The First Freeze of Winter

Well, Jack Frost visited us a little early this year.  The average first frost date for our zone is November 21 - 31.  We had temperatures dipping down to 30 degrees on November 15th and again to 30 degrees on the 18th and 19th.  It gave us an opportunity to get a roaring fire burning in the fireplace and we sat in the den and enjoyed the cozy evening.  When the fireplace is roaring, I like to go outside and just smell the oak wood burning.  Smells great!

I actually like the cold weather.  It is a nice respite from the hot, muggy days of summer.  Some vegetables in the garden don't like it, though.  I walked out to survey the damage.  Our yellow squash plant's broad leaves were burnt by the cold. Those leaves acted as a broad blanket as they sheltered the younger foliage underneath it, but once the next freezes come, this plant is toast!

Frostbite

There was a number of young yellow squash that we were hoping to eat once they matured; however, we'll have to eat them as "baby squash."

Baby Squash

The Contender Green Beans didn't like the cold weather either.  The leaves and blooms on this row took a beating and are all curled and withered.

Cool Beans

There were some green beans ready for picking so I quickly snapped them off the plant.  The plants won't make it, but the beans will certainly make it into the pot for supper.

Mmmmm!

The volunteer tomato plants that grew up from seed from tomatoes that fell to the ground during Spring and Summer shrugged their shoulders and surrendered to the frost.  Never fear, I planted parsley right next to them and the parsley will overtake the area that the tomato occupied.  I snipped off a handful of parsley and cut it up to top a delicious bowl of chicken and sausage gumbo last night. Parsley really adds a nice fragrance and taste to a warm bowl of gumbo.

Tomato is gone, but here comes the parsley

On another row of beans I noticed a stark contrast between the large green bean leaves that were burnt by the freeze against the kelly green tender smaller leaves of the same plant.  I won't pull them up.  Maybe they'll produce a few more beans.  If not, their roots are still setting nitrogen in the soil. If the beans won't feed me, at least they'll feed the soil. 

I did meander down the rows and picked produce that was in danger of being lost. That's the thing about gardening - you've got to stay on top of it.  If you wait one day too late, you risk losing some of the items you grew.  We love homegrown vegetables too much to allow them to waste.  So I brought the colander out and picked a few green beans and baby yellow squash.  We won't see this again until Spring 2015, so we're going to savor every bite.

Fresh Picked Goodness from the Garden

I also picked 8 packed cups of basil leaves off the plants and turned it into pesto.  I froze it in individual family-sized servings as we've found that thawing out a container of pesto and boiling some pasta makes for a quick (and delicious) meal.

Washing basil leaves in the vegetable sink

Finally, I picked all the green bell peppers, chocolate bell peppers, cayenne peppers, and jalapeno peppers off the plants as those plants will be gone after the freeze. Tricia has been making stuffed bell peppers with rice and ground meat inside topped with homemade salsa and the whole family has been enjoying those things.

A peck of picked peppers

I'll show you something else we did with the remaining peppers tomorrow.  Even though some of our plants can't make it through the cold weather, we can!  Stay warm friends!