No more frosts? Plants are safe.

In spite of, or because of my prediction that the last frost date in my part of Delaware is from April 22nd to 26th, there were a few close calls that week for my already planted vegetables and herbs. On the 26th the temperature dipped to 38F, and the weather reports had actually threatened lower. Clever placement of the garden against the stone wall side of my house (actually, it is the only spot where the garden can fit), ensures that the wall, heated by the sun in the daytime, protects the plants by releasing heat through the night.

We had a close call (for the plants) even further back, on April 5th, when we had a freak snowstorm around 8 in the morning. My car showed the external temperature drop 5 degrees in minutes and I was in the middle of an instant snowy blizzard, with my car windows covered in snow. It was an inch of snow in a half hour. The blue circle indicates the dramatic dip in the temperature recorded by official instruments (from a Wilmington weather station) at 8:30 or so. For the rest of the day it alternately snowed or was brilliantly sunny.






tags: frost, gardening, Delaware