In this video, I discuss why I am predicting a cold winter in 2024 – 2025, especially in the eastern half of the United States. I have noticed several extreme weather red flags that are signaling colder than average weather, and I want to share how I am preparing for cold and protecting my garden. Weather forecasting models support this, and a big cold plunge is likely coming to the United States in mid to late October. Winter is coming early this year, and here is how to prepare.
How To Build A Hoop House: https://youtu.be/81ri2YEBNZc?si=VDnp5ZQQfSt1c9q3
Cold Protection Methods: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1gY7BoYBGIG1w1u_K6CDIhfsqG8dMnPj&si=Lm7G2WUM2V2R5Z4S
Understanding The Polar Vortex: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/understanding-arctic-polar-vortex
I use the following products* for cold weather prep and to grow vegetables:
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Full Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/themillennialgardener
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 My Cold Winter Forecast
1:02 Red Flag #1
2:00 Red Flag #2
2:51 Red Flag #3
3:54 Red Flag #4
5:38 Red Flag #5
6:54 How I’m Preparing For A Cold Winter
7:34 Preparation #1: Storing Food
7:58 Preparation #2: Preserving Food
8:27 Preparation #3: Protect Cold Sensitive Trees
9:58 Preparation #4: Build Hoops / Row covers
11:12 Preparation #5: Stock Row Covers
13:16 Preparation #6: Winterizing Irrigation
15:21 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to protect plants from cold, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B
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© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #coldweather #forecast
50 Comments
If this video was helpful, please "Like" it and share it to help it spread! Thanks for watching 🙂TIMESTAMPS here:
0:00 My Cold Winter Forecast
1:02 Red Flag #1
2:00 Red Flag #2
2:51 Red Flag #3
3:54 Red Flag #4
5:38 Red Flag #5
6:54 How I'm Preparing For A Cold Winter
7:34 Preparation #1: Storing Food
7:58 Preparation #2: Preserving Food
8:27 Preparation #3: Protect Cold Sensitive Trees
9:58 Preparation #4: Build Hoops / Row covers
11:12 Preparation #5: Stock Row Covers
13:16 Preparation #6: Winterizing Irrigation
15:21 Adventures With Dale
So glad you are not wrecked by manipulated weather! It seems like all the seasons are early this year.
I have something that you can use that will help cut some of your guesstimating down: The Farmers Almanac. It's been used religiously by farmers for over a century. Gives you a yearly forecast.
Winter is coming! Fine by me as long as it doesn't bring with it frost zombies looking to add to its zombie army. Lol.
I miss GoT. 😀😋🙃
I live in West Los Angeles, 60 degrees is winter to me but last year I was able to overwinter all of my tomato plants, my Hawaiian pineapple is still going strong and I have about 10 baby toms growing, so I wonder if this year I won’t be able to do the same
Where i live in Iowa we are gonna get to 30° Sunday night. 😢
We had a weird spring here in the Columbia Valley BC — most fruit bearing trees and shrubs dropped their blooms and no fruit. I had one extremely awesome apple tree but a pittance or nothing on most of my trees and shrubs.
We know we're COLD but what the hell can we do about it. BC calls the nasty thistle an Alberta Thistle … US calls it Canadian Thistle … Canada calls it a Russian Thistle. Call it as it is 🙂
I hope you're wrong but I think you're right. Your weather station is nice & the GFS Model Run was new-to-me information!
Our low for tonight may be 43(8b SC). I picked about 100 cheery tomatoes at 9 PM. I left about 50 small green ones out there.
* It seems that all "my" birds have left this week – zero at the feeders now – which is month early!
Great video! Do you sell or trade any fig cuttings? I’m over in Winston-Salem, and I do some work with a community garden and food forest there. Would love to get some different fig varieties. I DM’d you on instagram
Hey Anthony, where do I get one of them crystal balls at? 😜 😂 I do think your right though. Good boy Dale!
My fall smell came really early this year..some plant around here pollen…it also cooled for about three days down to 80s…been 96 97 98 no rain during our rainy month!! Hot hot hot..weird.
