Chance of frost tonight

LaurieLovesLearning

Our temperature will be going down to 4°C tonight, so possibly our first frost of the season.

We've been busy getting freezers ready lately, and today we've been getting herbs cleaned & hanging. I've also been assessing the rest of the garden. We'll be bringing out the sheets, etc., to cover what we can. Of course, what we can't cover, comes in.

If we have time, we'll start doing up some corn. I know what will fill my day tomorrow! Beets will follow the corn.

Yesterday, I picked a few of our largest spaghetti squash & pumpkins.

Michelle D

@LaurieLovesLearning it sounds like you have a great system. Those squash look great. Is this an average time of year for a first frost there?

LaurieLovesLearning

@Michelle D Thanks. It sounds more organized than it truly is. 😆

I was pleased with how the garden looked this year. It was very picturesque (with a few large weeds still mixed in).

I started to put some things down... plant less of this, more of that, change this or that. Hopefully tha helps me plan better for this large space next year.

This is not an unexpected time to possibly get frost here. I was just hoping that it wouldn't happen yet... and it may not have. I haven't gone out yet to check. I know some nearby places did get close at 2°C.

Edit: There was heavy dew, but no frost. 😀 the one archway was covered with white sheets. The kids went under there (I hadn't) & said it feels nice & warm. The tomatoes will appreciate it I'm sure!

I just really dislike lugging out all the sheets to cover things "just in case." I find it difficult to remember what I did to cover awkward things the next time around and that can be frustrating.

Michelle D

@LaurieLovesLearning honestly I'm more likely to need to cover in the spring than the fall. I have a tendency to be over zealous. But every year I always think I could do this better next year. I never think to write myself notes on what I should do differently. Just another thing that I need to work on improving.

Torey

It is 5C here this morning. 3 was forecast but it has been raining all night. The next few nights are clear, though, and the temp is forecast for 3 again tonight. So I'm thinking that it could be close here. I'm sure there are going to be places at higher elevations that get frost.

But then some warmer days and nights to follow. So we may have a few days grace. I don't have much left that will be damaged. Mostly root crops. My cabbage are getting to be a reasonable size. Not much size on the brussel sprouts. I think it was too hot for extended periods.

LaurieLovesLearning

Tonight & Sunday & Monday are the risky nights ahead.

Tomorrow, I will lift the onions. I need to leave them outside, so I certainly don't want either rain (chance until this evening) nor frost on them as they cure.

Yesterday, I ended up doing only some of our corn (approx. 75 cobs), and all the beets I think we'll need as well as some nicer beet leaves. It got pretty late!

I planted way too many beets this year. I think I only did up 1/4 of what grew. Hopefully I can sell some. If not, the pigs will be very happy, or sick of beets!

Today, I'm catching up on at least some of the housekeeping & trying to make space for when I have to bring tomatoes & more squash & pumpkins in.

I'm needing to bring dry beans in, but they are not quite ready. Hopefully soon!

So much to do, so little time.

Torey

I saw frost this morning. We were out driving early and came across a couple of locations. Surprisingly one area was low spots on a bench just above the river. Not a likely spot for a first frost.

The other location was higher up as I suspected I would find. Big circles of white under a few sprinklers in a hay field.

I hope it holds off in my garden for a few more days.

I am going to be doing corn in the morning and start on some pickled beets. I hope I will get them cooked tomorrow and ready for pickling the next day.

nicksamanda11

Wow, frost. It's amazing that it's that time again.

LaurieLovesLearning

These are the lows for the next few nights, starting tonight: 4°C, 6 (with rain), 3, 3. Everything is once again covered tonight. We will uncover everything tomorrow, then cover the sheets to keep them dry. Then we will cover for the next two nights, not uncovering in the day. Our lows then supposedly increase for a while. We'll see about that.

I really want my tomatoes, buttercup squash & peppers to get more time. If they were earlier, I'd not worry about covering anything.

Torey

We woke to 3C yesterday morning. No frost here but I strongly suspect other areas had frost.

But after that low we had a high of 30C yesterday afternoon. (37F - 86F) Crazy temperature swings.

We don't have another cold one until Thursday morning where it is forecast for 3C again.

Even though its not freezing, growth has slowed. My buttercup squash aren't going to mature. They seemed to suffer from fruit drop this year. Not so with my zucchini. I have so many and can't find homes for them.

VermontCathy

Our official first frost here in Zone 4 is around September 23, but I find it's often a couple of weeks late. You can't count on that, however.

Some years everything produces heavily right up until frost, and I go into a panic of covering things up with row covers and such.

This year, most of my crops have died back early, probably due to a combination of heat and extremely rainy, wet weather. Tomatoes are done except for a couple of Sungolds that I planted late, cucumbers are pretty much done except for collecting a few for seeds, green bean production has dropped way back from its August peak, onions have been largely harvested, and so on.

So this year, I won't be messing with row covers. When first frost looks likely, I will pull the black beans and Vermont Cranberry beans and toss the plants into the garage to dry, close the cold frames, and...relax. Finally.

Torey

Several communities in BC recorded official (government weather stations) frosts yesterday morning. One community to the west of us was -2C (28.4F). I'm sure there were other areas that were colder but don't have official weather stations.

