Too cold, too early!

This morning when I woke up it was 24º F. Our normal low for this time of year is 40º F. I knew the cold was coming, but it's still a bit of a shock. So is it winter already? It feels and somewhat looks like a winter sunrise...

Nope, there are still some leaves on the trees. Plus the high temp over the next few days will be upper 60's F, with lows ranging from normal (40º F) to 50º F. For those of you who garden in areas of the country with predictable, regular temperatures and weather I envy you.

Nobody except the homeless feels these early below-freezing nights more keenly than gardeners, because it means the instant, overnight death of many plants that we have nurtured for the past half year or so. It also means scrambling to protect plants that we don't want to see die yet.

I'll tell you about my scrambles in tomorrow's post.*** .