![\"frosty-moon-001-copy.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/09\/frosty-moon-001-copy.jpg\" "\\"frosty-moon-001-copy.jpg\\"")
We had a narrow escape last night?\u00a0 I knew it was going to be cold last night.\u00a0 I listen religiously to the NOAH weather radio every morning to keep track on the weather; rain, hail and yes, frost.\u00a0 Shiver.\u00a0 I know there’s weather on the telivision news and local weather on all the FM stations we listen to.\u00a0 But when I really want to know what might happen, I trust the NOAH weather radio.\u00a0 (Yes, they’ve been wrong.\u00a0 But not too often.)<\/p>\n
So when it began to get dark, I was expecting to have a low of about 37 degrees.\u00a0 But then it suddenly began to get REAL cold, pretty early, too. And David came home from haying and said he’d heard that we would be down to 32 degrees.\u00a0 Eeeeek.\u00a0 Only a few degrees, but oh so much difference!<\/p>\n
We’ve still got the huge tarps, but with David’s close escape with the flesh eating bacteria right at tomato staking time, my tomatoes didn’t get staked like they should and would not hold up a tarp without shoving over the plants.\u00a0 And never mind the watermelons, muskmelons, squash and peppers.\u00a0 Because the garden is so much larger, covering them is more chore than a few minutes in the twilight.<\/p>\n
It got darker.\u00a0 Then there was this hush to the crisp air.\u00a0 There wasn’t a cloud in the sky to help us.\u00a0 Suddenly you could almost hear the moon rising in the east.\u00a0 Huge and round, only a day past full.\u00a0 Oh boy.\u00a0 Nearly all our killing frosts happen on or very near the full moon.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 But it’s true.\u00a0 And the night was crispy clear, just asking for it.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep last night.\u00a0 I don’t know what good that did.\u00a0 Yes, I could have turned on the sprinklers before the sun rose, wetting the frosting plants.\u00a0 This works more than 50% of the time.\u00a0 If you get them sprinkled BEFORE the sun comes up.\u00a0 After it’s daylight, it’s too late; the plants are toast.<\/p>\n
At 5:30 AM it was 42 and no sign of frost yet.\u00a0 At 6:30 the sun was peeking up and it was 36.\u00a0 Whew!\u00a0 We made it.\u00a0 I walked barefoot down to the garden, ooching and ouching over the rocks.\u00a0 I had to touch the plants before I felt safe.\u00a0 They were happy and morning soft.\u00a0 The killer moon had not found my garden!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve posted readers questions with my answers below:<\/strong><\/p>\n Jackie for President\/ Canning Patty Pan squash<\/strong><\/p>\n I just found you and am already enamored. Would you consider running for President? Down to business. I have raised patty pan squash this year. Good harvest and need a canning recipe. It’s a more delicate flavor than summer squash so I wasn’t sure whether I should use a different recipe.<\/p>\n Mary L. Schleicher Broccoli plants<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe this is a dumb question, but here goes anyway. Earlier in the summer the geese got out and had a fine dinner on the tender shoots of the broccoli plants. So, they grew hugh leaves and little Gail Erman We had a narrow escape last night?\u00a0 I knew it was going to be cold last night.\u00a0 I listen religiously to the NOAH weather radio every morning to keep track on the weather; rain, hail and yes, frost.\u00a0 Shiver.\u00a0 I know there’s weather on the telivision news and local weather on all the FM stations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGig Harbor, Washington
\n<\/em>
\nMe?\u00a0 Run for President???\u00a0 Are you crazy???\u00a0 And get involved with all those nut cases that run our country?\u00a0 I can’t lie that well.\u00a0 Smirk.\u00a0 Thank you for the vote, anyhow. You can home can patty pan squash just like any summer squash.\u00a0 I like them best canned whole when they are about two inches in diameter.\u00a0 This leaves them more solid and they don’t get mushy. — Jackie<\/p>\n
\nbitty heads . I guess the plants thought they had already done their job of making heads. So, now these plants have great leaves. Can I cook and use these leaves like cabbage? Don’t want the whole effort to go to waste but I’m not sure if the leaves are really eatible.<\/p>\n
\nPalisade, Colorado
\n<\/em>
\nYes, broccoli leaves are edible.\u00a0 But if you keep those little heads picked off, you’ll be amazed at how many larger side shoots develop.\u00a0 Sometimes the side shoots are nearly as large as the main head.\u00a0 So don’t give up on your plants yet! — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"