Thyme For Hard Frost

Jack Frost was back this morning and this time his icy breath was a killer!  When I first awoke and looked out the window the world outside was white.  It was still dark, so I snuggled back under the covers but I knew what would be waiting in the garden when it was daylight.  The frosted thyme on the patio at the west end of the house resembled silver edge thyme.  It looked quite beautiful.

Red creeping thyme was originally planted here.  Thyme that grows wild has mixed with it and I have given up trying to weed thyme from the thyme.  Both plants are extremely tough and went right back to green when the frost was gone.

At first glance the basil planted right outside my kitchen door doesn't look so bad.  It has the same silver edges as the thyme.  A closer look shows more.   Basil is tender and with the temperature below freezing,  Jack's icy frozen breath was the kiss of death!

When the sun hit this plant the frosted cells in the leaves exploded and turned to slime.  It was great to have fresh basil this late, but it's all over now.  Only the clean-up remains.

A close look at this Grandpa Ott morning glory leaf shows Jack's icy breath on the entire leaf.  It's location on top of the porch railing did not protect it.

This plant looks a little better than the basil, but it is just as dead.  Next year basil will be back because we will plant it.   Grandpa Ott seeds unfazed by the cold will return when the ground warms.   I still love a four season garden.  You need and end to have that wonderful new beginning!

A Perfect November Day

The weather forecast for today predicted a fantastic day.  A hard overnight frost was followed by clear skies and temperatures that reached well into the 50's.  This glorious afternoon was spent running fallen maple leaves through the lawn mower creating perfect garden mulch.  The bags of shredded leaves will be piled and covered with a tarp.  If all goes as planned, we will find fine, dry, aged, ph proper mulch for our basil planting next June.  How much better than that does it ever get?

Our original Gloriosa daisies were given to us many years ago by Elle, an elderly gardener that took us under her wing.  Many of her plants still grow in our gardens so we remember her fondly and often.  This last of the season flower looks rather stunning dressed with frost.

Foxglove has found many locations around the garden to send down roots.  We prefer to have it grow at the base of stone walls.  That type of location seems satisfactory to the plant as it reseeds wildly there.  A generous coating of frost highlights the texture of these leaves.

Cone flower has been a favorite of the lady of the garden forever.  It now grows here in unmanageable numbers.  We hate to discard living plants but a run through the compost pile happens to this plant rarely.  An end of the season flower still holding petals and a perfect seed head looks lovely with its frost overcoat beginning to melt in the morning sun.

If our overnight freeze was harsh enough to end nearly all of the tiny biting black bugs, this will have been a truly perfect  day.

Hot To Trot

Today was promised to be clear and warm with temperatures climbing into the mid fifties F.  Overnight was clear and cold.  We found heavy frost and frozen ground early on.  A group of turkeys working across our mowed field surprised us.  Previously we had seen only a single bird that appeared to be suffering as a possible result of the deep and lasting snow cover.  These seven birds were doing what turkeys do at this time of year.

Two of the males were in constant display for the several minutes that it took for the group to cross in front of us.  Fanned tail feathers, foot drumming and stiffened body feathers must require a great expenditure of energy over an unbelievably long period of time.  The top of the males featherless head appears swollen and bright blue.  His snood hangs down over his beak and is red.  A careful look at the first picture will find both of these bright colors.

Birds have made a number of adaptations in order to make flight possible.  Their sexual parts shrink and remain dormant for most of the year.  Extended courtship rituals are necessary to wake up the sleeping bits and get them ready to function.  Unlike many mammals, male turkeys are usually devoid of seed.  They need time to prepare for mating.  While these two males were shaking their tail feathers, the girls were simply feeding apparently ignoring the show around them.  Actually their parts were also waking up but the girls need tremendous amounts of nourishment in order to fuel the huge egg output that is soon to follow.  We were amazed at how quickly this breeding behavior followed  the melting of the snow.

A group of deer were also heading toward the rising sun.  The presence of the deer was closely watched by the hen turkeys but it caused them no alarm.  The deer mated last fall and are now feeding heavily to support their growing fawns.

Becky thought that she saw tree swallows flying about.  That meant that it was time for me to clean out the nest boxes.  Despite the continuing presence of snow, this bird has already claimed her home.  I could have disturbed her and cleaned out the old nest but decided to leave her alone.  There is plenty of room for her to build a new nest on top of the old nest.

The lower grass nest was started by bluebirds.  Our early drought last year interrupted their food supply.  They left our area in search of a better place to rear their young.  Wrens built their stick nest above the abandoned bluebird nest.  How those small birds cut and move all of those comparatively large sticks remains a puzzle.  It must be quite a chore to work the sticks through the hole in the nest box.

When I first found the beady tan fluff in a nest box, I thought that it was insulation pulled from the walls of our old beat camper.  Soaked with a winters worth of mouse urine, it did not invite close inspection.  We have since determined that milkweed parachutes are the actual source of the material.  The mice may eat the milkweed seeds before rolling up the parachutes for bedding.  Here again the effort expended to move all of that material up the post supporting the nest box is impressive.

The day was every bit as pleasant as forecast.  All but one of the nest boxes are ready for new tenants.  We go to bed tonight tired, a little sore and happy.   Garden cleanup continues and spinach will be planted tomorrow weather permitting.

Dear Jack, Where's my Frost ?

First frost is usually a grim time here.  We are never ready to say goodbye to our summer garden.  This year is different.  With more than a month of regular daily rain the mosquitoes are winning.  If tonight's frost is hard enough, there will be fewer biting flying insects tomorrow.  Indian summer can begin and that is one of our favorite times to work outside.  Crisp clear air and no mosquitoes make for pleasant time outside.  We can then shed some of our layers of protection.

Ed is wearing a Solumbra long sleeved shirt and a helmet drape.  His only exposed skin is part of his face.  It is still possible to inhale a flying insect via either nose or mouth but they can access neither his ears nor the back of his neck.  With only a small area of exposed skin, his kill to bite ratio is way up.

Becky  is completely covered in white.  Her trip to the ER to have a deer tick removed prompted these precautions.  As anyone concerned with Lyme disease prevention knows, the pants tucked into the socks are a must.  Purple gardening gloves do add just a touch of flair.

Now it is time to compost the still living basil and peppers.  If we wait until after the frost, pleasant smelling plants will be transformed to slimy disgusting smelly  mush.  The sky is cloudless and blue perfect for a nice cold starry night. Come on Jack!  Let's have that hard frost or even a freeze. These *@!*# mosquitoes are just asking for it.