Looks like I will need to harvest all of my mini-butternut squashes tomorrow. Frost/freezes predicted from Tuesday evening through Thursday and possibly Friday, too. Brrrrrrrr.

My Thai basil already got zapped. The regular basil will probably get zapped tonight.

The party is over!!

It's gonna be close here, with 2 or 3 frigid nights in a row I doubt the remaining summer crops will survive (3 ragged tomato plants, 2 whithering pepper plants, the late sweet potatoes, and the asst blooming flowers). Flirting with 34-36F each night but that can be close enough to produce a frost. May dip to 32, it's a dice roll now. The fall crops like it ok, persimmons won't mind it either.

My BIL helped me close down the gardens last evening. He surprised me by asking for some of the pole Emerite green bean seeds that I had shelled. He obviously liked what I'd given him earlier in the season. I still have a lot; at least a hundred seeds. Lot of bean pods went to the compost pile today.

I am so sorry so many of you are getting hit with this early cold snap!

It was 87 last Saturday, low 80's and 70's this week here. But, our weather is supposed to change this weekend and we are finally going to get some real rain (at least that's the promise) and some normal fall temps.

I still have some small zucchinis, green tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and Aspabroc in the garden. That Aspabroc has been amazing. I planted it this spring but didn't put water on it when we left for 5 weeks because I knew that my friends watching the garden wouldn't use it. When we came home at the end of Aug. the sprouts had bloomed, so I cut them all off, watered it and soon I had more to pick. I dumped a lot of bat guano on it, kept it watered and even with the heat it has been producing.

It only went down to 37 last night and my remaining garden plants look fine. Overnight tonight will be the the coldest temp for this week.

Recently deer managed to get into the main garden. They ate the tops of some tomato plants but that appears to be all. There's not really much left in there that they are fond of eating.

Had some frost on the vehicles this morning as the temp also dipped to 37F. Right now the flowers look ok so everything else should have survived too. A repeat of low temps tomorrow morning is expected. If the flowers survive that then it looks good for at least another week. Hints of a Nor'easter for Sunday if it hugs the coast.

Another of my BIL's, who runs a critter service, brought over a cage and this morning he picked up a raccoon that he had trouble lifting. He thru 3 marshmallows in the cage, but they've been coming for sunflower seeds so I carefully dropped some of those in so, hopefully, they wouldn't bounce out. There's still 2 left, that I know of, so still some work to do. This guy made a mess on the porch. He moved the cage 3 or 4 feet and pulled an entire huge mum plant into the cage including the scarecrow that was poking up out of the plant.

Looks like we escaped a freeze/frost again. The low overnight was 37. Hopefully this continues.

Somehow I escaped a freeze on Tuesday morning, but I did get hit yesterday morning. I protected a little row of green beans that have been producing recently and they looked fine yesterday afternoon when I uncovered them. I also haphazardly tossed another covering over a tomato plant. The outer edges of the plant which weren't well protected got hit, but I think the center of the plant and fruits seem to be fine. No more freezing in the next 10 day forecast.

Whew! Same here Cindy, close but no frozen cigar. It was a bit more frosty out there this morning compared to yesterday but as of now ~11am the more delicate flowers are still in bloom without any sign of fading away. The long range forecast up through Nov 3rd shows no more 30's except for one more time in the upper 30's tonite. Might squeeze a few more tomatoes out of the garden and I can take my time digging up those last sweet potatoes. Glad the flowers still look good, the oranges, reds, and purples should keep going strong thru Halloween.

Potatoes and 1 watermelon that was not double covered got singed some. Where double covered potatoes are ok....about 30°.

I picked the first cauliflower head today...Symphony variety. I didn't measure it but it was getting close to a foot in diameter I would guess. The broccoli has been excellent....want rain.

Just checked tonight's forecast and it could be even colder than last night's. The low could be 33 tonight.

We got down to 25F here on Wednesday morning but it was too windy for frost to form. There is nothing in my garden to get harmed besides my Sungold tomato that I hadn't pulled out yet.

I need to get my planned garlic bed ready by putting a new frame around it and mixing in some compost tomorrow. Might plant the seed garlic on Sunday if time allows.

