Thanks for the heads up Dawn! Yes, I came home early from work and went to picking like a banchee. I have my hot peppers covered so I think they will be okay. I was telling hubby about how the weather is going and it's going to be worse than we thought. He said how do you know all that? I told him my gardening friends told me. He thought that was pretty neat. :-) I made some salsa from the green tomatoes and am trying it out. It's got a bland taste to it but a little cumin fixed it right up. I used lemon drop peppers and fresh cilantro from the garden. yummo

River,

I'm glad you were able to get into the garden before the cold weather arrived. Keep us posted on how the peppers fare overnight.

You know me....I've learned the hard way that it is important to stay on top of the weather for the sake of the garden. Once, a couple of years ago, our forecast called for an overnight low of 50.....and it went all the way down to 32. I don't always believe the forecast...because often it seems we get colder than the forecasters say we will, but at least I can watch the weather and decide for myself if I want to cover up plants or not, harvest or not, etc.

This is the earliest I remember it being this cold.

The green tomato salsa sounds yummy. I'm assuming you have enough peppers to keep you in salsa for the next year.

It is always aggravating when the garden is producing so well in fall and a big cold front arrives too, too early.

I even picked my peppers and tomatoes (all the ones that were a decent size and color) this afternoon. The forecasters were so totally wrong on our forecast high---they said 66 and we got up to 52---that I suspect we'll also be much colder tonight than they said we would be. The local forecasters also said on Friday evening (gee--a whole 24 hours ago!) that our Saturday and Sunday here in Marietta would be "perfect" fall weather will clear, sunny skies and highs in the 60s and 70s. They could not have been more wrong!

Just tell your DH that we gardeners look out for each other...whether it is plant disease, hail, T-storms, ice or whatever! Nobody but other gardeners truly understand what it is like to lose plants prematurely.

Dawn

Dawn they said upper 30's here today. We were 27 when I got up and that was the highest all day. Currently 26 and they are saying 25 for a low. Now are saying lower 30's for a high tomorrow. This mornijng it was still the lower 40's. lThey have missed things bad the last two weeks. Say a warm up staring Monday now. We shall see. No snow here. Just drizzle and of course it froze on things. and everything is slick. The roads are warm enough driving was ok. I wiould take precautions if it were me. I got burned believing them last night. Of course by the time I got home I really had no choice. I picked some by flashligh. If I had got home earlier would of picked more. Hope everyone awakes to safe plants. Jay

I'm listening to the late news right now...and they're talking about sports games with snow & drizzle up in Jay's area. They're also forecasting it in some form for here in Central OK tomorrow. NO! It's too early!!!!...but us gardeners...we always go out and feel....sometimes we're right...some times we get burned. I brought in all the bird feeder to clean and put up for the winter.

River - glad you got yours covered! Jay...there's ALWAYS next year...we live & learn!

Everyone stay warm!

Paula

Jay, I watched the weather in the OK panhandle near you all day long and those temps barely budged, so I knew it would be the same at your place. What an odd day! I hope River's peppers are covered up well enough to survive because I'm afraid it is going to be colder than we expected in Alfalfa county overnight.

I took one last look at my garden before sunset and brought in a handful more of peppers and tomatoes. If it freezes tonight, I'll still be content knowing we had a great year in spite of the wacky weather we endured from spring through fall.

We had so many of those recurring cold fronts all summer long that I now believe were foreshadowing what we can expect this fall and winter. It may be a year for the recordbooks, based on what we're seeing in October.

The ONLY good thing about the early cold spell is that it has sent the snakes down into hibernation early. I usually have a horrible problem with copperheads and timber rattlers in Oct./Nov. as they are out enjoying the 'cooler' and more moderate fall temperatures after a long, hot summer. This year's early cold nights which arrived in September must have sent them scurrying. I've only seen one snake in the last six weeks and it was just a big old black rat snake.

Paula,

Snow and drizzle! Isn't it odd? I hope that your DH has all his cold weather gear at the deer lease.

Now that our garden dreams are ending, I guess we can start dreaming of a white Christmas. LOL

After this early freezing weather, next year we'll all be very jumpy and rushing to cover everything up once September arrives....and, then, next year the first freeze won't come until November.

It already is colder here than our forecast low so I expect some frost in the morning.

Dawn

Found this article on what the Farmers Almanac had to say about this winter (see below)
The National weather service says its 41 now with wind chill index of 33.
Overcast

41 °F
(5 °C)
Humidity: 87 %
Wind Speed: N 14 G 21 MPH
Barometer: 30.25"
Dewpoint: 37 °F (3 °C)
Wind Chill: 33 °F (1 °C)
Visibility: 10.00 mi.

Had to use Enid's reading, Alva has been showing Null for the past week.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farmers Almanac Article

Officialy, we got down to 42 at our Mesonet station this morning, but it was 39 degrees on the backyard thermometer, and even in perfect conditions, we usually don't have patchy frost until it hits 38. I think my garden dodged a bullet. I only looked around outside briefly and didn't see any frost or damage. Yippee!

My garden lives, so I should continue to harvest more cukes, green beans, okra, tomatoes and peppers this week because our forecast looks great here through at least Saturday. There's still lots of clouds and rain and "autumn gloom" in the forecast though. I miss the sunshine.

It is warming up quickly here too....already up to 46.

So, River, the peppers made it through? That's great. I harvested a lot yesterday and will have to process and use them this week, but I still have hundreds on the plants. (Thousands if you count the tiny tepin bird peppers....but I've harvested all of those I want and am leaving the rest for the birds.)

Ever since NOAA begin forecasting a return to El Nino conditions, which I think was in June, I've been expecting the worst. If NOAA and The Farmer's Almanac are correct, it sounds like we may get it this winter.

Dawn