Frost

[jal_ut]

Got a light frost the last two nights. The garden is pretty much over except for picking up the squash and watermelons, and digging the taters.

[gixxerific]

Sorry to hear, that is unless you are just done with it. It's cold here things are coming out and cold weather stuff is going in. I have some cold crops in buckets this year. so when it gets really cold I can bring them in.

Well here's to thinking about next year James.

[Bobberman]

Glad its not here yet. We finally got the rains now the frost. I hope I have another month! Loading up the greenhouses wih stuff I want to kkep till next year. Hate the thoughts of the long winter!

[digitS']

You have lots to do with what that garden produced, James. The weather came close to being a game-ender here, too.

Tuesday morning, it froze in my big veggie garden. A lot of flowers there - burned the petals right off many. The pumpkins & winter squash leaves are toast. Those sprawling plants like to head beyond the perimeter and barely got hit with the sprinkler.

Yep, I had it on at 6am and it saved everything in the middle of the garden. Oh, the cucumbers were burned. The last pepper in the row took a hit but the ones that had the most water are fine. Tomatoes & corn have no damage.

The ground was saturated from running the sprinklers the night before and it wasn't cold enuf that I built up ice and broke down the plants. There was no "covering" things out there. The garden is just too big and the plants are also.

NOW -- 80 degree highs over the next 7 days!! After 2 chilly nights . . . well, it is still chilly in the morning, should be about 41° this morning . . . and 1 light frost - summer has returned!

Steve
edited to include photo:
[img]https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Mobile%20Uploads/downsize-14.jpg[/img]
cellphone picture of ice on cucumber leaves at sunrise. The fruit against the ground was fine but the leaves were not.

[applestar]

Bummer! ...it's almost always true that after the big chill, warm weather returns and persists for a while isn't it? These daytime ideal weather vs. really only the couple of hours around sunrise fatal drops in the temp are frustrating -- takes a lot of energy and effort to keep things going.

I've container tropicals that I brought inside, but would probably enjoy the daytime sunshine and temps.

Some of my peppers took a hit on the upper growing shoots the other morning when it wat down to mid-40's.

I'm going to try putting slitted film over some beds and see if that helps any.

[jal_ut]

This first frost is pretty much right on schedule, if you check my siggy line you see it was not much off from the average. Unlike Marlingardener I only have one growing season. Fall crops here mean you plant them before July or they won't be ready by frost. Yes, we will have another week or so without frost, but every storm that comes through will bring cold air after it. There will be no growing here until April.

[lakngulf]

This first frost is pretty much right on schedule, if you check my siggy line you see it was not much off from the average. Unlike Marlingardener I only have one growing season. Fall crops here mean you plant them before July or they won't be ready by frost. Yes, we will have another week or so without frost, but every storm that comes through will bring cold air after it. There will be no growing here until April.

It's nature's way of keeping things fair. Your garden produces SO MUCH that the frost comes early so the rest of us can keep up.

[TheWaterbug]

This first frost is pretty much right on schedule, if you check my siggy line you see it was not much off from the average. Unlike Marlingardener I only have one growing season. Fall crops here mean you plant them before July or they won't be ready by frost. Yes, we will have another week or so without frost, but every storm that comes through will bring cold air after it. There will be no growing here until April.

It's nature's way of keeping things fair. Your garden produces SO MUCH that the frost comes early so the rest of us can keep up.

++
I never actually counted off the months in your sig until just now. I can't believe you get that much production with a growing season that's less than 4 months long. I'm humbled!

When do you typically do your indoor starts?

[Halfway]

Same with zone 4a.

Time to dig 'em up, aerate 'em a bit, and get 'em prepped for their winter nap.

Love the cool breezes and the crisp air!

[jal_ut]

When do you typically do your indoor starts?

I don't do indoor starts. The only thing I don't plant from seed directly in the garden is tomatoes and peppers. Those I buy from the nursery about mid May. Let the pros do all that greenhouse work. I can start to sow seed for the early things in April as soon as the soil dries out enough. Warm stuff like beans, corn and squash I try to plant May 5 or as soon thereafter as possible. Melons May 15, and cukes June 1. I also plant the nursery starts out June 1.

[ReptileAddiction]

I am actually extremely jealous. We don't have "seasons" here. It is sunny and beautiful 24/7. The ambient temps go down in the winter but that is it. We don't have fall leaves or anything (by far my favorite season) Today and yesterday it has been the hottest it has been all year at like 110 (oh joy! fire season! *sarcasm*) We have had dry desert wind to. It is miserable. Some places actually lost power because everyones air conditioners overloaded the circuits. I am miserable. Send some of that weather here!!!!!!