Design

We had a hard frost last night, not a freeze as of yet, but enough to zap the nasturtiums in the SCBG kitchen garden. The difference between hard frosts, light frosts, and freezes is somewhat hard to grasp (maybe if I had studied meterology, physics, or paid better attention in organic chemistry, I'd be better prepared to understand it). And plants certainly differ in their responses to light and heavy frosts, and freezes of various temperatures. The temperature overnight was predicted to be about 34° F (in our regional paper), but heavy frost covered the meadows along the entrance drive in the Garden (where I work). Our outdoor thermometer is outside on the porch, so is not an true reflection of outside temperatures, and I didn't look at it this morning, yada, yada. But winter is coming. We'll be off to Asia on Sunday, to Southern Vietnam. We had a wonderful trip to Northern Vietnam some years ago, so we're looking forward to it. We still have plenty to attend to ...

It's quite late for a first freeze, but one is predicted for Friday night (Dec. 4). Our 'average' (prior to global climate change) is Oct. 15. I'm not complaining, really, as we've had extended fall color, and the lettuce, kale, collards, mustards, and arugula are thriving. But it is a bit unsettling. We left for winter travels in early December a couple of years ago without a freeze, too. I've put flats of greens in a open cold frame (not very beneficial), but they'll need water while we're gone -- it'll be interesting to see what's survived, when we return from this year's winter travels. The garlic that I recently planted has already started to emerge, with fresh green leaves. As I finish using the rest of last year's garlic, it's nice to look forward to the new harvest.

I harvested purple mustard, arugula, spinach, and turnip greens today. It's almost (our) Thanksgiving --Thursday, Nov. 27 this year. Even though we've had frosts, in the protected walls of the vegetable garden near our visitor center, the frost damage hasn't been significant.

Our first big frost in our garden occurred over the weekend. We came home to collapsed nasturtiums and blackened basil. Last night, it dipped below the freezing mark; the parsley was frozen and the large redbor kale that had survived from early last winter was frosty early and drooping late in the evening, a sure sign of frost damage. Late this afternoon, in chilly temperatures, I hurriedly cut purple mustard, red cut-leaf mustard, lettuce, and arugula in the (ornamental and demonstration) vegetable garden next to the visitor center; I hated to think about the tenderer greens going to waste in tonight's potential harder freeze, since I'm unsure about how much the brick walls might hold heat. I've been giving the excess harvest to my gardening companion for some of the custodial staff in his building -- mustard and turnip greens, and arugula (great as a cooked green). There's not enough to take to our local food bank (I need some gleaners to harvest more, I guess),...

We're expecting temperatures to dip below freezing tonight here. We've already had a few light frosts, primarily evident in low-lying or exposed areas. A lovely white-flowered Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' that I'd planted in one of my containers was already showing the effects of cooler weather; coming from warmer regions of the world, it went into decline when night temperatures went below 40°F. An exposed Portulaca was similar, looking quite stressed after one of the frosts. I harvested all of the last peppers this afternoon -- the poblanos and thick-walled 'pizza' peppers, along with a few last pimento peppers. I'd already picked the final few tomatoes, and will need to figure out what to do with the green tomatoes. Relish? Chutney? Some sort of green salsa? I can roast and freeze all the peppers, but maybe I should also try to roast the green tomatoes, and freeze them, too. After my enthusiasm for making jams & jellies when I was younger, I...