Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Last Frost-- right on time, greens from the garden, and an orchid!

The estimated last frost for around here (Taunton, MA is the actual weather station, about 10 miles away) is May 15th. Despite the 'global weirdness' of the weather,  that date was accurate this year.
There was light frost damage on my potatoes this morning ( annoying, but not serious, and I know from past experience that they will grow past it).
What is annoying is that frost was not predicted last night, but the night before, when I dutifully covered the potatoes with straw, which I took off... then this happened:


This proves that nature has a nasty streak.  Only two of my five plantings of pots had damage.  The others were protected enough by nearby fences or shrubs to avoid the sharpest cold. I hilled up and mulched the undamaged blue potato plants, and Sol promptly decided to sit on them. That should keep them warm, at least:


 I picked a good harvest of greens this morning: arugula, lettuce, spinach, and my first radishes:




I also took Sol for a long walk in the woods today. I love watching the seasons change in the woods as much as in my garden, and over the years of dog walking in many local woodlands I have learned where and when many wildflowers bloom.  Today I was looking for ladyslipper orchids. I found many orchids, but they were all just beginning to uncurl their buds.  Then, at the very end of the walk, I saw this outlier in full glorious bloom:


It made me happy. I'll go back there next week to see the rest of the orchids flower.