Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from November 18 through March 14.

Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from December 12 through February 11.

You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from April 14 through October 27.

Your frost-free growing season is around 249 days.

So much for being past the last frost date.  It froze last night and everything was frosted white in the morning sunlight.  Just a reminder that it was the ‘average’ last frost date.  The ‘never happens after this date’ last frost date is still a ways away.

I started my garden last weekend.  The most important thing, got the sweetpea starts planted.  Then, after hearing about the crop failures in Calif, I went back to the Coop and purchased some lettuce starts and planted those also.  The lettuce isn’t looking too happy though.  Might be in part to the fact that Ell decided to ‘play’ with them.  I’ve fenced out the bunnies and the chickens but kitties are much harder to deter.

We had the most extreme weather a week ago.  First was the snow, more than I can remember seeing here.  It came down fast and just kept on coming, over a foot.  Then while the snow was on the ground we had a 12degree low at night, following by an 18degree low.  Meanwhile daytime temps never got above freezing and all this occured after mild, spring like weather had encouraged bud growth.  It will be interesting to see what the ultimate result will be.

Its getting colder now, there was frost on the grass this morning, even though my thermometer, under the roof on the side of the house only registered 33 as the low.  I don’t see any damage yet so it may have been just a little above but its definitely time to cover the zucchini at night.

It has been a cool and very wet spring up till now.  Two weeks ago we finally had the first sunny, 70 degree day, and it was gorgeous, but then it went immediately back to the former.   Today looks like it will be gorgeous too.  I guess its about time as the first day of summer is only three days away.  The weather has been hard on the tomatoes and the strawberries haven’t had much of a chance to ripen, even though the plants look great and there are many green berries.  The weather has been fine for the leafy crops.  Last night we enjoyed our first kohlrabi, very sweet and tender.   My only regret so far is not having had the time to plant more seeds.  I still hope to remedy that but it is getting a bit late in the season, to be sure.

The fushia’s I overwintered from last year are just starting to bloom, and so are the sweat peas, even though the plants are still a bit small.

The soil has been fertilized and tilled and the fencing has gone up, let the planting begin.

Weather has been very iffy lately and its been difficult to find a window of dry weather for working the soil.  All necessary elements clicked this weekend and we were able to haul compost from the manure pile and spread it out over the greenhouse garden just in time to rottotill the whole thing.  The rabbit fencing has gone back up and its all ready for planting.  Now let’s hope the weather cooperates a little more.

Its been such a mild January so far, and dry. Makes me feel that spring is near. While inspecting the greenhouse this morning I discovered that the fuchsias overwintering there are starting to sprout new growth tips. How exciting is that. The majority of potted herbs are still alive though they don’t look so great, except for the Italian parsley. They look good. The plants are from last year’s sowing and I have had leaves to use all winter up to now. I do notice however that they are getting some pretty strong, upright shoots in the center. They will probably go to seed soon and that will be that for the parsley.
The grass is trying to take the garden back. I hope I can get out there soon to dig it out before it overtakes everything. The leeks from last spring are good size and still alive. Not sure if they are usable. They’ve been a bit limp since the big freeze. I’ll try to pull some today and see how they are.

• To save tomato seeds, crush tomatoes and let them ferment in a bucket three days. The seeds will sink to the bottom. Pour everything else off, rinse seeds and dry them.
• To harvest squash seeds, harvest squash when it is ripe and hard. Wait one month and then cut it open and scrape out the seeds. Rinse pulp away and dry seeds well.  
• To save lettuce seeds, wait until lettuces go to seed, put a pillowcase over seed head and shake off seeds.
• To save bean seeds, harvest bean pods, dry them and pull seeds out.
• Store all very dry seeds in cool or cold, dry conditions. Freeze or refrigerate seeds with packets of silica gel or powdered milk to keep them dry. The cooler you keep seeds, the longer they will last—4 to 8 years. Heat destroys them.

The weather has taken such a turn.  I was imagining what the native Americans might have called a weather change such as this and the above came to mind.  Today’s balmy 54 degrees feels very much like spring after the temperatures in the teens we experienced just last week.  I wonder if the trees and plants are coming back to life in a false start.  I’m sure the cold weather will return again soon, but in the meanwhile all is mild.  Hopefully the grass will grow a bit and help feed the cows and sheep again, that would be nice.