Saturday, September 19, 2009

Frost Kissed Spicy Globe Basil



Last night Jack Frost did a little sneaking around in our garden. This cute, round spicy globe basil was just kissed by the frost. The top is all brown, but the leaves near the ground are still green. The rest of our basil got more of the kiss of death except for a few plants on top of an old compost pile. There the frost swept by missing the basil, but laying it's nasty brown kiss on the butternut squash leaves right next to it. Some of our tender plants like the moonflower escaped completely. We were not expecting the frost last night. We did bring in the pots of sweet bay. It's a lucky thing we did. Sweet bays don't tolerate even a whisper of frost. In our defense, it was overcast, and we really thought the garden would be safe.


Tonight is a different story. The sky is clear and cloudless. The severe weather warnings were issued days ago. I picked the peppers. The potted plants are in the basement. Tomorrow morning I expect to wake up to a frosted white garden. tonight's predicted low is 35 degrees. Only July and August were frost free for us in 2009. Next year I hope we can do better!

4 comments:

Daphne Gould said...

Such a short frost free season you had this year. It reminds me of when I lived in Colorado.

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Oh my goodness Becky !
I had no idea you only had 2 months without a frost happening .. now that is severe .. we have had some cold nights lately but no frost yet .. I know it is coming soon though .. so you won't be alone any more ? LOL

Anonymous said...

We had a frost warning here in Nova Scotia last night, but it didn't get quite cold enough, at least where I'm located. It's that time of year. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Hi. First time visitor here. Congrats on your butterfly.

I guess frost is an inevitability for a lot of us. Nothing here yet [PNW] but this morning it felt cooler than it's been.

The brown skunk is very handsome. This is a first I have seen or heard of them. Never to old to learn something new.