Here is an update on the tomato plants: Dark Shekel 4, Dark Star 3, Sungold, Neve’s Azorean Red, Jet Star, San Marzano 3, Beauty King 2, Chocolate Stripes 2, Classic Beefsteak, Watermelon Beefsteak, Celebrity 2, Brandy Boy 3, Brandywine Sudduth, Druzba, Paul Robeson 2, George Detsika Italian Red 3, Pruden’s Purple, Big Beef, Black Krim, Dester, Big Zac, Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red, Cherokee Purple 2, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye, Country Taste, Wessell’s Purple Pride, Honeycomb 2. Two jalapeno plants: Mammoth and Orange Spice.

Still no killing frost here to date. Only went down to 37 again last night. And the long range forecast has the lowest temp predicted to be 42 or higher for the next two weeks.

It looks like about 5% of the sweet potato leaves were "burnt" by a sneaky frost, probaby 2 days ago from the looks of them. The other 95% are ok. Generally it's the impatiens and cosmos flowers that are the most vulnerable plants but not this time as they are both ok, though the impatiens are under the garage soffit. Going to pick the first cabbage and carrots tomorrow, eating our 2nd persimmon with dinner tonite but most are still not ripe enough. I think that the first spinach planting is starting to break ground. Warmer times ahead!

Temps yesterday morning predicted to be 32° and no one in local news reported that it never got to freezing. I saw frost on the roof of the unfinished house next door and never questioned it. Today I went up to the garden. The peppers looked fine, I left a lot of small peppers, so they get to grow by at least another week. There are healthy flowers on the Fordhook zucchini plants. And there;s 2 developing fruits on the plants. The Costata Romanesco zucchini plants have a fruit on it. The broccoli plants look fine. No fruits or flowers, but I was amazed and how much one of the plants grew recently. I stripped every usable tomato off all the plants; so ignored them. I think they were fine tho. The only thing that looked sad were the lima bean plants. For the second year I got nothing off them.

The local news media made a big deal out of "The growing season is OVER"

Here's a web site that reports temperature from the past. They say it went down to 33.8°. The garden agrees: "the growing season ain't over"

The 4 varieties of lettuce, the radishes and the scallions are also doing fine; as I would expect.

Hi everybody,  sounds like frost has been making the rounds.  None here yet but we finally have some rain.  We have been way busy with 2 non gardening projects,  harvest and dahlias. 

After no Spring this year we had a summer to remember, With sunshine and warm temperatures up until this last week.

Suddenly It Is the end of the long wonderful summer. All of the remaining tomatoes are hung up in the garage and the hoop house is ready for winter crops.

Tons of pesto is in the freezer and shelves are stocked with tomato  Sauce and salsa. A few of the half runner beans are still trying to produce but most are in compost with other wilted greens. I have a lot of spinach and Asian greens ready to put out now for winter salads and spring eating. 

Next week the garlic goes in here along with witches and goblins. I'm growing less softneck and added elephant garlic this year.

Everything looks great, Len.

In the second to last photo, is that basil pesto? If so, that's a LOT!!

Tonight I'm making shrimp soup with rice and Swiss chard (from the garden). It's about an hour away from dinner time. Hope to remember to take a photo. Still no killing frost here.

Cindy, 

Yes that is partial pesto, no nuts or garlic yet,  just basil and olive oil for freezer. We will modify as we use.  That was 4 th picking from that basil patch in our very unusual late summer.

Had a nice day here. Sunny and 71 fir the high. According to 2 the weather was warmer and nicer than at Cindy's. Wonder if there was any truth to that?

I spent some time putting up some fencing for a compost pile just outside the garden. One side will be open to the west wind which, hopefully, will blow leafs down the garden fence and into the compost enclosure. I'm attaching it to the existing fencing so only need two posts. I got the two posts in about 6 foot by 6 foot. The 2nd post placed to match up with the end if the reclaimed fencing. Didn't attach the end as I had to quit then. Can't take pounding a heavy sledge standing om a ladder. I did learn that the post goes into the ground better if you loosen the ground with a digging fork.

Garden is looking better and better since the "end of the growing season". Even the lima bean plants recovered.

