Friday 18 October 2013

A late frost

Last night, or this morning we had a frost.  It wasn't a very heavy frost - I didn't notice any frost lying around when I woke up. Instead what I noticed was the damage it caused in the vegetable patch. Warning - pictures of dead plants follow.


These little plants were my 'Sex without strings' yellow bush beans. My 'Kentucky Wonder' and 'Borlotti' are also victims of the frost.


This plant was my 'Greenskin' zucchini. My 'Gold Rush' yellow zucchini is also affected.


The plant below is one of three 'Butternut' pumpkins all destroyed.


My potatoes have also been nipped, but only lightly.  I am hoping they may survive...does anyone have experience with their potatoes being nipped like this?


Only 2 of the 8 tomatoes I have ion the ground seem to have perished - both 'Green Grape'. Luckily I have another 'Green Grape' seedling I can pop in  to replace these two.

This is terribly disappointing but I guess to be expected. This is the first winter and spring we have had at Highfield and it is very difficult to know when the last frost might occur with no history to back me.  I have also been enthusiastic to get crops in and going so that some produce before the worst of the summer heat.

Oh well, I will have to start again with some of these crops. Unfortunately I have put in all the 'Sex without strings' and 'Kentucky Wonder' bean  seeds.... I might have to rely on varieties commonly available from the nursery so I can get going again quickly.

A late frost is one thing, but an early fire is  completely another thing. My little frost 'disaster' is certainly unimportant. Stay safe people in the affected areas.

How is spring treating your crops? Any little frost nips?

10 comments:

  1. Oh no! That's sooo annoying! Looks a quick trip to the nursery is in order - hope you get what you want.

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    1. Funny isnt it, I have been very pleased with myself raising so much seed. Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating when I buy seedlings, but this time it is needed to catch up.

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  2. Bugger! It's amazing how quickly the damage becomes apparent. Hopefully it is early enough to not affect your summer harvest too much if you replant now. (I only just planted out my zucchini seedlings today!) We had some frost at the Country Garden this morning. No damage to the vegies, but some of the chardonnay copped it. I was amazed there was frost so late, but then it seems way too early for such bad fires too.

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    1. Hard to get the timing right isnt it? Especially with unpredictable weather. I was trying to get things going before the real heat and have been punished with a late frost. Oh well, I guess these things happen. Hope you dont get more cold mornings now.

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  3. We had early frost last winter in our squash patch which had some last remaining potatoes and sweet potatoes. Poof! - all the sweet potatoes were dead on the ground! If your vegies weren't killed outright they should recover, but your harvest is likely going to be set back by 2-4 weeks :(

    Potatoes can handle mild frost and are very resilient so they should be fine with the amount of damaged they received. We have been having rather odd weather as well this spring. Late cold fronts (no frost thank goodness), but the fronts were accompanied with freezing winds that burned away many of our fruit grafts from last year. We are supposed to get our first rains in early September and it is mid-spring and we haven't had any decent rains yet!

    Good luck with your crops :)

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    1. Thankfully the potatoes just look very sad and have not been killed outright. Not so for the beans, zucchinis and pumpkins which are gone. Bummer about the fruit grafts, that must have been heartbreaking!

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  4. I feel your pain! Who would have thought you'd get a frost at this time of the year? More Kentucky Wonder bean seeds will wing their way to you, tomorrow (I have plenty). It shouldn't be too late to plant them - if so, next year!

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    1. Bonkers isn't it? Same with the October fires in the Blue Mountains! Thank you so much, I'd love some more of your 'Wonders'. I always feel so guilty when people give me seeds and for some reason things don't work out...and they were doing so well.

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  5. All my potatoes at popping up stage got burnt by the frost but three weeks later grew back and now a thriving patch.

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  6. Oh no, I'm sorry to hear you lost some great plants. Hopefully you can replant and it won't set you back to far.

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