After many frosts...

The good news is that the garden has survived many frosts with just a layer of ag-cloth and a layer of plastic. The bad news is that the slugs have been wreaking havoc. I was hoping that they would freeze or go into hibernation, but it has not been the case. They destroyed 98% of the 300 tatsoi, spinach and VIT that we transplanted and have been attacking the kale, chard and beet leaves with a vengeance. Ah well, I understand that spinach will grow through the cold season, so I will have to get some of that planted along with some slug traps.

The radicchio which refused to head all season is finally starting to form nice little heads. The beets and carrots that were planted in mid-August are not large enough to harvest.

Deep freeze on the way

They are forecasting temperatures down to 22 degrees on Monday night. I will have to add a layer of plastic this weekend to protect the garden.

Harvesting

Wednesday evening, I harvested a large container of lettuce, kale and chard. It looks like slugs are taking a heavy toll on the 300 seedlings that were transplanted last week. Eliot Coleman recommends keeping ducks for slug control. Does anyone have a duck I can borrow?

Planting and covering

Over the course of the month, I have realized the genius of using spun-fiber row cover to protect garden beds. The wonderful thing is that it breathes enough that it won't overheat on a sunny day in the 70's, at the same time it holds some heat in at night, allows sunlight and rain through, and provides a protective micro-climate against drying, cold winds. All of this adds up to a very low maintenance way to extend the growing season. We had one night with extremely high winds and I expected to find all of the covers blown off, but everything was fine the next morning.

Last Friday evening (10/12), I was out in the garden using a 500W halogen lamp to see, covering the rest of the garden beds. As I was working, I noticed ice crystals forming on the strawberry leaves. Soon, I will be placing a layer of plastic over each garden frame to protect from deeper frosts.

On Sunday, we had wonderful 70 degree weather. Youngest daughter and I transplanted about 300 seedlings of mizuna, cress and pac choi, and planted about 40 spinach. That pretty much covered all of the available garden soil.

I discovered a new weather site that shows the forecast in a novel way. It is an hourly temperature infographic including cloud cover and precipitation. Check it out at: Time and Date: Buffalo Hourly