Monday, November 08, 2010

First Frost

We had our first frost over the weekend as the temp on Saturday night fell to 29F. Needless to say the non frost hardy stuff took it hard. The last struggling tomatoes are now burned and gone. There weren't many and there are a few green tomatoes (all Roma) to pick and the plants to get composted. The frost hardy stuff is doing fine and cabbages are starting to head and broccoli starting to form crowns. A little warmer this week so no more danger of additional damage for a while.

I did finally dig up what few sweet potatoes survived the deer depredation and it was pitiful. Maybe 20 proper tubers and there rest just enlarged roots. A lot of work for such a small reward. I can feel the 100 feet of digging this morning in my back and shoulders. I had planted the sweet potatoes on the eastern end of the garden which is where the best soil is but the area gets morning shade and I think the lack of morning sun and the deer in combination did the trick. I'll move them back to the western end next year and while the soil is not as good it seems a full day of sun is more important to sweet potatoes than good soil. Lesson learned.

I am off to do a little more garden clean up since it is a shame to waste another glorious fall day.

Supposed to start my new part time job on Thursday as it seems I passed all the checks and they evidently didn't test for Cabernet. Not that I expect more than a few hours a week but I had better get as much work done around here before that begins.

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