We broke two weather records

At least two! Two days ago, it snowed nearly 2 inches.

And yesterday morning, it was 10 degrees F when I woke (-12 C). That broke a 108-year-old record. I think it may be the coldest on record for 12 November, period, but there's no reason to confirm that and depress myself further. I covered the winter garden on its hoops, and the plants look fine (though the thermometer in there read 13 when I woke), and I tossed a 3-mil plastic over the lettuce/carrot/kale bed. It wasn't all that secure at the edges, or held up at all off the plants. Just a toss over and anchoring it by yanking through a bit of each of four corners through chicken wire. My photo of kale looking okay was blurry, and no way am I running out there again today to reshoot! lol. Onions and leeks aren't happy, but I think if I harvest them in two days when the temps are up to 45, they'll be edible. But the lettuces are "maybe yes, maybe no" on surviving or being edible.

I'm guessing "yes," for a few of these, no for others, and I'm letting them sit in the sun again until 4 p.m when it will be a balmy 29F. 🙄 If they die, they die, and that's sad. I still have 28 heads in. It's not supposed to get to lettuce-killing temps regularly here until almost Christmas, so I feel mightily cheated. You order the seeds, you start the seeds in early September in the shade, you baby them through 95 degree temps in early October (also record-setting, but in the other direction) with only a few heads bolting, and then this happens. True, I'm getting a little tired of salads for lunch every day, but I'd hoped to have the option until mid-December.

And lettuce isn't something you can harvest and can or freeze to save your harvest. I have two heads in the fridge, which I'll be able to eat before it goes bad, but there was no reason to harvest any more. If it were to happen again--10 degrees is awful, and 4 degrees lower than they had said 36 hours before it happened--I might cut every head, walk down my street, and give lettuce away to people. Why not? At least someone would have been able to use it.


So, if anyone ever reads this, lettuce cold-hardiness to 10F, Winter Density with only light row cover did not make it. (It made 17 with no cover, though). Oak leaf, Grand Rapids, and Black seeded Simpson under 3 mil plastic (again, not secured at the edges, more like tossing a sheet over them at sundown before a frost) seem to have survived, barely. I can't quite tell about the speckled yet. It is low-growing, and that might have helped it.

Hope your weather, wherever you are, is better than this!

Fall gardening

(Which, considering all the days coming up with less than 20F weather, should be called "winter gardening!")

I have root crops, lettuce, and kale in the autumn garden. I harvested two heads of leaf lettuce today, speckled and Black seeded Simpson. Because of how unseasonable cold this month has begun, I will have to cover the remaining plants with plastic most of the next week to help them make it.

I've been raking/vacuuming leaves a lot and have 1.5 trash cans full of chopped leaves plus a full leaf mold bin. Next year, once plants are in the ground, I'll mulch them with this. Worms will eat it and turn it into soil. Until they do, it'll hold moisture and suppress weeds.

And I've put a similar cage around my artichokes and loaded it with leaves, hoping this makes them survive the winter. The crowns are well down in that leaf mulch. The plants are 3 feet tall and wide.

Though 6 of the next 8 days, it'll be too cold to do anything outside (except maybe jog from the car to a store's doorway), so other outdoor projects are on hold. Still, I have most things done out there.

 I've even covered the windows inside to save on my heating bill, which is more than I can really afford this winter with income getting pretty iffy. (My own fault. I haven't launched a new "product" in 8 months, and in this environment, that's glacially slow.) Can't wait to turn 65 when I'll collect Social Security and can quit worrying about income from writing. At that point, any writing income will be extra, and I won't care how little it is. Anyway, I've shut down three of the six rooms of my house entirely, and will only live in three and heat three this year. Sorry to complain about money, but it's part of the story. And making the land I own work for me and provide me most of my food is the other part of the story, a happier side.

If we get a warm spell, I'll post again when I accomplish something. Otherwise, I'll post about ordering spring fruit bushes and seeds, and about seed-starting again on February 1. Ciao!