I also suspect a huge winter storm or two..dont know about early..but plants and animals…especially birds are all acting different. Might just be how harsh it is out there..no rain..really poor wildflower production…
Of course winter would come early in NC 😏🫨 this year smh 🤦🏻♀️
Inland PNW Idaho here. We have had 2 surprises freezes in early sept. Our first snow event will be wed or thur. Winter is going to be 3 weeks early and i hope a lot of rain comes before the dormancy of snow. Get your fertilizing done too on your trees
Folks who use wood… clean your chimney. Clean your dryer vent too.
It's called a Grand Solar Minimum. The planets are aligning. A 7th sign is my big toe hurts.
My citrus is ripening early. 1st time. Who knows.
I don't know about "early." I'm in Northern Illinois and we JUST had possibly our last 80 degree day…… in the 2nd week of October. And this week is in the 60s. So just now getting in to normal temps for our region for this time of year.
Hmmm. The Farmer's Almanac is actually predicting a milder, wetter Winter for the southeast. As someone who actually wants a cooler Winter, I hope you're correct.
Look deeper, we are a moon phase and a half ahead according to the lunar calendar fall started August 19
I hope we don't have a colder winter😢
Zone 9A in western FL calling for 60's next week. In October. 🤷🏿♀️
So not wrong to 'predict' per se. Its GREAT to anticipate and PREPARE!.
Hi 🙂
La Niña is coming!
Happy gardening everyone 🙂
The meteorology predicted to be lower than typical on the east side and warmer in the west. So, you are right about your gut feeling. Thank you for the great tips. Mr. Dale is a good boy and he deserves yummy foods.
We’re in zone 7b, mid TN. A lot of the old timers here are telling us it’s going to be an early long cold one … ugh, I really dislike the cold gloomy days of this season. I think I we need a dog to cheer me up 😊 I love the Christmassy glow of the covered trees – beautiful!!
here in the milwaukee area, our avg first frost is right on schedule 3rd week in oct, followed by slightly warmer than normal temps. No indication of anything unusual this year, except the trees are running 1-2 weeks behind due to dry conditions.
I’m buying a greenhouse so I can grow things I normally couldn’t all winter!
Winter is coming, isn't that a line from, "Game of Thrones"? In all seriousness, these past few days I've witnessed a sharp drop in the nightly temps.
I hope Texas iis chilly this winter. We are in the 90s still ad last winter was very mild. I didn't need a jacket at all. I would like a little snow too but it probably won't happen after getting 10 inches of rain in fou days the first part of September
Aw, Dale is such a good boy ❤ Thank you for these tips. You're timing is always right for our zone.
65-70 miles WNW of you, our thunderstorms for the last 2 years have been largely non-existent EXCEPT during tropical storms. Virtually no rain from mid April to mid July. Rain barrels only got more than half full on two days and then were virtually dry in less than a week! Some rain around us but not bunches. My sister and BIL have in-ground deep well irrigation and they got more rain than me. My entire yard, including house, garage and driveway is only .18 acre and since I have a brick wall on one side of the house and no access to my back yard to dig a well, I am at the mercy of God and the government! We may try a shallow well this winter but that means pumping to get it but can be dug by hand and with a PVC pipe digging system!
I generally am grateful for your prognostications but I sincerely hope that you are wrong this year. However, we have historically had severe winter weather in NC following a summer of sever tropical weather. Would love to see this year break that streak!!
I love how you feed Dale! Good boy Dale, you deserve it. I dont feed my little guy kibble either, yuck. Thanks for the weather lesson, Professor! Very interesting. Funny you should do this video, Ive been mentioning for the last few weeks how insanely high the acorn production is this year. When driving my Kubota over the farm, its a constant crunch crunch crunch. I dont know that means anything, but I did notice it.
I live in Michigan. We have had very unusual weather as well. We had some cold days in August as well and had temps in the low 40s in September! I believe we will have a cold winter, but who knows here because of Lake Michigan being about tens minutes away from us. At any rate I am preparing for winter. Putting extra mulch down around my blueberry, raspberry, blackberry bushes and fruit trees. My Meyer lemon tree comes inside for the winter because it gets way to cold here. Sometimes the wind chill gets -10
Dale is a good and well taken care of pup. That bowl is different, never seen one like that. We are on the north side of Lake Ontario and I had a weird time back and forth deciding on when to plant my garlic, so I just did it anyways and threw extra straw on and hope it grows next year.