My lima beans got frost/frozen. I windrow leaves with the riding mower. When it gets too deep, I back through the leaves to reduce things considerably. I then continue blowing inward and finally work things to a 6 foot in diameter cone of very, very well mulched leaves that are ready to be spread on the garden. This mulch stays in place and can be tilled in some.

Yes, it's true, John. Your weather is nicer than mine. We only hit 65 today.

However, still no killing frost though much of the garden has been dismantled.

We got up to 73° here yesterday; nice sunny day. Today not so warm and drizzly. I guess there's not a lot of total rain; because the gas company is next door excavating at the new house. They moved the gas main to within about 30 feet of our property line. We have a recent heat pump because there was never a gas main run near here. Think they're begging?

Wayne - I do similar with the leaves except that I run thru the middle of where a long windrow will be a couple times and then go out to the edges and with the bagger blocked by full bags I keep circling. On each pass I overlap the last pass to pick up what was dumped on the outlet side of the mower deck. So the leaves get chopped multiple times. I then empty the bags and unclog the tubes and go over it again picking up the small chips and a lot of dust. Not a lot left; but it will compost faster and not reduce as much in size..... I think. I did this yesterday and today there's enough that I could go out there again.

Meanwhile, back in the Pacific NW, fall has come in for sure. It will barely get up to 50 today and mid 40's tonight. This is our new weather pattern with rain almost every day, maybe until May! I picked up a load of aged horse manure yesterday to use in garden, starting by dumping out and remixing my cloth bags where I'm going to plant most of my garlic this year. No rain today so time to get at it!

It's been cool, cloudy, and dry here for a while. Had to water the fall crops again and will continue a deep watering every 5 days or so depending upon the temps and evap rate. One of my neighbor's well is going dry so the hot & dry summer really hurt this region. I think he has a 25' deep well but ours is about 40'. I use our 200' deep well for watering the garden, he plans to drill a new deep well soon. His shallow well recharges over night so he's being frugal on water use until we get a good rain and soaking, it'll take several inches to get things back on track here.

We lucked out yesterday and ended up with almost exactly one inch of rain. Didn't seem like it was that much at the time but am very glad to have it.

I picked two figs a little while ago, one for each of us. I also harvested 15 strands of saffron. Other than that I have lettuce, chard, and parsley left. Just buried one garden in mowed leaves where I planted my garlic. The other garden will get leaves in a few days. The leaves are really coming down now.

Cindy, we got almost exactly an inch here too Tuesday morning about 3 am-it was definitely helpful and it is supposed to rain tomorrow too-so fingers crossed. I’ve got 95% of my tomato plants staked up good. I meant to stake up the last 4 or 5 plants today, but never got around to it-will try as soon as the sun comes up in the morning. All my saffron died after the yard guy chopped off all the tops with a weedeater-so I guess topping them (at least with a weedeater) is a bad idea

This year i grew:

Old German heirloom tomatoes

Black cherry

San Marzano

Melrose peppers

And there is endive lettuce in the photo, which some call chicory

Most the peppers did not turn red to pick until October, and most of my tomatoes were not ready to pick until September, and were still going well into october.

Richard - Your saffron might come back next year. Or you could dig up one of the bulbs to see if they are still plump.

Cindy, I have them in a large container with sides that are about 7-8 inches in height. I bought them 2 years ago I think and this was the first time they really produced. They look like really long monkey grass, with a few buds growing out to the side and then the yard crew came and that was the end of that. The grass part came back and grew for about 6 weeks and then they all turned yellow. It is raining hard outside now and it is supposed to last to around 3 or so. I got all of the tomato plants trimmed and staked up except for a couple that were too small (ran out of Pro mix the first time). The rain coming off the roof in torrents is what I am most worried about now.

The Neve's Azorean Red plant is getting flooded badly right now-will have to move it after the rain-if it makes it. I had it in a cool spot because I had trouble getting Neve's to bloom in the past-they always grow but the heat usually keeps them from producing blooms. Should have gotten it under the overhang instead of on the edge.

Here's a few garden pics from this morning...

No killing frost yet so the flowers are still going strong too

Brocs and Cabbages almost there....

Persimmons are ready to pick...will give some out for the Halloweeners...

