The seasons are a'changin

Starting yesterday there has been a pretty abrupt changing in the weather. The air is very cold and we even saw some snow flakes falling yesterday, thankfully nothing on the ground yet. Last night the temperature dropped to -8c (18f) with a thick frost and tonight is reported to be the same. This spells the end for the veggie garden for the season, only leaving the protected crops

The frost has started to migrate into the soil. The beds lowest on the the slope are the only ones freezing so far but it won't be long for the rest of them. Above is a close up of the frost, it has grabbed onto the top inch of soil producing a fine mass of thin ice crystals. (best viewed by clicking the image for the larger version)

Any area that has collected water is now frozen. The watering cans were turned over after this photo so they do not freeze solid and split. On Thursday I emptied all the hoses, brought them in and then I turned off all the spigots inside. Just in time this year!

Merlot Lettuce

Frosted Radish

Fall Broccoli

Radishes

As you can see, all the crops were adversely affected by last nights freeze. The lettuce was ruined but I am okay with that because they had gone quite bitter from all the light frosts they endured. I did manage to salvage the other crops which I will show during Harvest Monday.

After taking out the last of the crops in the patch I ended up with some more gifts for the composter. Now the garden is bare of plants, only leaving season extenders and maple leaves.