October 14, 2024
First Frosts
by Farmer Derek

Late last week, just prior to the weekend warmup, we received the first light frost of the fall season, and are forecast to have a run of frosty mornings this week. Frosts that occur when lows are in the mid to upper 30s are relatively insignificant for most of what we're growing this time of year. The only summer crops still out in the field right now are sweet, hot, and shishito peppers. We harvested them and the eggplant pretty hard last week in anticipation of these cold temperatures. If the peppers remain unscathed, on Wednesday we'll probably do one final harvest before they're mown and incorporated into the soil. We'll then try to establish a cover crop of rye or oats but that's a challenge without rainfall. Either way we'll add compost and enrich the soil that way.

The fall crops in the field should actually improve in flavor with a few light frosts as they convert starches to sugars to better deal with the cold. Most of these crops aren't bothered by cold until it drops into the upper 20s with a hard frost. Freezing cold plus wind is probably the hardest for crops to tolerate. Some of the more tender greens like lettuce, arugula, and bok choy would be the first to show any frost burn. Typically, we receive our first light frosts of the season in mid-October and hard frosts/freezes in early November. Obviously every season is different and it looks like it is going to warm up again this coming weekend.