A week earlier than my records for the last 5 years, but not totally crazy. Snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains makes it look like winter, though. Picked all the green toms and brought them in to ripen. Took the last of the zukes, cukes and yellow squash. Good thing, because the vines are looking sorry, now! Will let the chickens have their way with the garden next weekend when my granddaughter visits. No fall spinach this year, but we will plant some garlic - only about 50 cloves this year - not the nearly 400 we planted last year! Also, I can see where we missed some garlic - as they are sprouting now.
Time to clean the chicken coop and add an extra thick layer of bedding for when the cold weather really sets in. Nights will be frosty now, although the crisp days are glorious. My ducks are calling to the ducks on the lake about 3 miles up the road from us. This garden season ends, but the New Year will soon begin.
Hope everyone had as blessed a time in the garden as I did this year. Looking forward to Spring - already!!
Alas, First Frost Last Night
Down here we're just getting started, again.
I have been planting seeds for my winter garden in cell packs. So far endive, 3 varieties of fennel, 2 types of butterhead lettuce, 6 types of kale, 4 varieties of Brussels sprouts, 7 varieties of broad beans, and 12 varieties of Swiss chard. Next up: broccoli, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, a few "unclassified" types of Chinese greens, bunch onions (A. fistulosum) and short-day bulbing onions. The rest of the seeds go straight in the ground: arugula, beets, burdock, carrots, radishes, turnips & turnip greens. The garlic will also go in as soon as the last varieties arrive so I can make a fair comparison. The potatoes have to wait until January, peas a little later to minimize the possibility of hard freezes (don't laugh - we had a LOT of freezing overnight lows last year).
Winters in Florida almost make up for the summers ;o)
-Rich
We've come close to frost here, down to 34 degrees so far. Any night now we're due for the first.
we are having crazy weather, up to the 90s and 100s during the day, down to the low 50s high 40s at night.
The weather person has hinted that we might get frost next week! Will have to get the rest of the sweet potatoes out before then!
Uh oh, what happens if you don't get the sweet potatoes out by frost? Our tops are just starting to die back now.
greenhouse_gal - sweet potatoes are a tropical vine. The first frost will kill the leaves. From what I have read, once this happens one must get the sweets out of the ground or they will freeze and rot. This has not happened to me 'cause I always get them out either before the first frost, or the day after.
rising creek - that sounds like our weather about a month ago. Unfortunately, that's a pretty normal state of affairs for High Desert regions here. :-)