Winter Watering

[Harasimow]

I have the following plants in pots of soil in a unheated greenhouse 10 raspberry canes, blackberry bush, spring cabbages. I also have a blueberry bush outside. The soil is frozen solid and has rarely thawed out for the past few weeks. Should I be watering them?

[oldjerry]

Well if they're frozen solid you wont do any good watering them, unless your thinking of boiling water(dont).The fruit should be ok if the brassica has established roots etc that should be ok too.Should it ever thaw a bit,you can avoid it recurring by putting straw round the roots.Water aint that vital at the moment as every thing (airports,motorways,fruit bushes etc) is closing down for the winter. Best Wishes.

[Millymollymandy]

Don't water while they are frozen, in fact it would be better to wrap something around the pots like bubble wrap to stop the rootballs from freezing as that can harm the plants. In normal conditions !! our plants in the ground wouldn't have their entire root system frozen. In any event they will be dormant at this point so only water once the soil has defrosted and only if they look dry. Sorry just noticed you have cabbages too - don't know about them being dormant as I grow kale which keeps growing through winter but same rules apply really. Good luck.

Oh and same thing with the outdoor blueberry - I have one too but rarely water outdoor plants during Dec - Feb. Just watch the weather and check the soil occasionally but the usual problem is too much water, so I have mine up on those clay pot 'feet' to stop the bottom of the pot from being soaked on the ground.

[oldjerry]

They should be OK,we've been frozen here forover 3 weeks(-13 last night),and the ground is frozen to about 4'',so things would be better inside a tunnel.M3 's suggestion of insulating them now is a goodun,as it will stop them getting any colder,but if (!) it gets warmer during the day,take it off so they can warm up ,then stick it back on.