frost – David Kotz

First frost

Finally!

It has been an incredibly warm fall – with temperatures hitting the 80s(!) in September and often in the 70s in October. Historically, local gardeners could never count on frost-free weather after Labor Day (first weekend in September)… though in recent years it was not uncommon to make it through September without a frost. This year, as recently as Saturday (75ºF and sunny) it was looking like we might get through October, too, without a frost.

Today, the last day of October – Halloween! – the first frost finally arrived, applying a crisp coating to the yard and the fallen leaves.

Below are plots of temperature in our garden, at head height, over the past week and over the past month.

For those not from around here, these are crazy warm temps for October!

Hard frost

Winter is coming.

When I first moved to this region it was generally understood that gardeners should put their garden to bed for the winter around Labor Day, because one could expect a frost to kill off any remaining vegetables soon afterward. As four decades have passed, I’ve noticed the frost arriving later and later. This year, we didn’t even have a hint of frost until mid-October. Today was the first true frost, with the leaf-covered lawns thoroughly tinged with gray, and where one’s fingernail could scratch patterns in frost-covered railings or other wooden surfaces. The good news, at least, is that clear skies bring us warm sunny afternoons as well as frosty mornings!

Holts Ledge on a frigid day

Sometimes the best views are the smallest.

Today woke with frigid temperatures: -10ºF (-23ºC), which was certainly not inspiring me to get outdoors. But it was a beautifully clear and sunny day, and by mid-afternoon the temperature had risen twenty degrees. So a friend and I climbed nearby Holts Ledge – a hill in Lyme on which the Dartmouth Skiway is located. The snow squeaked under our feet and the stream crossings were smooth and icy. We had a fine view from the top, yes, but my favorite view was a close-up look at the frost feathers atop a puddle of ice.