You’re right… I live in Texas, and we’ve had very unseasonable cold weather in the wintertime. I live in the North Texas area; Dallas; About six months of the year. And then the other six months of the year I live in Orlando. It is very difficult for me to grow any kind of vegetables there.
, By the way, you sound like a meteorologist to me 😊
About 10-12 years ago here in South Georgia we got down to 19 degrees on November 19th . I thought wow this is unheard of and it was a record . We didn’t get below 24 or 25 the rest of that winter .
I think you are right. I live in Western NY & the squirrels have been gathering nuts since early August. We usually don't see this until mid-September. I just hope we escape the blizzards this year.
I’m a two hour drive from you and if there was a cool down twice in August I must not have ever noticed it lol!
And help, what do I do… I’ve been so busy with my work, I haven’t planted any of my winter seeds or purchased any starts yet for my cool weather veggies! Never mind me, I have to be able to feed a voracious 4lb house bunny child for the winter!
Have you ever used soil warming cables?? I'm interested in how effective they are.
Yeah I don't know what's up with this weather. This coming up Tuesday here in Hammond Indiana It's going to be 37° at night and apparently a real feel of 28°. I know plants don't feel the real feel but still that's freaking cold. Hope my peppers and tomatoes can survive a little bit longer. I'll probably have to move my citrus trees in the garage for that night as well.
Been looking to start gardening next year at some point, was wondering if instead of those Christmas lights you've considered a sand battery? Yes, this would be an investment for solar panels and heating elements to go into the sand, but after that I've seen wattage numbers that are impressive how much heat they store and can keep giving off overnight. Not sure what your financial situation is to try to grab some stuff to hack together a sand battery system for those, or how much it would be in the first place, or how much electricity is where you live; this is more of a "food for thought" idea.
Came to your channel seeing your trash can compost video, and I've been loving everything I've seen since. Just thought I'd throw an idea out there if possible.
Are you sure you're from Philly? Your accent sounds more like South Jersey.
You’re right in my opinion. I feel the same.
I don’t know if you’re going to be correct or not, but I appreciate the information. Thanks 😊
I'm in zone 7a North Mississippi. Forecast 36 deg two nights next week. Last year Oct 19th they forecast 36 but it got to 32 deg instead. All my plants are in pots so I plan on taking indoors at least 20 plants when real cold and overwintering them. My question is can I overwinter determinate tomatoes? My variety is purple reign and some are only 8-12" high and have no fruit. Thanks and I enjoy your channel.
Have you tried the "heat tape" for plumbing pipe instead of incandescent light string?
I set up my fall garden last week, but Hurricane Milton ended my season after just 7 days. My raised beds are now sitting under 2 ft of water.
Where I live (Calgary) we've still haven't had a proper first frost… it's a month late. There were a few nights where it was 0 or -1 but most of my figs are still completely unharmed. Which is annoying since I want them to go dormant with -5ish temps before I'll bring them indoors.
Do you have any suggestions for greenhouses keeping them warm with thermal mass you mentioned somewhere in the comments
Had a feeling about this. I'm in atlanta and it's already pretty cold!! Went from pretty hot to pretty cold in about a week!!!
It's better to be prepared and be wrong about preparing than to be unprepared and then wrong about not preparing. In crazy climate times like what we've been experiencing lately, I'm opting for preparation. I think it's great your showcasing this. I'm doing the preparing this weekend after knowing my Mother is safe from Hurricane Milton.
Her home thankfully suffered minimal damage though she lost some plants and trees. She wisely abandoned her home, boarded the windows, & turned off the breaker before the predicted power loss. Her fridge stuff went bad but thanks to good neighbors who used their generator for her, she kept her deep freezer from a large loss.
I am grateful for your Operation Airdrop for my neighboring NC after Helene. I am EQUALLY grateful to our S.C. Linemen now in Florida working to restore Milton's ravages.