Tennessee has average lows 26 in jan and 28 f in feb. Not to sure what would grow in that besides cold crops.

These are average, anything lower then 20 kills all plants and seeds and I am sure you know Tennessee has seen bellow zero.

If you like spinach and like to gamble you could sow some seed now and hope for a mild winter, this could give you a jump on late spring bolting and an earlier harvest. I planted here around Oct 20th and it's growing almost too well. It's a tough plant and can stand winter abuse, can be covered when temps drop to teens.

I'm wondering what winter holds in store for us...

My understanding is that it is snow reflecting the suns warmth that delays warming so far after the winter solstice...

We are going into January above freezing every day in the 10 day forecast....to my reasoning - starting to warm up as each day is just a bit longer than the last.

I'm sure we'll get a few artic blasts regardless, but I wonder how much this will moderate winter temps, and how early spring may be as a result?

Wonder how far north this warm trend extends?

oh my - just checked....it's 50 in minneapolis, and 37 in avonlea, manitoba!

kind of frightening!

Definitely a mild start to the winter so far here in the Great Lakes region -- I picked a few sprigs of blooming mustard this afternoon, that has never happened at Christmas before.

I have a few plans for next year. Many of them just involve doing projects from years past that I didn't do:

I picked up a number of kits to hook up drip irrigation to a number of my planters -- they were complete kits on sale really cheap, each kit has about 30 emmitters -- bought 8 of the kits last year. Want to get that done.

I have at least half of a 10,000 foot roll of T-tape drip line. I quit using it because of voles. I'm going to put it down this year, voles or not, just to use it up. Maybe I'll get lucky and they won't bother it too much (ha!).

I have yet to fine one truly new crop this year -- something I've not heard of. I do want to find a source for skirret and give that a try. Otherwise, I want to grow Japanese Sword Beans again, those were fun, and I would like to get a hold of some seeds for that one Korean strain of runner beans that is talked about so often on the Asian and Beans forums "Insuk Wang something or other".

Finally, 2011 was a bad year for me for various reasons, I didn't get a lot of things planted, or tended once I planted them. I resolve to approach 2012 with more enthusiasm and am saying a prayer for fewer complicating life circumstances, such as my elderly mother's health problems or my semi-part time job turning into a full time plus job for the past 6 months due to my co-worker's difficult pregnancy (confined to bed rest for many months, luckily all ended well with everyone healthy and happy).

T-bird wrote: "My understanding is that it is snow reflecting the suns warmth that delays warming so far after the winter solstice..."

That sounds very reasonable. However, here in Florida, (no snow cover) our coldest month is January, and Feb is often colder than Dec. I think it is the garden gremlins, making sure we always have the appropriate level of uncertainty.

For me, spinach will do here through the cold, as well as cabbages, IF they are already up and have some leaves on before the weather turns cold. In fact, I rarely start anything in Dec and Jan, and plant out in Feb "cold weather" crops, with protection.

But then, I'm a wimp....;-)

Ha - I was thinking today that I'm ready for spring, too. I don't think I'll be planting much for awhile though, other than the blue spruce we have for our Christmas tree. Instead, I'll use this time to get some weeding & bed prep done (I have to make some new garden area around here). Although we'll have some bitterly cold nights yet, I don't think we'll have enough in a row to freeze the ground.

So, if you are confident that the z6 has in fact become z9 then it would be reasonable to go ahead and put in the winter garden, knowing that even in north florida there are losses to frost well into march and plants grow slowly due to the cool soil temps.

meadow - spinach is likely your best bet........maybe look into row covers or some other light protection.....

Phew! I'm just starting to get my breath back from last year's fall finale. Just starting to think over what I want to improve from last year. I forget what causes the lag in temperature after each solistice- something about the atmosphere and water taking time to change, but the cold of winter and heat of summer are always worst about a month after the solistices. I do start missing fresh green things about this time of year. To beat that I start growing sprouts. Maybe that will help you beat the winter blues? I like onion, radish and buckwheat sprouts.

Cheers!

meadowdreamer, your best plan of action is to get your raised beds ready. I went through that process four years ago and it took alot more time than you might think. By the time you lay out your beds, level the ground, build the frames, loosen the soil in the bottoms and then obtain the soil or compost for filling them, you'll be just about ready for spring planting by spring, IF you continue to have mild weather and get a move on it. :)

I have to disagree that all plants will die at temps below twenty. It depends on how long a period of time the cold hangs around, the conditions under which the plants are grown, and what the weather has been lately. Here in Mississippi I grow lettuce, onions, carrots, all kinds of greens and cole crops, and garlic the ENTIRE winter with mulch and row covers. Our temps occasionally drop into the low teens, but usually only for a few hours, and this followed by generally cool/cold conditions. (My raised beds are edged with concrete too, so that probably helps keep soil temps a bit higher.) Nevertheless, I have not lost a single crop to cold in the past four years.

The trouble is that if you wait too long to sow your seed, the plants will come up and just sit there. They need warmth to grow much. As an experiment I sowed lettuce seeds into flower boxes in early November. They are still about an inch high, but very much alive, despite having neither mulch nor row cover. I expect spring will bring them on like mad.