Yikes, what a scary weekend! A Halloween’s eve snowstorm – apparently Grafton got the highest snowfall in the whole state at 6.5″ – followed by plunging temperatures bottoming out at 17 degrees (in October!) put a damper on Saturday’s final CSA pickup. Not ideal but very much fitting for this season, and 2020 in general. As we’ve done all year, we adapted and somehow made it work – we harvested everything Thursday (in the pouring rain!) and our dedicated CSAers all still got their final share.
And yet all that spookiness of this weekend pales in comparison to what’s on tap the rest of this week – the very real possibility of re-electing the pumpkin in chief to another frightful four years. Get out there and vote y’all!
I’m not sure what all made it through the night, but Halloween was not kind to the garden. It’s very, very unusual to have field tomato plants still alive on a night it hits 17. We skipped lows in the 20s and went straight for the teens! The hardier crops can adjust to temps that low, but a big plunge will shock their poor systems.
So far it looks like the swiss chard and perpetual spinach are goners – I even saw some fried kale leaves, one of the hardiest greens of all that usually stand tall into single digits. From a distance, most of the lettuce looks ok, but I won’t know for sure until it’s fully unburied from the snow. I imagine we’ll lose at least half of it. With all the unknowns, we’re taking this Monday off from harvesting. On the bright side, next week’s weather looks fantastic so we’ll definitely get back to it next week hopefully through Thanksgiving. At the very least, the greens in the tunnel are looking good!