Michael - Welcome to the thread. I grew an Old German tomato this year and posted two images. in separate posts to the September Veggie Tales thread on here. Liked the taste and thought the visuals were striking. Also grew German Johnson; which I didn't like. Thickest skins I ever saw on a tomato and some odd tastes. Not going to grow either next year as my plans are to cut way back and give lots of space to the remaining tomato plants.

My tomatoes and peppers were also late this year. But the peppers always are here. Plan to regrow Lipstick peppers and forget about Jimmy Nardello as I don't like the taste.. The Lipsticks are tasty in a salad.

Greetings Michael! Nice bowl of maters.

My Tomatoes are finally almost done...longest fall season ever for me. Actually still a few half runner beans showing up on a couple of vines.

This beauty was waiting on the counter to become BLT sandwiches for lunch yesterday...Yummy.

Now that it is raining and I need space for spinach and greens the remaining tomatoes are hung up in garage as usual in the fall. Not that many still on the vines compared to most years when they have to come inside.

Funny John, I like the Jimmy Nardello peppers a lot. Have been grabbing them off the vine and chomping while I'm in the garden. Lots of lipstick peppers and even some pimentos are ripe now. Amazing production on peppers for me this year as I mentioned the summer just kept coming until last week so many are ripe.

Good luck Richard, no flooding here, just steady light rain from now until May:(

Len - That orange ball in the black net looks like a pumpkin in a spider's web. You planned that, right? hehe.

I split the peppers lengthwise, remove most of the seeds. Hot cast iron fry pan with some olive oil, and press the peppers flat into the pan to brown them a bit. And put them on a sandwich. I had some on a salami and swiss sandwich last night. Here is a turkey sandwich with peppers.

I picked up 5 contractors bags of fresh horse manure this afternoon. I'm guessing about 100 pounds. Will go into the leaf pile to be composted. I never did this before so it's an experiment.

Tomorrow I plan to rake a hole in what's already piled up and dump manure into the hole and then top it off with what I bag with the mower on my next cleanup.

They started using some kid of wood shavings for bedding in the stalls. So the manure there will go downhill over the years. But there's still the old pile and the new pile has at least 4 years of growth. Which means the bottom is still good manure. Problem is it's on a hillside that's at least a 45° slope and it's too far up the slope to get at the bottom with hand tools. A 12 foot long wooden trough might make it do-able if you can keep the manure sliding into your truck or trailer/

Lol Cindy! That is my trellis grown Lakota squash in the mesh we put it in. Michael I love your pepper idea, had one on our burgers tonight.

Well, it looks like tonight will be the night. The predicted low for this area is 33. Think I need to cover my lettuce?

Never mind. Just looked it up and it should be ok.

It is a beautiful fall day and I just finished planting and transplanting the last of the spinach and winter greens. Yesterday I got in the last of the garlic; if it all makes I will be gifting half of it. I was not going to grow softneck this year but as usual found a spot for it.

The dahlias are looking tired and have some have powdery mildew, but I just cant make myself chop them down yet. Maybe a frost will make up my mind. Meanwhile, yesteday we cut all of these beauties!

Lovely flowers, Len.

Picked one saffron crocus today:

It is such a beautiful flower.

Beautiful and tasty

Planted spinach row #2 today, #3 will go in 2 weeks. Picked the first broccoli for dinner tonight and picked most of the beets and turnips. It was a really nice fall day to rake some leaves and do one last hedge trimming. The rain has held off for the T_O_T'ers but it may miss us entirely anyways. The week ahead looks excellent for the fall crops at 50/70F range temps.., with some watering. Having the flowers still in bloom is an extra treat, no killing frost here yet.

I'm picking broccoli and cauliflower...about ready to dig late potatoes. I got about 2/3 inch of badly needed rain.

My rain gauge is at about 1.25 inches and it is still raining steadily. Most of my tomato plants have lots of blooms on them and three (Big Beef, Paul Robeson, and Beauty King) of them have small tomatoes. Got them all arranged where they don't get flooded with the run off from the roof-the Neve's and Sungold made it through the last flooding rainstorm (it only actually rained a little over a 1/2 inch but it was in about 20-30 minutes).

Here's the November thread:

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6319622/november-2022-veggie-tales#n=1