Killing frost, kinda
Yes, the weather’s crazy. According to the min/max thermometer outside the greenhouse, last night’s low was a chilly 18°F (-8°C), cold enough to kill off all but the hardiest. Finally, and only six weeks or so late—the endless autumn harvest is interesting, great for personal use veggies, but otherwise, it mainly throws off the fall clean-up schedule (I haven’t changed zones, have I?!). Here, the eggplant is clearly toasted, while the peppers, which had been under fairly light row cover (I pulled it back today to harvest some), came through in relatively fine shape . And the oats, well, it’s a monster, lush and green and if not exactly growing anymore, it seems to be getting thicker. It’s fascinating the way cold works in the field. Wind, cloud cover, mini-windbreaks, slight elevation, all kinds of factors add up differently in spots only a few feet apart to determine life or death by cold. Anyhow, can’t wait around forever. I’m soon going to roll up the row cover and till it all down!
Somewhat related posts: • At the wheel • Cleaning up • All clear… • Oats • Row cover decision
Steve Mudge said,
October 31, 2007 @ 11:18 pm
I’m amazed how hardy peppers can be–our Poblanos and Kung Paos hardly skipped a beat during the peak heat of summer(100s) where the tomatoes shut down, onions melted, and all brassicas, except collards, bolted or died. Glad to see they don’t mind a little chill–would be great to have some still coming in as we head into winter in Texas…got the row cover ready!
Mike (tfb) said,
November 1, 2007 @ 10:53 am
I’ve also found pepper plants to be tough, in hot, cold, dry and up-and-down conditions, and the hot peppers tend to eventually come through with decent fruit, but the sweet peppers don’t always work out that well as far as harvest. I often wind up with lots of tasty, but quite tiny sweet peppers, right at the end of the season. I guess that’s mainly to do with the short season here, also, less than ideal irrigation when there’s no rain…