Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. The colder temperatures are officially here, with many areas freezing this morning, some parts of the state already getting their first dusting of snow this week.
Paris Alston: Oof! I can't even think about it yet. But we do know that the approaching winter means all kinds of prep, whether it's in your yard or in your home. I'm happy to report that I did make it to Nov. 1 before turning the heat on this year.
Siegel: Impressive. Mine's still off, actually.
Alston: Oh, my goodness. Kudos to you, Jeremy. Well, to talk a little more about staying warm, we are joined by GBH meteorologist Dave Epstein, who I'm curious, Dave, is your heat on yet or not?
Dave Epstein: Yeah, you know, okay, I don't get the heat. Like, what's the fascination with, it's a contest, like —
Siegel: Is this just you trying not to share whether yours is on or off, Dave?
Epstein: I put it on like I think it was a cold morning in late September. I put it on. It was cold.
Alston: I hear you Dave, that's right.
Epstein: I put it on for like, 10 minutes. Like, who cares?
Alston: We're living through some crazy times. Get your comfort where you can.
Epstein: It's the heat. We live in the northern part of the planet. Like, you put your heat on.
Siegel: Fair point. So this week is really a wake up call. Like, yesterday and today, it is November. It's below freezing this morning. It's when people are having to put coats on. Our executive producer was saying that she had to tell her kids this morning to wear pants rather than shorts, which if you're questioning whether you should do that, definitely wear pants today. It is literally freezing outside. What's it going to be like for the next few days? Are we expecting more frosty mornings in the days ahead?
Epstein: Yeah, tomorrow morning might be a little frosty, but we're actually on the uptrend. Temperatures over the next few days are going to be increasing, not decreasing. So that's going to be nice and it heads up into a very nice weekend. I think this afternoon we're up, let's call it 45 to 50 degrees, coolest in the Worcester Hills. And then as we head for tonight, probably down just under freezing in the colder spots, I think Boston stays near 40. We're in the 50s for Friday with all sunshine. Near 60 on Saturday and Sunday with partly to mostly sunny skies and that generally nice weather continues into Monday as well. Next chance of rain doesn't come until Tuesday. So we have a really nice stretch of weather with a milder trend here.
Alston: Oh, good to know. And that's also good. I mean, the other thing about the heat is the costs are rising. We know folks are struggling to pay their heating bills and have been for a while now. So that may be a reason that folks are holding off, but hoping they stay warm anyway. But, Dave, look, moving to the yard here, and we know we got that first frost last night, right? And you were reminding everyone that they needed to bring their plants in. So what does the clean up look like after a frost?
Epstein: Yeah, it depends on the plant. So something like dahlias, which, you know, probably got blasted last night, should come out of the ground. So that is a tuber and it does not last through the winter. It'll basically turn mushy once the ground starts to freeze and that frost line goes deeper and deeper. So you want to pull those out. I generally cut the tops off, which will have gone to mush because of the frost last night. And then I put them in peat moss and they go down in the basement for the winter, and that's a great way to winter those over. But you still can plant bulbs this time of the year as the ground freezes. So if you can find bulbs like daffodils or crocuses or anything you want to put in the ground that can go in. Also, I'll be planting garlic this weekend. This is a great time of the year to plant garlic in the vegetable garden. You put it about two, two and a half inches apart, three inches apart. And then I just cover it with pine needles once the ground freezes up and that'll grow, start growing a little bit now. It'll root out. And then once we get to the spring, it starts growing more. And then, of course, you harvest it in midsummer.
Siegel: Can we talk a little bit more about how that's possible for plants to thrive like garlic does in the winter? I was reading this morning, the garlic can survive in the ground at like -30 degrees Fahrenheit. That's incredible. How does garlic do it?
Epstein: Yeah, it's pretty amazing. It's just certain bulbs are built, the cells in the bulb itself are just built for that freeze-thaw cycle, unlike, say, the Canna bulb or tuber or unlike the dahlias or some of the others, some gladiolus, for example, may not be completely hardy once it gets down well below zero. They just kind of get mushy. But these don't. They just stay nice and firm and the roots start coming out. Even with the temperature of the ground going below 40 degrees, it'll still grow a little bit. So yeah, garlic is pretty amazing and very easy to grow. You just need a sunny spot with well-drained soil.
Alston: So, Dave, you mentioned pine needles to cover the ground there. I know the other day we were also talking about spraying the plants with horticultural oil. How do you feel about using mulch to protect against frost?
Epstein: Yeah, you can use mulch. It depends on what type of mulch you're using. I don't like to use mulch in my vegetable garden itself, I could use a leaf mulch or something like that. You could put down some shredded oak leaves would work well, but some of the other mulches, that just kind of doesn't act as good of an insulator as the pine needles. It has a little bit more air. The pine needles are there, they stay drier, they don't get as wet. So those work pretty well for things that are marginally hardy, say, zones 7a-6b around here if you want to leave them the ground, just pile a lot of leaves or pine needles or something like that on top of them.
Siegel: That is meteorologist Dave Epstein. Dave, thanks so much and happy first freeze. Happy first frost.
Epstein: Yeah, exactly.
Alston: And remember, if you ever have gardening or weather-related questions for Dave, you can always text them to us. 617-300-2008.
Meteorologist Dave Epstein is our go-to person for pressing weather questions on everything from winter blizzards to summer droughts. He’s also a horticulturist, meaning he’s an expert in anything that grows leaves and flowers. GBH's Morning Edition asked our audience for weather and gardening questions, and Epstein graciously answered them on the air. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Have a gardening or weather question for meteorologist Dave Epstein? Tweet him @GrowingWisdom, email us at thewakeup@wgbh.org, or text 617-300-2008.
How can I get my dahlias to survive the winter?
Dahlias should come out of the ground now that the first frost has come, he said.
“That is a tuber and it does not last through the winter. It'll basically turn mushy once the ground starts to freeze and that frost line goes deeper and deeper,” he said.
Pull those tubers out of the ground, cut off the tops, put them into peat moss and keep them in the basement or another indoor area for the rest of winter.
What can I plant right now?
Some flower bulbs, like daffodils and crocuses, can go in the ground now, Epstein said.
Also: Garlic. Put it in a sunny spot with well-draining soil.
“This is a great time of the year to plant garlic in the vegetable garden,” he said. “You put it about two, two and a half inches apart, three inches apart. And then I just cover it with pine needles once the ground freezes up and that'll grow, start growing a little bit now. It'll root out. And then once we get to the spring, it starts growing more. And then, of course, you harvest it in midsummer.”
Garlic can actually survive very cold temperatures in the ground, Epstein said.
“It's pretty amazing,” he said. “The cells in the bulb itself are just built for that freeze-thaw cycle. … They just stay nice and firm and the roots start coming out. Even with the temperature of the ground going below 40 degrees, it'll still grow a little bit.”
Should I use mulch to protect my garden?
Epstein said he tends to avoid it in his vegetable garden. Instead, he’ll go for pine needles or maybe shredded oak leaves.
“I could use a leaf mulch or something like that, you could put down some shredded oak leaves, would work well,” he said. “But some of the other mulches, that just kind of doesn't act as good of an insulator as the pine needles. It has a little bit more air. The pine needles are there, they stay drier, they don't get as wet.”
