first frost

We got a hard frost last night. All my garden plants have a coat of white crystals. It was one month late, almost to the day.

frost predicted

Right on schedule - Oct 10 - a frost is predicted tonight. I thought it would be late this year, but no, right on time.

In the dusk, my husband and I picked all my green tomatoes and peppers, plus a few squash, watermelons, zucchinis, and one eggplant. We covered the beans and lettuce with row covers. It doesn't seem cold enough for a frost to me, but it's predicted so we'll see.

My counters are covered with baskets! Peppers are in a trug on the floor. We'll roast and freeze them this weekend. Not sure yet what I'll do with the green tomatoes. In the past I've just saved them and all ripen up eventually. They give me a "fresh?" garden tomato salad for Thanksgiving usually.

preparing the vegetable garden for frost

Here are things that are important to do in a vegetable garden the day before your first frost.

- Pick any warm crop veggies left in the garden: things like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, zucchini, summer squashes, winter squashes and pumpkins. Since these plants will all be killed by even a light frost, they can be pulled and composted now.

- For a light freeze (28-32 degrees F), its OK to leave most cold weather crops uncovered. To be on the safe side, I cover my lettuce, bok choi, peas and Swiss chard.

- For a hard frost (below 28 degrees F), cover: artichokes, arugula, beets, bok choi, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, endive, escarole, lettuce, mache, parsnips, peas, radicchio, spinach and Swiss chard. Bring potted rosemary inside.

- Crops that can withstand hard frost and do not need protection include: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leek, mustard, onions, parsley, radishes and turnips.

freeze warning tonight!

I worked this afternoon to get my tender greens covered and the last of my frost-sensitive vegetables harvested. A frost, or even a freeze, is predicted in my area tonight. I have to admit I'm not ready for the end of the season. I was hoping it would go on for quite a while yet.



It's seven days later than our average frost date so it has been a nice long growing season.

today's garden work

With a frost coming tonight, I did a lot of clean up at my home garden:
- Pick the last of the green tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and watermelons
- Remove tomato tepees (10-ft wood stakes)
- Pull tomato plants and compost (nice with no late blight - right into compost bin)
- Pull and compost all frost sensitive plants: pepper, eggplant, basil, cilantro, beans
- Cut off sweet potato vines and compost (bins nice and full by now!)
- Find my heavy row cover in shed, lay it out on lawn and cut pieces to size. It's Agribon+ AG-19 from Johnny's, frost protection to 28F. I used doubled fabric.
- Cover beds with lettuce and winter greens

frost

We had our first frost last night at Rock Meadow. Right on schedule. The squashes, tomatoes and peppers have all wilted back.

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.