9:06 AM [13 Oct 2006 | Friday] |
Killing Frost Arrives. |
According to the Iowa State University Agronomy Extension a killing frost is not the first light frost of the season; it is a 23 or 24 F degree freeze that lasts for 4 to 6 hours or so.î
In their song ěKilling Frostî The Boston Based Band Slapshot says:
ěBut still, the end would come
But the end wasn't the finishî
This morning at 6:30 AM it was 22 F. It could have been worse, Buffalo NY is having a blizzard. Try roto-tilling in that. But the end is not the finish. Iíve ordered garlic, Iíll be planting rye grass, Iíll be tilling. But the morning glories and nasturtiums are definitely dead and the mums are gasping. Many of my neighbors have already put their gardens to bed. I pledge to harvest the carrots and potatoes before the weekend is over and get them in the root cellar, unless of course I don't get around to it.
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Mood: hopeful
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12:16 PM [11 Oct 2006 | Wednesday] |
Veggies in the Crosshairs! |
When I was a freshman in high school my best friend's father bought a farm in Libertyville IL and moved his family out of the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. As soon as one of my buddies turned 16 we'd drive up there on the weekends and hang out. Most of my friends hunted and they would shoot skeet with shotguns. One fall the family hadn't harvested all of their vegetables and my pals started shooting the rotting pumpkins, winter squash and cantaloupes and whatever else was in there. I recall thinking, those pumpkins sure blow up real good and then I thought, that's quite a garden they have there. I was amazed they'd left all that stuff out there. But when the vegetables start coming in full force it's easy to become overwhelmed.
For the past sixteen years I've had tons of extra vegetables but I haven't invited my old childhood buddies over to blast away at them. Instead we pack up the excess, drive down to city and distribute them like some kind of Summertime Veggie Claus. When I was a bartender I'd hand them out to my co-workers and customers, but the majority of the surplus would go to the Catholic Worker an organization that houses and feeds people on the lower east side of Manhattan. Unlike some people, they never get upset about too many monster zucchinis. There are places in every community that are willing to take your extra vegetables. It requires no paperwork, no tax deductions, just the warm feeling that accompanies doing something nice.
There's also a program designed for people who want to do this on a larger basis on the Garden Writers of America website called "Plant a Row for the Hungry". http://www.gardenwriters.org Itís a wonderful program, but in the meantime, you can donate food right away. Here's a link for local soup kitchens you can use to find a place to take your veggies. http://4homeless.hypermart.net/soup_kitchens.html It sure beats watching them rot or inviting your friends over to blow them to smithereens unless of course theyíve already rotted, in which case they blow up real good!
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Mood: optimistic
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8:35 AM [06 Oct 2006 | Friday] |
Killing Frost Here! I think . . . |
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Now normally I consider a killing frost to be a morning where I wake up and it's in the mid-20's F, frost all over everything. This morning at 7:00 AM it was 30 F, however, I think as the nights get colder and the days get shorter the killing frost doesn't have to be so all encompassing. Cause it looks like everything in the garden is dead, dead, dead, the chard is standing tall but the truth will reveal itself as the day goes on. I harvested the last zucchini two days ago, so now I consider the garden for the most part deceased or as I like to say, in transition. Death implies an end and we will be gardening next year. I wanted to plant some garlic and shallots in the garden this fall but when I went to Johnny's most of it was backordered, Pinetree's site was unavailable and the number was constantly busy. Then other stuff came up. Dare I plant shallots and garlic I buy from the grocery store? I'll ask my wife, she is the garden expert. I'm in charge of weeding, rock removal and killing bugs (all organic, as in I kill them by hand, I have photos).
Back to the freeze. Last night even though I'm hard nosed about the frost and tell my wife, let the flowers die, we can grow some next year, my heart melted when I looked at those beautiful flowers pots so I scrambled around and put all the flower pots in the basement so they could live another day. The problem is there is just no room for them in the house and they die anyway, it's just so hard to let go of the summer. They don't have to out west and down south in the US. What's that like? Anyway we brought all the flower pots in the house and when I was in bed it occurred to me perhaps I brought in a lot of bugs as well, no sooner did I think this than a daddy long legs came scrambling across the bed as if on an urgent errand. I flicked it away twice then finally captured it and tossed it outside to deal with the elements. Come on, how much summer am I supposed to preserve?
Now it's time to harvest the carrots, turnips, rutabagas and potatoes, tear out all the garden structures, roll up the plastic (Yes I use plastic in the big garden, I can only do so much weeding) and break out my trusty 1975 Troy-Bilt tiller (my pride and joy). I do love tilling, the roar of the engine, the smell of the dirt, being outside in the garden. The Troy-Bilt is a rescue, it's previous owner hadn't used it for years and was close to putting it down when we came along and gave it a home and a purpose in life. It's not pretty, but living dormant in a shed is just not right. So many folks get tired of the tiller after the puppy phase. |
Mood: optimistic
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8:29 AM [03 Oct 2006 | Tuesday] |
Frost Watch Continues |
We still haven't had that killing frost, the kind where you wake up in the morning and everything is dead. I have two gardens, one is on a hill and the other isn't. The hill garden has been frosted but some plants are still alive, green peppers for example, the eggplant but the squash, marigolds, are dead, dead, dead. The hill garden frosts first at the drop-off edge then the frost works it way back. It's about three quarters of the way. Our elevation is roughly 1800 feet.
In the lower garden, nothing is dead although the basil is not looking well at all, the holy basil is fine. I planted pole beans there in late July and they hung in there so we are still getting those, still have lots of chard. I also pulled a monster burbank russet potato out the ground yesterday. Now I have to force myself to harvest everything and put the garden to sleep with winter rye. Last year we had snow on October 23 and harvesting potatoes and carrots in the snow is cold work.
We have a root cellar attached to the house but as usual I've filled it with non-vegetable things, so I have to clean that out to make room for the food, but, we're renovating and the renovating will take place right over the root cellar so I'm loathe to fill it. Oh brother.
As a final concession to summer I have finally taken down all of the hummingbird feeders, they stopped using them about two weeks ago, I have seven of them, love those hummingbirds. The temperature this morning at 7:30 AM was 38 F. The big frost is slated to come on Wednesday.
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Mood: hopeful
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