first frost

[songbird]

last night. it took me by surprise because yesterday was busy and i didn't check the forecast. even if i had i may not have done anything different because it has been so far off this year anyways.

the creeping thyme had some white on it this morning and the two birdbaths had ice on them so it certainly got below freezing last night.

we'll see today what beans i can rescue for eating and how other things fared. if i have to do some picking, shelling and cooking today that's ok.

we got the squash picked and put in the garage a few days ago so it could dry/cure.

time to start thinking about where i'll plant the garlic for next summer's harvest and if i want any green garlic for earlier.

songbird

[derald]

Wow. We're so far from those temperatures that I'm wondering whether it's still too early for most of the truck I grow. Mostly sunny but humid 80+ degrees (F) as I type this in early afternoon with more of the same in store for next week, although overnight lows are likely to be in low?to?middle 70's?downright chilly! Looks as if some might be coming along ant time now....

rarely do we have frost before Hallowe'en and most years not until December or January, if at all. I keep watering stations for whatever itinerant beasts might wander by and they rarely have any evidence of frost or of freezing. Spent the greater part of yesterday cutting a couple of rampant muscadine vines back into submission and shall continue that project today. That's a real treat which some might find entertaining to watch, given my lack of coordination and muscle control. Those vines normally are pruned for production only after dropping their leaves in autumn but these two are completely out of bounds and have climbed into nearby trees. Maybe after one more coffee and the Vivaldi recording on the box is done. But then, again, maybe it'll rain....

[Gary Woods]

We got a very light frost the same night; some bush beans near the ground got singed, but a tuberous begonia in the front of the house did not. Even some basil survived, and as you know even the forecast of frost will kill basil. I've covered the tomatos I planted rather late to hopefully protect them until warmer weather next week....the "Golden Jubilee" plants have a lot of full-sized green tomatos, and they're SWMBO's favorite.

....and Orion is visible out an east window if nature gets me up in the wee hours.

[songbird]

[e-mail] wrote: ...

we empty them out and cover them up for the winter to prevent freezing damage from taking them out.

raccoons/etc. have two almost constantly running drainage ditches to get water from all year, the birdbaths they will use at times, as will the deer and the bees, but mostly i want them for attracting the birdies, which act as bug harvesters and fertilizer makers. :)

no rain in the forecast here until next Saturday or so, but that can change...

perfect weather really. if it were like this the whole summer we'd be pretty well set for getting a lot more done around here. then again, i don't mind having a good excuse for a siesta when it gets too hot outside.

grape vines can produce a large amount of extra growth. i used to keep some vines as a kid and then here for a few years... just chop the sticks small enough so that they'll dry out in a season and then they won't have an easy time regrowing.

we have wild grape vines here that would gladly take over anything they can climb on. every once in a while i have to cut them back. it is too bad they don't actually work well for erosion control.

songbird

[songbird]

Gary Woods wrote: ...

it was certainly more than a light frost here with ice forming in the birdbaths. one is a pretty big thing (a steel drum covered with rocks/cement) that should take a while to cool off to get cold enough to freeze...

we're about done with tomatoes here. good season for us. put up nearly three hundred quarts of tomato juice or tomato chunks.

:) perhaps that's why they call them the wee hours? :)

songbird