No frost in my immediate area, though.

Maybe tonight. 1C is forecast. It was 29C (84F) today so maybe some of that heat will remain and it won't go as low. But there isn't much for cloud cover to keep the heat in.

LaurieLovesLearning

There was bits of frost a couple nights ago, but we missed it in our yard and garden. The dew was super heavy though & the air was pretty crisp that morning.

We covered yet again tonight just to see that the forecast changed by the time we were done. Tomorrow (at this point anyway) is supposed to get close if not freeze.

Oh well, I took in the sweet peppers & tomatoes today. All tomatoes were green except a few that were damaged by some sort of insect. I didn't bring those in of course. I really, really like the Amish Paste tomato. It out performed any other Roma I've grown. They are huge!

I pulled my peas & hung them to dry. I'm hoping to get a lot of seed from them. Parsnips have oodles of seeds. I harvested the rest of the dried beans today and brought hanging herbs inside. I got the corn finished yesterday (hooray!). My onions aren't quite ready to braid just yet. The rest of the potatoes will get done this week.

I have a few things left, but I'm happy to finally see real progress!

Torey

No frost this morning. Clouds rolled in late in the evening along with a lot of smoke so that kept it from going too cold.

The sky is dark orange this morning. More fire activity due to higher winds. While most of the previous evacuees have been allowed to go home (if still standing), there have been a few new evacuation orders put into place. It has been a very long season, starting earlier and ending later.

This will give me time to get at more of the root crops and some of the herbs that I haven't as yet harvested. Carrots and beets. We've had a few spuds but the rest of the plants look as though they are ready for harvest.

Next chance of frost isn't until Wednesday morning.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Torey We had heavy smoke all day yesterday. :( It was certainly not nice on my lungs, and most of my work was outdoors. At least it wasn't strenuous.

Torey

Yesterday I discovered we have dodged the frost bullet a few times.

Spoke to a neighbour about 1/2 km away and she has had several frosts. She is in a low lying pocket but is close to a creek. I thought that might have been beneficial but apparently not.

Our smoke has dissipated but more wind later this afternoon could change things. Its still very bad in a community about an hour north. Even with the threat of frost, the threat of wildfire is still with us. New evacuation orders have been issued for an area about 4 hours west of me. That seems to be the origin point of most of the recent smoke.

vickeym

We have had a couple nights where we hit 34 F but last night has been our coldest night so far. Woke to 30 F this morning and still there at 8:50 am.

Highs for the next 10 days are not forecast above 55 F. Looks like most of our good weather is over. At least the forecast only had 3 days of rain showing. Cloudy the whole 10 days, but at this point no rain is a great day. Most of our rivers and creek have been at or above flood stage. Has rained the majority of the time since May or early June. Most folks here did not have good production in the gardens.

Torey

I was wondering whether or not you had frosted yet, @vickeym.

Not supposed to get over 11C (52F) here today with rain all day.

The forecast has changed now so no frost till Thursday morning. Warmer during the day by Friday.

As soon as we get a frost I will be harvesting rose hips. Its an abundant crop this year.

LaurieLovesLearning

Wow @Torey, 11°! This is our second day at +27°! Whew. But, there could still be frost tonight. Such is fall!

At this point, rain is also predicted Thursday through Sunday night. Considering that, we are aiming to finish getting our potatoes (and huge dandelion roots throughout) in by the end of tomorrow. We don't want to chance any rot if we leave the potatoes in the ground.

vickeym

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/923841#Comment_923841

That 52F is shown as our high for the 10 day forecast. Has been raining since early this morning, Has not let up much all day.

Torey

The forecast was wrong. It only went to 1C here last night, so no frost. None forecast for the next week, now. Yay!!! More time to finish up outside.

We had rain yesterday so there was a lot of fog and mist this morning that I think prevented the frost.

But it was correct on Wednesday. Didn't get above 11C. Rain all day.

Warm and full sun for today and tomorrow.

LaurieLovesLearning

There is a chance for us again tonight, but I'm not caring so much anymore as I've got most things in that need to be protected. I think one night we had the slightest touch of frost, but nothing showed any damage.

So, banana peppers come in & eggplant gets checked. If it freezes, that should finish off 6-ish potato plants in the garden that are still very green. I'm pretty sure those are my own seed potatoes. 😀

VermontCathy

By the calendar, first frost for our area would be this coming weekend. But so far the lows have not fallen below about 42F. I was able to pick a large pile of green beans yesterday and make dilly beans today.

While I have seen frosts around September 23, most years it holds off for another week or two. Then we get a brief period of Indian summer before the heavy frosts and hard freezes come around Halloween.

Torey

It didn't look like a frost this morning but when we went out, the truck had frost on the windshield. Not the car, just the truck. Our thermometer registered the low as being 1.4C but it is just outside the house so probably picks up some heat that way. After we left, further down the road, the hay fields looked pretty frosty.

None of my zucchini looked damaged when we got home this afternoon and they are usually the first to show signs of frost. So I think it was very patchy. But I'm calling it a frost cause usually after the first frost we get a couple of weeks of warmer weather. So here's hoping.

Mid 20's C this afternoon.