We could see frost or perhaps a light frost in the next few days. A light frost or a hard freeze? A light frost occurs when the temperature drops to below 32 degrees and the dew point is low enough that ice crystals form. A hard freeze is a period of at least four consecutive hours of air temperatures that are below 25 degrees. Tender plants will probably be killed by a hard freeze, and more cold hardy plants may only sustain leaf damage at these temperatures.
Observing atmospheric conditions is something gardeners do every day, and some weather features can tell you whether frost or freeze is likely or unlikely. For instance,. Because the cloud blanket prevents the heat that radiates from the earth at night from rising into the atmosphere, thus keeping the Earth's surface warmer. Remember that during the day the earth absorbs heat from the sun, and at night it radiates its heat back into the atmosphere.
The more moisture in the air at night, the less likelihood that frost will occur that night. Commercial farmers often irrigate crops when frost is predicted.
They are, in fact, artificially raising the dew point to decrease the likelihood of frost. I uprooted my Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes from my balcony just before our cold snap in September. Now it's warm again. I picked off the leaves, and hung whole plants upside down to dry indoors. The tomatoes ripen a few at a time making a nice fresh snack.
The tiniest will be too small to fry, but provide bright colour contrast in the arrangement! Perhaps they will make a spooky Halloween decoration for my door! Here in Calais, ME we have had 2 or 3 frosts since late September.
However, no hard frost as yet. It was a terrible year in the garden due to above average rain early on and cool temps all summer I have never taken to fried green tomatoes, but do like green tomato mincemeat etc.. We here on the shores of Oneida Lake have escaped a frost ,while others inland have had one.
The unfrozen lake gives us a bit of insulation since the water holds some warmth. Folklore says if we in LA have fog in August we can expect frost on that same day in October, we had no fog in August so now I'm not sure!
But, usually it is anywhere from mid to late Oct. Our garden has long given up it's bounty except for my sweet potatos and I'm told they need to be harvested when the leaves turn yellow or after the first frost.
Seems they are much sweeter after it has frosted on them, so I shall wait for frost before harvesting them. Our first frost in upstate New York usually comes anywhere from mid-to late September, and it did so last Friday night 18th. Now we can go and pick apples this coming weekend because the frost will have made them even sweeter! I covered my container tomato plants with plastic because I didn't want to harvest all the fruit just yet, since we're having much warmer weather this week but not so much sun.
I make it so that each container becomes its own little greenhouse. I should be able to prolong their season on the vines into October. This year the temp has been at a record level and seems more like August than Sept with Temperatures reaching 28 and 29 celsius. As of the 22 of Sept there has been no frost and no temperatures even close and it looks like there will be no frost until Oct. What a great fall. The first frost in Indiana usually doesn't arrive until mid or late October.
Before that, I snip my herbs, mince them, and put them in plastic containers in the freezer. Rime is a rough white ice deposit which forms on vertical surfaces exposed to the wind. It is formed by supercooled water droplets of fog freezing on contact with a surface it drifts past. Glaze is a clear ice deposit that can be mistaken for a wet surface and can be highly dangerous. What is frost? Also know your backyard. Cold air will drain into local low spots making them colder. The longer the night, the more time the ground has to cool and so the colder it will get.
This is a very important question to ask yourself. A rule of thumb: If the dew point is above 45 degrees at sunset then you are probably OK.
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