neil17 wrote:I feel bad for all you guys cold weather situations. I don't know how you do it. I'm envious of all of you. I lived in tennessee breifly in fall and winter of 2005 wat a time I'm used to cold 32 degrees by late november it was mid november and it was 17 degrees wit a half inch of snow on the ground!

I came back to new orleans breifly the second week in december and it was 60's days and low 50's at night. I was outside in t-shirts after being up in tenn. in that weather. I cant imagine the gardening scene I'm so used to a long season I wouldnt know where to start in your regions.
Hats off to you guys for hangin in there wit gardening and weather wise.
Neil17, there's a nice little trade-off for the cold weather: we don't have many bugs. I would envy you your long warm season if it weren't that I know you are probably still swatting at mosquitoes and flies and creepy crawlies. The only bugs left up here are delusional flies. I saw two yesterday.
Additionally, I may lose plants to disease, but it's rare to lose them to squash bugs, hornworms, whiteflies, aphids, or any of those nasties. We pretty much get those green worms that are either inchworms or cabbage loopers. They can be picked off by hand or avoided, as I do, by refusing to grow their favorite meals
In the summer, I will read posts about these critters and feel a little guilty that I don't suffer in a similar manner. I can't imagine what it's like to have invested time, space, and hope in a magnificent, much-anticipated plant, only to walk out one morning and see you have lost it to critters during the night. You might lose your plants at the peak of the gardening season; we lose ours after they've had at least a fighting chance.
So, I whine a little, but in my heart, I know I'd take the cold over the bugs any day!