(AF) FROSTY NIGHTS

I spent Tuesday evening doing the Cake & Ice Cream thing with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday, so I was greatly relieved that the frost Dave got that night missed me. At only an hour's drive apart, the ever so slight temperature difference in that distance made all the difference in the world. My plants looked cold, but they all survived with no apparent damage.

But over in my neck of the woods it was forecast to go down to between 28° and 32°F last night so I spent yesterday getting all my valuable veggies and house plants prepared. None of my veggies produced during our record heat this summer, but as soon as it finally cooled off my veggies finally began to bloom and set and I am not in the least ready to let Jack Frost have them!

I had quite an assortment of houseplants outside, all of which badly need repotting. But I had to just bring them inside to warmth for now and worry about repotting later. My Aloe Veras are still in the ground. They loved the hot dry summer and multiplied really well so I just put a heavy cardboard box over them and hoped for the best. I will have to dig and pot them up sometime next week.

Early in August I had planted tomato seeds in peat pots in the shade, hoping for great Fall weather to set them out into a Fall garden. But the heat and drought continued on so I only put a few of them into the ground and several into very large pots. Now, as freezing temps approach, they are growing beautifully and putting on loads of tomatoes! It will be a lot of work, but I am going to do everything I can to get at least a few tomatoes off of them. Often times I just pick all the greens ones off when a freeze approaches and either fry them or make pickles out of them, but this year I am going to attempt to extend their growing season as long as possible.

Quite a few of the tomatoes in pots I brought into the house. Now my hallway looks like a forest with a small path in the center to walk down. I kinda like it! Now, if some of those little tomatoes would turn red, and a few stay green, I will be ahead on my Christmas decorating, ha, ha, ha. That is a very tempting idea and would definitely be a Christmas the grandkids would remember.

As for all the rest of my plants .... some in the ground and some in pots too large and heavy for me to lift by myself, I dragged out every old blanket, large heavy boxes, and thick feed sacks I could find and spent the afternoon and evening covering everything up. Until we have a harder freeze for several nights in a row, it is better to cover up the plants in the big pots anyway, rather than drag them in and out of the house.

We have a chance of a light frost again tonight so I am just going to be lazy and leave everything covered up today, then uncover it all tomorrow morning. After that, we are suppose to have at least 6 days of beautiful, warm weather before any more chances of frost. If all of my coverings keep them toasty and safe through these two frosty nights, my little Fall garden will have another whole week to grow and thrive before it is in danger again.