Embarrassing Question

Wow, okay I am really starting to feel uneducated. We just get basically the same seed/plants every year (usually from hardware store, feed store, or local nursery) and put them in and they grow. I just never studied so much of this before but it is interesting. We do get very hot summers with little rainfall so we mulch, dh tiled the garden years ago (we have quite a bit of clay in our dirt), compost and we have our large garden out with no trees near it so it does get full sun. I guess we just always did what we were taught and what worked and never went any further. Our garden has always been pretty productive. Our biggest challenge has been insect control and keeping the coons out of the corn. Considering things like "chill hours" never occurred to me so looks like I will be getting some books and doing some more reading.

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

Here's a couple links.

Zone map

And this link will give you your zone based on your zip code:


Zones by zip code


Sounds like you're doing good, knowing your zone or not!!!!

HTH!
Shawna

Well this is kinda confusing...we are in a weird area...right by that small blob (in the kc area) that is zone 6 in the middle of zone 5. Wouldn't you know it JUST has to be made more complicated for ME! I am going to go with zone 5. We usually get less rainfall than the zone sixers and are just to the east of the zone 6 blob.

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

It's always been my understanding that all points north of the river get hammered in the winter more. My brother lives in NKC and always has it worse than I do 50 miles south of KC. I'm supposedly Zone 5. I think that changes now from year to year. For the last 2 years I have been clobbered with a late frost.

Fixer, we are in a weird little "area" everyone around us will get rain and we don't. (Kinda in the middle of the extreme North weather and extreme South weather.) Seems in the last several years those south of the river have gotten a lot more rainfall and stormy weather than we do. Not sure about the ice storms...we might have it a little worse north of river, not sure. We do get wind/breeze when most other people don't which is nice in summer, not so nice in winter.

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

Lamipub, I feel for ya. In northern Illinois there is a "blob" of zone 4 that swoops down into N. IL, so some maps will tell me zone 4 for us, and others say 5a. I kinda hope fo the best and go with 5a!

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"I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something.What I can do, I ought to do. And by the grace of God I will do." -Lou Holtz

And, to throw one more rock into the pond (LOL, not you BRP), have you heard that theres a new zone map out? here in extreme south Mo., we're now in zone 6-7 instead of plain 6, because of the warmer winters.

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In Life, We Weep at the thought of Death'
Who Knows, Perhaps in Death,
We Weep at the though of Life.

lol maybe I SHOULD just stick with our old "do what has been working" method. Seriously I kept seeing the zone on HTers profiles and just felt everyone knew something I didn't. So I am glad those little zone6s and 7s can no longer mock me!

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

Okay, I know BRP is just reading from a book but what he posted (and what the book apparently said) is a VERY COMMON MISCONCEPTION.

Hardiness zones have NOTHING to do with your frost dates!!! Hardiness zones are ONLY good for predicting your average lowest temperature in the winter time. They are ONLY good for figuring out if something will be a perennial in your area (can survive the winter temps) or an annual (will freeze to death).

For figuring out when you should plant, your zone is irrelevant. You should plant based on your frost dates.

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