I really don’t mind the cold. Actually, I love it. Except for this morning when I went downstairs and realized that it was freezing cold – inside. The furnace wasn’t coming on. What???!!! I was only kidding about liking the cold. It’s fine for it to be 16 degrees outside as long as I’m toasty warm inside!!!
I’m so spoiled. A little cold won’t hurt me. I’m bundled up, sitting by the fire, fingerless gloves on sewing and reading (and waiting for the repairman to come and fix the furnace). Actually, a little cold might do me some good. It does in the garden. There are many plants that actually need a certain number of cold days, or “chill hours” to perform at peak production. Chill hours refer to hours where temperatures are between 32 and 45 degrees.
It’s well known that most fruit trees need a little cold in their lives. Peach production has been down the last two years in Georgia (the peach state!) because it simply has not been cold enough for the trees to set fruit well. Between Oct. 1, 2016 and Feb. 10, 2017, middle Georgia received about 400 chill hours when then needed more like 850. I’m hoping for a bumper crop this year!
Of course extremely low temperatures are also bad for the trees (and other plants)
, especially if they occur really early or really late in the season. But January, when the trees are dormant, is a good time to have frigid temperatures.
If you think really cold temperatures will kill off garden bug populations, you are unfortunately wrong. The UGA extension service says that our native insects are good at adapting to freezing temperatures. However, my friend, Walter Reeves, says that if you want to kill some bugs, a good cold day like today is the time to do it. Just go dig up the garden, exposing insect larvae that have hibernated in the relatively warm soils. Or continue to sit by the fire waiting for the furnace people to come.
I think we all need to have enough “chill hours.” When we’re insulated from the weather, it’s easy to forget to stay in tune with the seasons. Winter has always been the time to slow down and hibernate, to just sit quietly and leave the rat race behind for a while. It just took my furnace going out to remind me of the importance of chilling.