Area 52: Growswell

WARNING: No flavors were harmed during the growing of these life forms.

Date: January 30, 2012

Time: 5:27pm EST

Location: A tiny vegetable garden in southeastern Virginia

Description: A humble backyard gardener, eager to add some flavor and nutrition to his evening salad, harvests a carrot. The carrot pulls easily from the fluffy composted garden soil. He shakes off some loose soil, trims the top, and then rinses the carrot. A textbook appearance. Eager to eat a second carrot out of hand while preparing his salad, he reaches back into the garden. He tugs on a green stalk, but the root does not budge. He pulls harder, and the carrot only seems to resist even more. "Feels like this thing is gripping the earth," he thinks to himself. After uttering a few foul oaths and grunting harder, the gardener finally extracts something unfamiliar.

Uncertain of what he just harvested, he holds the unknown item under a bright beam from a spotlight on the house for a closer inspection. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly tingles and stands on end, and his skin crawls with goose bumps. A dull thump is heard as he drops the thing at his feet. A shriek rings out into the night. "Dear god what is this thing?!"

Fearing that he has created a monster, the gardener runs inside the house, bolts the back door, and turns off the lights. After taking a few seconds to gather his thoughts and steady his breathing, he realizes there is only one logical reason for this aberration: It was deposited in his yard by creatures from another planet!

In a panic, he dashes back outside and scoops up the perfect carrot and anomalous beast. He snaps a quick photo to document the alien creature. He saves the picture on a memory stick. He wants proof of its existence. 

Then the gardener hears a knock at his front door. Already panicked, he begins to get suspicious. The gardener stashes the memory stick in his dirty laundry basket and runs back to his kitchen, camera in hand. Suddenly, government agents come crashing through the front door, their silhouettes illuminated by the glow of a dozen unmarked black Chevy Suburbans. Simultaneously, he hears the thump of propeller blades overhead and men in black fatigues swing down on ropes and smash through his windows. Special Ops troops surge into the fenced yard and begin shooting at all vegetables in the raised beds. 

It was over in seconds. The camera was destroyed and the broken bits confiscated. The gardener could find no trace of the perfect carrot and its deviant alien counterpart. Completely gone. Scientists quickly followed with all kinds of analytical gadgets, probing and sampling the soil and confiscated vegetables. The interrogation began, but was brief. Regardless, it took the boogeymen mere minutes to set up a safety perimeter and restrict all access to the newly designated AREA 52: Growswell.

AREA 52: Growswell, VA.

"Why Growswell," the gardener asked? 
"Because that thing grows well here," the agent said.
"WHAT grows well here?!" the gardener yelled. Before he could even finish his sentence, they were gone.

After the agents left, the gardener returned to his laundry basket and fished out the memory stick. Fearing for his own safety, but fearing for the safety of the planet if he didn't tell his story, the gardener uploaded the picture of his carrot and the extra-terrestrial being to his blog to offer proof of its existence.

A Chantenay Red Core carrot of classic appearance and creature from another planet.

The image of the alien grown in the gardener's backyard has now gone viral, carrying with it the intrigue it rightly deserves. Shrouded in mystery, the backyard vegetable garden alien now stands tall amidst the ranks of fabled beasts like Sasquatch, Loch Ness, the alien sighting at Roswell, and the carrot mustache. But know this: Nothing is as scary, intriguing, or mysterious as AREA 52: Growswell.

Movin' On Up -- New USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

The USDA recently released a new Plant Hardiness Zone Map (http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/Default.aspx).

2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

What type of data is this mapped based upon, and how is it different from previous years? Here's what the USDA website states:

"Zones in this edition of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) are based on 1976–2005 weather data. A trial check did not find that the addition of more recent years of data made a significant difference in the definition of these zones. Each zone represents the mean extreme minimum temperature for an area, calculated from the lowest daily minimum temperature recorded for each of the years 1976–2005. This does not represent the coldest it has ever been or ever will be in an area, but it simply is the average of lowest winter temperatures for a given location for this time period.

The previous edition of the USDA PHZM, revised and published in 1990, was drawn from weather data for 1974–1986. The longer period (30 years) of data was selected by the group of horticultural, botanical, and climatological experts who led the review of the latest revision as the best balance between smoothing out the fluctuations of year-to-year weather variation and the concept that during their lifetimes, perennial plants mostly experience what is termed "weather" rather than "climate."

Because this map was created digitally with GIS technology, it has a higher level of resolution and can show smaller areas of zone delineations than ever before. For example, cities tend to hold more heat because they have large amounts of concrete and blacktop, so a city or town may be assigned to a zone warmer than the surrounding countryside. Higher elevations tend to be colder than surrounding lower areas, so the top of a mountain may be an area of cooler zones. A location near a large body of unfrozen water may provide milder winter weather and be in a warmer zone."


So what does this mean for gardeners in Virginia, particularly the Tidewater area? Minor zone changes for some gardeners, probably not too much change for most other gardeners. Here is the detailed map of Virginia reflecting the above changes:

2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for Virginia.

Many of the inland areas and some outlying coastal areas retained their previous zone designations. But it is interesting to note that GIS technology has allowed the USDA to define smaller zone delineations than in past versions of the map. 

.09 Acres is located in Newport News, Virginia, two blocks from the James River and near the end of the Virginia Peninsula. The southern exposure of my neighborhood on the north bank of the James River and warmth-retaining properties of the river and Chesapeake Bay are factors that influence my hardiness zone. In previous years, I was in Zone 7b. The new map has moved up my location a notch to 8a, reflecting these characteristics and suggesting we have slightly warmer winter lows than indicated on past USDA hardiness maps. In reality, my fenced/protected backyard is likely another half-zone or zone higher, reflecting an even more defined micro-climate.

It is important to note that there are always variations within these types of designations, but the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map can be a helpful general reference for gardeners. 

Did your hardiness zone remain the same or change from the past USDA map? Do you provide micro-climates for your plants to stretch the boundaries of your hardiness zone? Or do you say, "Phooey to all this this scientific mumbo jumbo! Mother Nature does what she wants and I have no control over her whims. This arbitrary designation doesn't mean a thing to me or my plants."

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Uhhh...What is This Thing?!

I was poking around my raised beds and noticed about three or four of these weird things.  I have no idea what they are.  Maybe some type of fungus?  They are brown, fairly thin walled, and curve back toward the middle of the growth.  They are ribbon-like in appearance and the edges are raised much higher than the center, which is smoother and flatter than the slightly bumpy exterior.  They are currently approximately 5" in diameter. I don't know how long they have been growing.

Unidentified mystery growth near my garlic plants.

It would be great if they were edible, but at this point I have no idea.  They are growing in fairly close proximity to the wood side frames of the beds.  It has also been quite wet (lots of rain the past 3 weeks) with a warm week and then two cool weeks.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be much appreciated.