After the freezess

We took the row covers off today.  What the bitter wind didn’t burn, the freeze did. We had frost on Monday morning and again, briefly but unexpected,  on Wednesday morning.

Many of the bean plants are fried.

bean rows after the freeze

There are a few beans hanging on, and some flowers, but we’ve lost so much leaf cover that what remains may not recover. We’ll water sparingly to avoid more stress, and see what happens.

Even under cover, the tops of most of the tomato plants froze.

tomato plants after the freeze

We were already harvesting some cherry tomatoes, and most of those fell off the plants. We collected them today, and will bring them to market- time to make Green Tomato Jam! The larger tomatoes are still on the plants, in various stages of sizing up. We’ll see what happens with them.

The brassicas as a whole, as well as the chard and carrots, fared much better. They’re bright and perky, as you can see here. But look closely to the right and the left and you’ll see burnt banana leaves and bronzed guava leaves. The greener trees in the background are avocados, which seem for the most part OK- a little bronzing on some top leaves.

happy carrots after the freeze

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As ready as we can get…

Undercover Heirloom bean plants

… for the threatening freezes. Last weekend, we covered the tomatoes, beans, basil and some of the peppers & eggplant in anticipation of frosty weather. So far, we’ve been lucky. Cloud cover has moderated the temperatures, so if there has been any patchy frost, it’s been fleeting. We still have this coming weekend to worry about, making this the longest ever spell of continuous cold weather that I can recall (and I grew up here-since I was 8). We’ll know the final outcome next week. But, usually, we’re not in the clear until the end of February- so, we’ll keep our fingers crossed!