I looked out the window this morning to see that we had our first hard frost.  Last night I was able to cover everything just in time to protect what I have growing.  This is at the lower end of the temperature spectrum that I can expect protection.  The floating row cover is good to about 27 or 28 degrees-which is just right for what we had.  Any colder and it will be time to add the plastic.  Or, if snow is expected you’ll want to cover with plastic because row cover can’t withstand any accumulation of snow.

Right now is a great time to dry out any leftover grass clipping and to collect bags of leaves.  If you make your own compost you’ll find that leaves and things coming out of your kitchen and yard will make the perfect blended compost for next years gardening needs.  I’ll bag up as many leaves as I can and then cover them with plastic to make sure no moisture gets in to them.  That way when I need to start using them when making compost in the spring I won’t have to work with matted, soggy leaves.  After sitting under plastic for the entire winter the leaves become very brittle and breakdown easily and quickly in the compost bin.  I’ll have to collect about 8 bags of leaves to take me through the next year.

I did learn a very important lesson about composting this year.  At one point in later summer I ran out of compost.  I had some that I was waiting to finish but it was taking a lot longer than I’m used to.  From start to finish I’ve been able to produce a quality compost in 6 weeks.  Seven at the most.  But this particular batch was taking upwards of 10 and it still isn’t that close to being done.  What did I do wrong?  I’ll talk about that in my next post.  Thanks for visiting.[ois skin=”1″]