still no frost!

[sheeshshe]

insane! man, I wish I had known we'd have a late frost or I would have taken better care of my diseased tomato plants annd cucumbers and everything else that was diseased LOL! I could still be getting a lot of stuff in!

I'm still getting green beans though! and I have 2 cucumbers growing.

[garden5]

insane! man, I wish I had known we'd have a late frost or I would have taken better care of my diseased tomato plants annd cucumbers and everything else that was diseased LOL! I could still be getting a lot of stuff in!

I'm still getting green beans though! and I have 2 cucumbers growing.

That's great to hear that you're getting an extension on your growing season. My cucumbers have since petered out, but I'm still getting some cherry tomatoes and I'm also getting peppers. From where it stands now, the weather looks stable for a little bit, hope it stays warm for you, as well.

[sheeshshe]

well the only thing really ok is the green beans. everything else is so disease ridden that you can't eat it. like the tomatoes. I need to get the plants out of there but I can't find my shears!!!! grr. kids. LOL!

its too bad really bc I would have had a ton more tomatoes

the other cucumber pllants are all diseased too.

[digitS']

It is surprising how well a frost-sensitive greenbean plant can grow pods in cool, cool weather!

Many times, I have picked waaay more than I expected. Clouds, wind, rain! Near frost conditions . . .

We are having a LATE 1st frost here! Forecasts have been for morning temperatures down in the 30's but that only happened once, about a month ago. Until today . . . .

38°F with a 10mph wind this morning! I will get whatever I can out of the garden that will be damaged by the frost I expect tomorrow!

Some things can only ripen in the cool temperatures we have had and there's something to be said for that. (The melon vines are long dead . . . ) But the beans -- I might pick a bucket full!

Steve

[stella1751]

Sheeshshe, I know just what you mean about the regrets! One year we had a ridiculously cold and snowy early September day. In my wisdom, I decided that a snow storm that early meant the rest of September and October would be equally cold. I didn't cover my plants. The next six weeks had highs in the 70's and 80's. I kicked myself for six months after that! What a waste.

We had a mini-frost last night, one cold enough to freeze the tops of the tallest peppers but not long enough to kill the plants. Amazingly, like Steve's, my beans are still alive. They are in the front garden, which, because it's next to the sidewalk and asphalt (I think), can take 1 or 2 degrees more cold than my back yard.

I'm out to pick beans and the last of the cukes. Tonight's forecast low is for 30, and I won't be covering these guys.

[applestar]

No kidding! It was 80º out today (and last night was in the 50's). Avg first frost here is supposed to be 18th or thereabouts.

It's hard to know what I should be doing out there when I'm sweating and beating the mosquitoes off. Today should've been first day to consider planting garlic and spring bulbs, but I opted to sow more seeds instead in case we have a late frost.

I saw that the vetch I sowed for covercrop have sprouted.
I'm not sure if I'm seeing enough of the small grains (rye, oat, triticale) -- the pesky chipmunks might have been going around gathering up the seeds after I sowed them. I had 3 late watermelons that I'd been protecting from the cooler/colder nights and daytime temps with a row cover. A few days ago, I discovered that 2 of them had been gnawed into and the yellow flesh inside scraped down to the white rind They were nowhere near ripe -- according to the shriveled nearest tendril/leaf & spotty stem test. I've wrapped the 3rd (and smallest one) in a sheet of chickenwire to protect it. We'll see if this one will make it. (Looking out the kitchen window, I just saw one with full cheeks -- no doubt with Spelt seeds I just sowed out there -- crossing the patio )

[stella1751]

Here it is, 5 AM MST, and it's 45 degrees outside. Grrrr. Color me annoyed

Yesterday afternoon, I stripped all the big green tomatoes from the plants (two five-gallon pails), gave all my cukes away except the half-dozen I want to experiment with for seeds, and picked beans that were way too small. You just can't win sometimes. If I don't cover tonight, with its forecast low of 35, the temps will drop to the 20's.

Applestar, I laughed at your full-cheeked squirrel incident! I have one that will slyly run along the back support board on my fence while I am sitting outside. Every few feet, he'll stop and peer over the top, looking for dogs. If he spots me, he props his front feet on the top board and chews me out. I think he likes peas. I don't think the wind can be solely responsible for snapped branches on these plants

[garden5]

Those chipmunks are terrible. I'm lucky enough to not have too many in my garden (at least that I know of), but a friend of mine has some and they actually eat her hot peppers. One of those little guys actually grabbed a hold of one of those little round peppers and ate the whole thing.

[digitS']

I DID pick a bucket of beans! Got all the green tomatoes and peppers, too!

Today, that "late" frost finally came!

I'm not complaining. Last year on this date, it was 20°F!

