inhabited by humans. My kind of
country.
You should come and pay a visit, Hawk. I am one of the sassenachs (English
interlopers) who has made Scotland his home for almost a generation, living
in Dundee, about 60 miles south of Aberdeen on the east coast of Scotland.
Actually the coastal strip is not usually very cold in winter especially at
sea level, and probably positively tropical at times compared with some of
your extremes of winter weather in Illinois. Midsummer temps are in the 60s
and 70s, unpredictable rain - very dry this year! Admittedly it gets a bit
nippy (see John Riley's recent post!) in winter i.e. cold, when ascending
into the upper Highlands where the ski runs are *usually* open from around
January to March. Of course, the west coast of Scotland is influenced by
ocean currents derived from the gulf stream, and is relatively mild,
allowing the growth of some pretty tender plants. In fact, the last couple
of winters have also been surprisingly mild here on the east coast (with
less influence from weather patterns coming from the more adjacent cold
European continental landmass), with only a handful of frosts mostly around
28 - 32C, and only a very few additional nights getting into the low 20s. My
guess is that it has been fairly similar in Aberdeen. In this respect we are
not necessarily that much colder than the parts of inland southern England
several
hundred miles south of us (how have you fared in the last couple of winter
seasons in Cambridge, Nick?). Hawk, if you drop by in Dundee, I will make
sure that I have my old vinyl copy of "Benefit" (Jethro Tull) ready to play
on the turntable, although I keep promising myself that I really must build
up my Tull collection further, since I really enjoy that band.
Geoff
Nick Maclaren
Ann <ann...@thecia.net> wrote:
>nm...@cus.cam.ac.uk (Nick Maclaren) expounded:
>
>>Yes, quite. And, worse, icicles forming on your shawl (in the
>>cold spells) and dripping down your neck (in the warm spells) :-(
>>
>>Aberdeen is generally reckoned to be the British city with the
>>most miserable weather, largely because it is the most northerly
>>major city.
>
>You know, Nick, I was thinking about this last night. You said there
>were too many freeze/thaw cycles for a heavy mulch after the first
>freeze to work well in Aberdeen. But that is exactly what we have
>around here, in the coastal area of Zone 6 that I live in. Our
>winters are wildly variable, it'll go from -5° to 55° in one day, and
>then back down again. We have stretches in January and February where
>shorts and T-shirts are in order, then the next week there'll be 18"
>of snow on the ground. Some years we'll get no more than 4" of snow
>*all winter*. Is that at all similar to Aberdeen? I'm just trying to
>get a perspective on it, tis all.
Yes, that is roughly it. In fact the variations in the UK are probably
less extreme than with you, but they are highly unpredictable and go
on all year. Because the controlling effect is where the air movement
comes from, cold nights are typically associated with cold days - most
unlike dry climates. It is very rare for a daytime peak to be more
than 30 degrees above the nighttime low.
Cambridge probably has similar winter temperatures to Aberdeen (as
"galyles" says), and the past few winters have been very mild. But the
earliest frost that I have seen was September 2nd and the latest June
20th. More to the point, the coldest July day (or night) is quite
likely to be COLDER than the warmest January one - this is rare on the
east, but quite common on the west. However, temperatures of below
10 are extremely rare - almost unknown.
The real nastiness about the winter, which is much worse up north, is
that there are 3+ months with above freezing temperatures, near 100%
humidity, next to no sunlight and general misery. Fungi and bacteria
thrive, and plants can't grow and shake off the infections. This is
why maypop (Passiflora incarnata) is a tender plant in the UK ....
At midwinter, Cambridge gets about 8 hours of daylight, with the sun
reaching 17 degrees above the horizon. It is usually bright enough
not to need artificial light outside, but not inside. Aberdeen
gets perhaps 6 hours, with the sun reaching 12 degrees up.
The other real killer is that there may be a fortnight with daytime
peaks above 60, nights above 40 and the soil approaching 50, which
is then followed by a week where the ground freezes. This can (and
does) occur at any time from February to April, and kills more plants
than the cold - which, as "galyles" says, is usually pretty trivial.
Jason Quick
> At midwinter, Cambridge gets about 8 hours of daylight,
>with the sun reaching 17 degrees above the horizon. It is
>usually bright enough not to need artificial light outside, but
>not inside. Aberdeen gets perhaps 6 hours, with the sun
>reaching 12 degrees up.
This brings to light a point that many of us Merkins
tend to disremember, and that I am fond of pointing
out:
In terms of latitude, the UK lies wholly north of the US/
Canadian border (~49 north). London's latitude is roughly
the same as that of Calgary, at 51 degrees North. Aberdeen,
in the great land of the Scots, is roughly at 57 degrees north,
or about a degree south of Juneau, Alaska. If it weren't
for the Gulf Stream, the UK would be a huge block of ice.
Talk about lucky.
Jason
USDA Zone 5a - near Omaha, Nebraska USA
Remove the first dot when replying
Nick Maclaren
Absolutely! This is one of the things that riles me about our
politicians' refusal to take global warming seriously. If the
Gulf Stream reverses (as it has in the past), the UK and much of
western Europe will cease to be habitable with their current
population densities. Yes, I do mean 200 million people will be
Up Shit Creek.
I have no desire to take up gardening in tundra.