garden after the first freeze

Yow! It was a hard freeze at my community garden plot. Talk about microclimates.

My parents garden 30 miles north of me got a light frost, my home garden stayed above frost temp - it went down to 33*F (when I woke and looked the the thermometer at 5 am) BUT my community garden plot (1 mile from my house) had a HARD freeze.

I tried to protect my fall peas with row cover - to no avail. I wish I had picked the pretty little pods. They would have been tasty. I find peas are not very hardy in the fall, though they do well with cool weather in the spring.

I also tried to protect my chiles (Anaheim, poblano and Thai hot) with row cover. Same result as the peas. I should have picked them all. I am shooting an E-How video that includes the chiles next week and I was hoping to protect them.

In our community garden, everyone's dahlias, beans and nasturtiums turned black. Sweet potatoes too. The smell of frozen nasturtiums is quite distinctive.

But, this freeze is right on time. The seasons move forward.

I am happy that my lettuce, cabbage, kale, spinach and bok choi are still very happy.

And, as usual, my side yard garden will die back from lack of sunlight before a frost.