Whose had frost so far?

We haven't had it yet (at least in our yard) but it came close last night and tonight is expected to drop down to 1 (I don't think we will bother uncovering anything at the veggie patch today ;). We will be checking the veggie patch later this am to see what damage occurred there (if any) and will be picking more (and hopefully I can find some more sheets).

If we can get past tonight the overnight temps are forecasted to improve.

So far the frost has been at roof level in my area in Calgary. Everything seems ok. It froze at the farm (near St.Paul AB) the last week of August. The beans and pumpkins foliage was done. Even the tall sunflowers showed signs of frost damage.

A few touches on the rooftops in my area of Calgary( Im higher than Joanne) = some leaves on the Zuchini also but nothing else.
Hope it will stay that way for awhile - so many things late flowering and my last pink fall Asters have not started to come out yet. They are usually in full bloom when the first killing frost hits. Not this year I guess.

Yep it looks like it's going to be touch and go for us........hopefully you ladies (and myself) will be lucky.

Last night I pulled every tomato that showed signs of breaking as well as the majority of my peppers and two of my giant white pumpkins. Today I'll be looking, and picking, any pumpkin that looks mature enough (it was too dark last night to wander in between the corn rows to find the pumpkins hiding there) I'll probably end up covering a few pumpkin plants (got some really nice ones growing but they, like Carol's pink fall Asters, need a bit more time).

Anybody else on pins and needles here?

Going by this (however the temps aren't on the correct locations) it's the prairie provinces and prolly northern Ontario that might be having a visit from :P J*a*c*K .....either tonight or sometime this week. :(

sssssssssh! You can't say the "f" word yet! All my tropicals are still outside and I would never be able to bring them all in the way I'm still feeling.
:( Donna

Oh Donna :( I hope you can get help (and are watching the forecast carefully).

Thank you for the reminder re tropicals (I still have Lady Margaret and a few others outside). Can't forget them! :S

I really hope it doesn't frost soon- I am not ready to start migrating things inside yet! Perhaps I should work on that this afternoon...

Redheadedwonder given Calgary's forecast for this week I hope you've been busy this afternoon: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/caab0049

My overnight forecasted temp has gone up a degree (and our thermometer is showing 3 degrees higher than the weathernetwork......my Dad pulled all his larger tomatoes (even the green ones) he said that should guarantee frost doesn't strike here. I'm leaving the majority of my greenies out there hoping I'll luck out (I don't want to eat a ton of fried green tomatoes).

I'm ready! But I'm pretty sure since I've covered everything, there won't be any frost. LOL.

Joanne

Hey, my yard looks the same...too dark to take a picture though

Mine looks the same. BUT, isn't it great having the greenhouse now so you don't have to worry about the tomatoes for a while! Just a swicth of the heater and they are safe.

theresa

That's what I did. It is a toasty 16 degrees in there. I ordered a bigger greenhouse & it should arrive this week. 12' X 8'. The little one was 6'x8'. My friend bought the small one. Need to take down a small manitoba maple to fit it in my very cramped yard.

Theresa,
I need your help with the cana's you gave me. Would they be ok if I left them in the pots in a heated garage? Should I remove them and put them in vermiculite?

Joanne

Hi All Just a reminder to all, that if you want tomatoes to ripen fast -pick them and box them up, cut up an apple and put in the box. the tomatoes will ripen in just a few days . Be sure to check them every 2-3 days and don't worry about the wizened up black piece of apple. Hope everyone has time to get them picked etc. because i think you are right and we could get
" F " any day now.

Sandra

Gro-Jo and Joanna my veggie plot looks the same as your yards.....I wish my yard had the space to grow my maters here but I put a big pond in the middle of my home veggie patch (and I love it as much as my veggies).

Sending wishes to one and all here that J*A*C*K get lost up north (but I'm glad to see we are all prepared just-in-case).

Thank you for the hint Sandra. :) I'd like to try that (re an apple) with a small batch of tomatoes at a time. If it will allow me to control how many ripen at one time it will be wonderful.

My yard made it through last night (but an unforecasted warmth stayed with us overnight).

The weathernetwork is having a really hard time deciding what the overnight temps will be (the short range forecast is being changed about twice a day now). Now I'm looking at the next three days being iffy....I'm guessing a number of us will be having a workout with the sheets/frost covers. We've got a 20 x 180 patch that's 3/4 covered (we hit a number of auctions, garage sales, and the Sally Ann to get that amount). Thankfully a bag full, at those places, can be purchased for a dollar.

Here's this morning's capture:

Went out on back deck to have coffee this morning and I could see my breath..weatherman says we haven't had frost but some of my flowers tell me differently...

I'm sure glad I brought all of my pots in. Haven't noticed any frost effects on the flowers left outside yet :)

red, how did your morning glories do? You were growing them in planters on your railing weren't you?

Joanne

Joanna B, I have only stored cannas as bare roots in a cool room in peat moss. wood shavings, or (my preference) damp newspapers, but I can't see why leaving them in the pots in a heated garage would not work. My pots are way too huge to lug to my friend' s root cellar or I would do that.

Sandra, interesting trick for ripening tomatoes fast. i never heard that. I will try it for sure when the tomatoes have to be picked. For now the greenhouse can be heated.

Having been away from a computer a lot of the summer, it is great to read all the posts of other fanatic gardeners!

theresa

No 'f' yet and non predicted for the rest of the week here. I have all my drop sheets and curtains ready to go at a moment's notice though.

Thunder Bay got 'The Touch' early this week .. not a KILLING touch though, but, some leaves are blackened.