Steve

[stella1751]

It is now exactly 32 degrees outside, according to weather.com. The temperature will probably drop a degree or two in the next hour. I don't feel so stupid now about having picked all of those green tomatoes.

I experimented with covering the peppers first with a sheet and then with a tarp. I hope that does the job! The next four days are forecast to be warmer, after which it's all downhill

[neil17]

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 im 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 im 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.

[stella1751]

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 im 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 im 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!

[sheeshshe]

wow! I missed a lot of conversation! LOL!

well, I keep picking the beans but nobody is eating them so why bother. my DH normally cooks because I"m not that great at it and he pretty much refuses to cook them so yeah. grr. whatever. not sure what to do about that next year!

I still don't think we've had a frost yet!!! heck, last night was warm and rainy... what confusing weather!

[mansgirl]

We had two nights of light frost a few weeks ago here. I covered my bells and jalepenos, and they are continuing to bloom! I'm almost thinking about transplanting a jalepeno to a container and bringing it inside. It would be so nice to have fresh jalepenos all winter. : ) Anyone know if this will work?

The rest of it I just let go. I'm so sick of canning and freezing. I think I wore out my favorite chefs knife this summer! We had an awesome growing season this year!

[farmerlon]

We had two nights of light frost a few weeks ago here. ...

Same here... since the season is winding down, I didn't bother to cover my tomato or pepper plants, and I figured they would be "done in". But, they came through those nights just fine, and are still producing.

I will do another big picking when the next frost is forecast, and see how many more fruits we can ripen on the kitchen counter.

[garden5]

We had two nights of light frost a few weeks ago here. I covered my bells and jalepenos, and they are continuing to bloom! I'm almost thinking about transplanting a jalepeno to a container and bringing it inside. It would be so nice to have fresh jalepenos all winter. : ) Anyone know if this will work?

The rest of it I just let go. I'm so sick of canning and freezing. I think I wore out my favorite chefs knife this summer! We had an awesome growing season this year!

MG, here is a thread we had going on about Indoor Peppers not too long ago. Some good info in there.

[mansgirl]

Thanks!

[sheeshshe]

welp, we had our first frost!!!

[garden5]

That stinks, She. Did any of the plants make it through. Please tell me that you didn't have any tomatoes still on the plants uncovered.

[sheeshshe]

oh my tomatoes have been toast for over a month nwo. I thought we were going to get a frost in early sept and so I let the blight just go and have at it. all the tomatoes are covered in blight and are useless for over a month now. so yeah. and I haven't had time to pull them up. so I'm sure I'll be paying for this next year.

[mansgirl]

Well, you maybe just get a few good volunteers! : ) I had a grape tomato escape my notice while I was weeding this summer. He snuck right in with my cherries and I had a bigger selection than I bargained for! : )

My tomatoes have been cashed too. We actually didn't get hit by blight this year *gasp* but I was so sick of them, I just kind of let them go. Isn't that terrible of me?

[applestar]

Oh, I'm right there with you! Pretty tired of picking tomatoes and then them staring accusingly at me in the kitchen to eat them or process them somehow.

I did a walk through the garden this afternoon since a couple of upper 30's nights are in the forecast (of course after that, it's supposed to go back up to the 50's ) When I came back, I had my shirt front lifted into an apron *piled* with green~blushing tomatoes and peppers. "WHY DID I PICK THESE? WHY AM I SAVING THEM?" was what I was saying as I poured them into a paper-lined cardboard box. Ah well.

[TZ -OH6]

I'm harvesting unripe peppers now. The forecast is for possible frost followed by warmer rainy days before another frost warning. Its not worth it to wait. They will either turn red in the house or not. The remaining tomatoes are sickly but edible...I'm just waiting for frost to kill them so I don't have to deal with them.

Then I have to dig up the garden and plant garlic.

[stella1751]

I think I will pick everything today. Right now, it's 33 degrees outside. Yesterday's low of 28 finished off everything but the peppers, peas, and portions of the beans. The peppers were covered, but even with the tarp, the tops of the Habaneros were badly burned. Like TZ, I will let the peppers finish maturing in the house. It's just not worth trying to squeeze one more day out of them, what with a frigid system moving in on Sunday.

It's hard to see them go, but I think I'm ready to take a gardening break for a while

[garden5]

Stella, remember by soup-can of boiling water under a bucket trick? Well, I checked out my plants, and all the leaves on my one chili pepper plant are wilted, and it was one of the two that were under the buckets. The other one was fine, however.

I'm not sure what happened. My best guess is that the steam from the hot water in the cold air put too much humidity around the plant and caused it to suffer as the water cooled and the cold nighttime air cooled down all of the moisture around the plant.

Next time, I'll keep the hot water in a sealed container.

