From the Gardens Registrar: It’s Time to Think About Frost; Tomatoes – Ripening or Green; Did You Take Boards From Plot 108?; Workday on Sunday

Hello Gardeners,

FROST – According to the long-range weather forecast, night-time temperatures may be falling into the upper 30’s by the middle of this month. This is fairly typical Wisconsin weather. We usually get a frost sometime in October. But that doesn’t mean the end of garden season. Some plants are killed by frost – tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, squash, melons, and cucumbers, for instance. But lettuce, root vegetables, and cabbage relatives will survive. The early frosts are usually mild, and followed by short periods of warmer weather.

If you still have tomatoes and peppers ripening, you should probably plan to pick them in the next week or two. (see “How to Ripen Tomatoes”, below.) But you can also try covering your plants to protect them. This can really make a difference with light frost – if your protection raises the temperature a degree or two, that’s all that might be needed. You can use row cover, sheets, light blankets, buckets, boxes, all sorts of things. But unless the temperature is going to stay low the next day, you should remove the cover the next morning. There’s a point at which all this covering and uncovering becomes too much work, and then you might just want to give up for the season. Plants this time of year are growing really slowly, so saving them for a few more days doesn’t make much difference.

But whatever you’ve still got growing, and whatever you decide to do – pick or try to protect - start watching the weather forecasts and pay attention to nighttime temperatures.

HOW TO RIPEN TOMATOES OFF THE PLANT – Tomatoes will continue to ripen after they are picked. If you have just a few left, and they’re almost ripe, you can just leave them on your kitchen counter. But if you have lots of under-ripe tomatoes, and don’t want them to go to waste, a little more attention to the process may pay off. Here’s an article with a lot of information and alternatives: https://www.growveg.com/guides/the-best-ways-to-ripen-green-tomatoes/

THE JOYS OF GREEN TOMATOES – Or, just use them green. You can enjoy eating them, as long as you don’t think too hard about how delicious they would have been if they’d ripened. These recipes sound pretty good: https://www.thespruceeats.com/recipes-using-green-tomatoes-3057091

BOARD DISAPPEARANCE – Will whoever took two 6’ boards from Plot 108 last week please return them? The gardeners had plans for them. No questions will be asked. Thank you.

WORKDAY AT EH SUNDAY OCTOBER 5 – We will have a workday this Sunday, October 5, at Eagle Heights, from 2pm – 5pm. The task will be path and water maintenance. Here’s the link to sign up: https://doodle.com/poll/ytpwxufry2c62vdt  The weather is looking good for Sunday, but if it rains, the workday will be cancelled.

Happy gardening,

Kathryn