Embarrassing Question

[LamiPub]

Ok, I have been on HT now for over a year and I have this one little "secret" shame. Even though we have raised garden and processed for 20 yrs and we live out in rural and I like to think of us as homesteader/country type folk....when I joined and well you know the part about what zone you are in? I have no idea! I have been ignoring it all this time hoping it would go away but it hasn't. So, I am finally asking...what is that? Where did it come from? What does it mean? Is there a chart so I can see where other people's zones are? Why don't I know this? I kinda figure it has to do something with those charts on the flower seed packets but there seems to be a lot more zones than on those.

And where is the "ashamed/embarassed" smiley?

[big rockpile]

Your in Zone 6. Which your last frost is April 10,you have 180 growing days.

big rockpile

[agmantoo]

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html?

[big rockpile]

Ok I'm thinking you are towards Branson.Go to the County Extension Office,they have all kinds of neat stuff there.

big rockpile

[LamiPub]

We live outside North Kansas City. thanks.

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by LamiPub

We live outside North Kansas City. thanks.

Oops! then I would say Zone 7,last frost April 30,160 growing days.

big rockpile

[LamiPub]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html?

Yay! Thank you.

[rwinsouthla]

I don't know what the exact temperatures are but the zones are divided by the minimum typical low temperature for that region, so you can tell what your average low temperature is and how likely it is to affect whatever plant it is you're trying to grow. For instance, zone 9 (my zone) has an average minimum temperature than say Missouri (where you are). Missouri probably is a zone 5-6 (find out here-------->http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

and

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hrdzon3.html)

That shows that obviously Louisiana is much warmer during the winter than say Columbia, MO so several things can be deduced.

1. Our first frost is later in the year. Mine is around the end of November.
2. Our last frost is earlier in the year. Mine is around mid-February.
3. Our average minimum temperature is around 30 degrees typically, although this year we had one night of 23.
4. We can plant spring crops earlier.
5. We can plant fall crops later.
6. Our winter crops are like some folks summer crops (lettuce, kohlrabi, chard, greens, sweet peas, strawberries, broccoli, cauliflower, etc).

I also went to wikipedia for ya and dug this up which explains it a whole lot better than me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usda_zone
Ray

[LamiPub]

Well if I am reading the map thingie correctly...It looks like zone 5a or 5b

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by LamiPub

Ok, I have been on HT now for over a year and I have this one little "secret" shame. Even though we have raised garden and processed for 20 yrs and we live out in rural and I like to think of us as homesteader/country type folk....when I joined and well you know the part about what zone you are in? I have no idea! I have been ignoring it all this time hoping it would go away but it hasn't. So, I am finally asking...what is that? Where did it come from? What does it mean? Is there a chart so I can see where other people's zones are? Why don't I know this? I kinda figure it has to do something with those charts on the flower seed packets but there seems to be a lot more zones than on those.

And where is the "ashamed/embarassed" smiley?

There's this one


and this one....



I snagged them from images.google.com LOL

donsgal

[big rockpile]

Ok your right with that Map.

I was going by what I have in a Book here. I tried!

big rockpile

[ceresone]

Lol, rock, I think you have your book upside down, K.C area would be colder than down this way, so go up a zone. BTW, theres a new zone map out--we're,(down here) now in zone 6-7

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by ceresone

Lol, rock, I think you have your book upside down, K.C area would be colder than down this way, so go up a zone. BTW, theres a new zone map out--we're,(down here) now in zone 6-7

No its The North American Horticultural Society.Its got Arkansas as Zones 4 and 5,and Iowa as Zone 8

I have another book here that is better for this area but I can't find it in this mess.

big rockpile

[Windy in Kansas]

Big Rockpile I think you are looking at their heat zone map instead of their hardiness zone map.

[FarmboyBill]

Originally Posted by LamiPub

Ok, I have been on HT now for over a year and I have this one little "secret" shame. Even though we have raised garden and processed for 20 yrs and we live out in rural and I like to think of us as homesteader/country type folk....when I joined and well you know the part about what zone you are in? I have no idea! I have been ignoring it all this time hoping it would go away but it hasn't. So, I am finally asking...what is that? Where did it come from? What does it mean? Is there a chart so I can see where other people's zones are? Why don't I know this? I kinda figure it has to do something with those charts on the flower seed packets but there seems to be a lot more zones than on those.

And where is the "ashamed/embarassed" smiley?

I was born raised between Atchison and St Joe on the Kansas side. Look at your seed catalogs. most will have a small map showing the hardiness zones of the whole USA. Good luck

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

Big Rockpile I think you are looking at their heat zone map instead of their hardiness zone map.

Maybe it says

The Vegetable-Growing Climates of the South/Central States

The climate descriptions below correpond to the colored zones in the map



Then it goes on to tell when you can plant in that area and last frost and how many growing days you have.

big rockpile

[seedspreader]

http://www.growit.com/Zones/MO.gif

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Since you are on the borderline of the south, another zone you should be semi-interested in is the HEAT zone. Those of us in the Deep South, Gulf coast, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, parts of California worry as much about the very hot summer as we do about the cold of winter. Here in the Hill Country of Texas (one of the milder areas of TX), plants that are labeled for full sun really like some afternoon shade. This does not apply to tomatoes, peppers, some squash - they like to be blazing hot all day, but with sufficient moisture in their root zone. More and more plants are being marked with their Heat zone requirements too.

BTW - Full sun means just that. Its the kind of full sun you find at the beach, not dappled through tree leaves and a Veggie garden needs FULL SUN for at least 8 hours per day.

When thinking about trees, you have to consider chill hours (as in picking fruit varieties that have the same chill hour requirements that your area averages). Chill hours in a simplistic basis is the number of hours under 45 degrees that the tree is exposed to once the tree reaches dormancy.

[LamiPub]

Originally Posted by big rockpile

Ok your right with that Map.

I was going by what I have in a Book here. I tried!

big rockpile

And I DO appreciate your efforts. Thank you.

[suitcase_sally]

When you figure it out, put in your profile.