Bringing the veg garden in daily .. have several baskets of green tomatoes awaiting a newspaper wrap and put away to hide in a closet for a bit .. the potatoes are pretty safe .. the Kale needs a frost as do the turnips. The carrots are being eaten daily .. I have Sept 14 marked on the calendar as a killing frost in 2007 .. in 2006 it was at the beginning of Sept (Sept 7) !!! Hopefully this year will see it happen LATER ?

Fingers crossed :-)

~M~

I hear ya M. I'm breaking down the containers and putting the perennials in the ground and the spiders and tender ivys are coming in this weekend. I've started harvesting and storing herbs. Started the fall sowing. My toms are in the greenhouse so I'm good for another couple of months with those. I will wait til the first light 'f' to bring in the callas, cannas. glads, ismene and hard 'f' for the dahlias. But there won't be a hard 'f' til November? Right? Maybe? Dreamin? WORK WITH ME PEOPLE I'M A DAHLIANUT !!!!! LMBO ^_^

Dahlia .. just for you .. I'm crossing my TOES too !!! LoL

~M~

kiss kiss M ^_^

Awwwwwwww .. I'm blushing LoL in actual fact I just tried crossing my toes .. only 2 cross on each foot .. makes it hard to walk !!


~M~

A touch on the car windows and the rooftops this morning but plants are all still fine

I'm off to cover mine again. Tonight has plus 1 warnings for a number of areas in Saskatchewan and Alberta (depending on where you look/which radio station you listen too.
This really stinks since our days are so nice and warm (and the long range forecast looks so good). :(

Good luck to us low/mid zoners (sorry to hear that you already got it *M*)

Made it through by the skin of my teeth......our covering worked. :) A walk around the two community patches showed though that some weren't so lucky........a few bands of frost &/or colder winds barely touched some of the more tender plants in lower lying spots there. The patch is more exposed to country winds so the season can end a little quicker there.

Back to cover again now (we aren't supposed to get that low tonight but I'm not going to risk it). After this warm days and relatively warm nights are to be with us again for awhile. /:) (I hope)

edited to say our yard wasn't covered but with the cement, bricks, and pavement nearby the radiant heat kept the frost away. :)

This message was edited Sep 14, 2008 4:53 PM

Not sure how to (who to) thank so I'll do it here. I was frustrated with my inability to get a rose to make it through our Wisconsin winters. I read about your "park roses" and won a bid on Ebay. Tiny little rootings arrived in dixie cups enclosed in ziplock platic bags. I planted the saddest looking rootings you can image. OMG!

This summer was a mess of tent caterpillars, Japanese beetles, floods, droughts, and my neighbors lawn service. And yet these little survivors are beautiful. I am a true believer. Wow! This winter is going to be a cake walk after what they went through this summer.

Thank you. I love survivors.

Gonna be 'MINUS 1' here overnight !!! There goes coffee on the patio in the morning !!!!

My good friend who is the Head Gardener/Landscaper at a local cemetery is in a PANIC .. the head honchos are visiting from across Canada on Tuesday !!! There is NO WAY in the world she could cover her gardens. Fortunately she has pics of all of them taken last week.

Going out to put a few plants in the garage and cover what I can ... Jack Frost is pretty 'cold hearted' !!!

Duck_toller .. congrats on your SURVIVORS :-)

~M~

Hi duck_toller and welcome to the "getting colder" but not yet white north. :)

I'm glad you found a tough rose for your conditions.......if you want more suggestions this is a wonderful place to start: http://www.mordennurseries.ca/ For sure anything bred/grown there is tough as nails (but I'd still do some research on the varieties that capture your fancy......some certainly are better than others).

I'm guessing yours was from the Parkland series? Do you know it's name?

Your thanks can be directed to Ag/Agri Food Canada (and the Manitoba winters that were used to test their hardiness. ;)

UGgggggggggggg .. I got up at 4:15am .. the furnace came on and I couldn't tolerate the heat !! At that time it was 45F outside .. since then the thermometer has dropped 3 degrees. The coldest temps will be just before dawn (7am or so)
I had the flood lights on .. scared 2 fawns away from the veg garden .. but .. I caught yet another glimpse of the Perennial bed in all its glory .. gosh I am gonna miss it ..

Lilypon, ANYTHING tough and hearty has GOT to come from MANISNOWBA!!! LoL .. I can remember walking across the Costco parking lot in Winterpeg one January and almost having to go BACK to my car as I had about 'seized up' !!

Everyone enjoy their week :-)

~M~

Good morning all from FROSTY MURILLO (just outside Thunder Bay). Well .. as much as we hoped and wished upon September stars .. nothing could hold off the blanket of frost that silently blanketed everything during the night last night.
One good thing .. it looks as though, as frost goes, like a NON killing one. I think we ALL tend to try a categorize the severity of Jack Frost's work :-) I would say that last night he 'intended' to be heavy handed, but , spared us once again from his "FULL MONTY" LoL.
I soaked my 2 perennial beds as they were seemingly NOT the intended victims ... guess we'll see as this day wares on.

Enjoy your Sunday wherever you may be.

~M~

No visit from Jack frost here yet. But we did get a visit from the Rainman. Mild overnight because of the cloud cover, and now a glorious gentle warm drizzle. Smells wonderful...

I think it is supposed to happen here Wed night!

We've had a beautiful week, got both compost bins cleaned out finally - I just let them sit and clean out every 4 years or so! Today is cloudy and rain predicted and tomorrow too.

We could sure use that rain !!! This time of year every little drop is good for the wells.

My flowers MADE it .. WOOo HoooO .. mind you .. I think every brush they have with Mr Frost makes them more vulnerable ..

~M~

J*A*C*K is considering visiting here tonight and tomorrow. We will have to get busy with the sheets over my supper hour.

I got a bit worried looking at the Weathernetwork's forecast this am but my home thermometer is showing we didn't drop as low as what was posted..... 4 degrees Celsius (I was worried we had dropped lower).