Early Frost

 Last night i noticed a frost warning posted by a friend of mine that's in NC.  i've been trying to pay attention to the weather, and knew it was supposed to be dropping down into the low 40's but hadn't seen any mention of frost.  However, as soon as i saw her post i immediately checked my weather.

Frost Advisory from Mon, 1am until Mon, 9am Low of 38.   CRAP!!!!

 

So i went out and began to pick as much as i could before it got too dark to see.  i was totally unprepared for a frost, as our predicted first frost date isn't until Oct 14th.  i was anticipating (hoping) another 2-3 weeks before  i had to worry about frost.  i didn't attempt to cover anything.  i picked as much as i could, said goodbye to my summer garden and kept my fingers crossed.

  

 First thing in the morning, i ran outside to see the damage. The frost was just beginning to settle, so i grabbed my hose and began to spray down my sweet potatoes, green beans, peppers and anything else.  i have heard that if you wash away the frost before the sun hits it your plants have a good chance of surviving, as long as temp don't get too cold.  

 As i was spraying the leaves, the water was actually freezing on them.  My zucchini sustained some pretty serious frost burn on most of it's leaves.

  

 Yet the very center of it, remained untouched by the frost.  It is loaded with baby zucchinis that should be ready to harvest in another week or two. i don't know if they'll continue to grow, or jst wither and die...but they look fine.

 

i watered the heck out of my sweet potatoes. They also got just a bit of frost burn on a few of the leaves.  i was planning to dig these soon anyhow, but wasn't quite prepared to get them out of the ground today.  If the vines had been completely killed or blacked, these sweet potatoes would have to be dug immediately or risk damage to the tubers. i'm hoping because the majority of the vine is still green and healthy, and there is no sign of another frost this week i should have a few days to dig them.  i'm planning to get them up this weekend. We should have lose to 100lbs of sweet potatoes.

 

Almost all my basil turned black, and my nasturtiums have just a few black, curled leaves.

 

Amazingly, my purple pole beans, and my peppers survived with very little damage! i water the crap out them, and a few of pepper plants have burn on the tops of the foliage, but most of them do not. They are still loaded with baby peppers.  The beans don't appear to have been damaged at all.

After that early frost, the temperatures are supposed to be back up in the 80's this week!! i am really hoping to get another couple week in before finally saying goodbye to my late summer garden.

My Autumn garden is hanging in there despite a battle with cabbage worms.  i have broccoli, cauliflowers, Swiss chard, kale, spinach and lettuce doing well.  i had also planted turnips, carrots and beets, but they had a hard time germinating and i'm not sure if i'll get any thing from them. My spinach has hard a slow start this year as well, but i just keep planting it. 

This week i'm volunteering at the school three days, so it doesn't leave much time for anything else. i have three bags of beans to freeze/can and i'm hoping to finish digging potatoes this weekend, and then start cleaning up my main garden. i just hope Mother nature cooperates, she tends to have her own agenda. :)