Here comes the sun!

[ninnymary]

smart red, what does frozen ground feel like? I really don't know. My ground is ALWAYS so soft and nice! Today, I added my compost to my perennial bed and got sweaty doing it. Had to strip down to my t-shirt.

Mary

 

[digitS']

Mary, the soil everywhere maintains almost a steady temperature at a certain depth. It does not vary with the air temperature above it.

I was just looking at a couple of graphs of soil temperature from the University of Manitoba and Indiana University. The graphs are virtually the same at 12' down in the soil. The temperature does not vary more than about 5°f from the yearly average, at anytime during the 12 months. I think where they were measuring in Indiana, the average was something like 53°. Somewhere above that level, the ground may be frozen during the winter or a lot warmer than 53° during the summer.

At a depth of 12 feet, nothing much changes no matter what time of year it is. In other words, it's about like San Francisco . . . .

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

smart red, what does frozen ground feel like? I really don't know. My ground is ALWAYS so soft and nice! Today, I added my compost to my perennial bed and got sweaty doing it. Had to strip down to my t-shirt. Mary

This from someone who insists she doesn't want to rub her sunny weather in? :/ For shame!

Try this. Go barefoot outside on the concrete driveway -- in the shade -- after covering it with lightly crushed ice cubes. That feeling may be as close as you can get until you drop by here in south-est, central-est Wisconsin some winter day.

I had a T-shirt on yesterday. Not exactly sweating, but sunny, calm, and warm enough at over 40º for this Wisconsinite to get a dose of Vit. D.

 

[NwMtGardener]

smart red, what does frozen ground feel like? I really don't know. My ground is ALWAYS so soft and nice! Today, I added my compost to my perennial bed and got sweaty doing it. Had to strip down to my t-shirt.

Mary

Frozen ground leaves BIG BRUISES, mary! My right flank (ok, butt cheek) was black & blue a few weeks ago after a "cross country skiing incident" involving some icy fast track, and an inflated ego, which was promptly brought down to size!!

 

[thistlebloom]

Yeah, that frozen stuff is darn hard!

 

[ninnymary]

smart red, how many layers did you have over that t-shirt?

That walking on crushed ice cubes in the shady driveway, is that when you pull your pants down and sit to check the soil temperature? Ok, I beginning to sound like baymule. Ha I'll desist.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

smart red, how many layers did you have over that t-shirt? Mary

We are tougher than that. Just the T-shirt. No layers. I did stick to jeans rather than shorts. But that's because the shorts are in winter storage.

 

[Lavender2]

Greetings to TEG friends from central Arkansas. We have finally gone from 9 degrees to 69 degrees and my heart is warming and my green thumb is itching to get started! I look forward to meeting many if you and sharing in your knowledge of miracle of watching one seed become a harvest. God bless and may we have a wonderful year.

Welcome Chickbuff! Great to have another new member!!