First, Light Frost in the Garden

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Frostbitten Winter Squash

It was bound to happen eventually, but so soon?! Sometime last week the temperatures in the area were to go down to 34, but apparently in my sloped garden, that means a light frost! I didn't know to cover plants, so things were not looking so great the next morning...

Frostbitten Nasturtium

The tops of the basil in particular had gone brown and not so good looking. So I cut the 4 plants out of the ground, trimmed off the worst bits, and made one last batch of pesto. I would've dried some, too, but apparently 4 basil plants is more than enough for me to stock up on dried basil for myself and 5 friends...

Harvesting the not-frostbitten basil

It got down to 33 or 34 several nights in a row after that initial frost, so I proceeded to cover the garden with my row cover and an old sheet/dropcloth. So now the garden looks like a tent town:

Frostbitten Garden, after a couple nights of light frost

Sadly, most of what got hit that first night looks terrible. I'm not upset because I knew this was coming, I just didn't know it was coming so soon! If I had, I would've thrown covers on the important plants the first night! I'm still harvesting tomato fruit, and I'm going to let the winter squash age a bit more (under covers). Let's hope everything turns out alright...

September 22, 2020
Frostbitten Garden, after a couple nights of light frost
A couple days later, the squash leaves are over.it.
Frostbitten Garden, after a couple nights of light frost
Peppers & Eggplants: nah. Kale> yah.
Frostbitten Garden, after a couple nights of light frost
The bush beans and nasturtium, giving up on life.
Frostbitten Garden, after a couple nights of light frost
Little Mama tomatoes, sorta hanging in there

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