[stella1751]

Garden5, I use large plastic laundry detergent jugs, the two-gallon ones, filled with hot water. If you are really determined to keep plants alive, taking a couple of these outside at 1 or 2 AM will generally do the trick down to say, 25 degrees. However, getting up that early can be a pain, so this is a trick I reserve for the spring, when either my enthusiasm is high or I did not plan ahead for that last May snow

[soil]

use salt water in a sealed black container, it holds more heat than un salted water. we toss a few 55 gallon barrels filled in the greenhouse in winter to help with the cold. but the concept works down to 1 gallon milk jugs around the plants.

[applestar]

GREAT TIPS Soil and Stella!
I think I'd have to write SALT WATER in big bold letters on the jugs though, to make sure not to pour them around the plants by accident....

[soil]

GREAT TIPS Soil and Stella!
I think I'd have to write SALT WATER in big bold letters on the jugs though, to make sure not to pour them around the plants by accident....

yes lol, or you can spraypaint the jugs/buckets/barrels black. which helps them with heat even more and lets you know black = death water.

[garden5]

It looks like the death of my chili pepper plant was not in vane as it as spawned these great tips frost Stella and Soil .

How much salt has to be in the water?

Do the plants have to be in an enclosure for this to work? That is, if I just put these jugs around a plant that's out in the open, wouldn't they radiate their heat off much too quickly?

Great information, all.

[stella1751]

It looks like the death of my chili pepper plant was not in vane as it as spawned these great tips frost Stella and Soil .

How much salt has to be in the water?

Do the plants have to be in an enclosure for this to work? That is, if I just put these jugs around a plant that's out in the open, wouldn't they radiate their heat off much too quickly?

Great information, all.

Oh. I should have mentioned that. Yes, the plants need to be covered. Sometimes I will leave seedlings out in the grow rack in the spring rather than tote the trays in and out of the house, using it like a miniature greenhouse. The top three shelves will be seedlings; the bottom shelf will have two or three of these two-gallon jugs. When I zip up the cover after placing the jugs in, steam quickly clouds the inside. I think the plants like the hot moisture, too!

[garden5]

Thanks, Stella. I kind of figured that even if an enclosure wasn't required, it would still be a good idea.

Be careful with your seedlings because too much of that moisture will increase your chances of damping-off, a fungus that kills seedlings by making them look pinched-off at the base.

I'm sure more established plant's wouldn't mind the humidity, though.

[mansgirl]

Oh, I'm right there with you! Pretty tired of picking tomatoes and then them staring accusingly at me in the kitchen to eat them or process them somehow.

I did a walk through the garden this afternoon since a couple of upper 30's nights are in the forecast (of course after that, it's supposed to go back up to the 50's ) When I came back, I had my shirt front lifted into an apron *piled* with green~blushing tomatoes and peppers. "WHY DID I PICK THESE? WHY AM I SAVING THEM?" was what I was saying as I poured them into a paper-lined cardboard box. Ah well.

lol! That's exactly what I was doing right down to the "shirt apron" and the wondering why. Thankfully I managed to get most of my peppers either chopped (bells) or ground (for drying in the oven on a cold winter day) and frozen. And I actually JUST finished with my tomatoes. I let them sit and sit in the garage thinking I would make more salsa. By the time half of them were bad I bagged that idea and just canned the good half of the tomatoes instead.

How'd you end up doing?

[mansgirl]

Now I have a bushel of apples that I bought from the local orchard on closing day sitting in the garage giving me the guilt trip. Thought it would be SUCH a good idea to can applesauce. It was such a good deal! Grr.. I'm all canned out! I keep saying to myself.. "Suck it up Mans and get to canning!" But I still keep walking by those apples. Thankfully they'll last a while.

[applestar]

If applesauce is what you're after, you can always peel and core then freeze them. That's what I did with the bruised and imperfect apples last year when my apple tree produced a huge crop. Depending on the variety, you can also slice them for apple pies and cobblers and freeze, though that can be a little softer than fresh. Apple cake too. I suppose another thing to do is bake the pies and cakes first then freeze. How about individ. sized ones to give away as holiday gifts?

I continued to "pick" ripe tomatoes out of the boxes. All the good sandwich sized ones and fresh eating ones. Cooking them into omelets and making salsa, etc. Twice weekly clean out of the boxes to cook up iffy ones and toss out bad ones. I've already made 3 large pots of chili and curry, and Once I toss the bad ones out, I think I'll be down to 2 boxes from the 4 I started out with. Even when you're a eating fast food sandwich, being able to sub out the tasteless excuse of tomato with your own makes it seem less unhealthy.... . Ah, I'm going to miss my cardboard box tomatoes when they're all gone, however much I grumble.