October 10, 2020.
The first frost on average in Edmonton is sometime around
September 24. This year we saw temperatures dip to 0 degrees C a few nights
ago, but we still have not had a hard killing frost in south Edmonton. The last frost of 2020 was May 7. One hundred years ago the average last frost was May 27 and the first was September 6. There has been quite an expansion of frost free days in Edmonton. The source for this information is Edmonton Weather Nerdery thank-you very much.
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| Pumpkins and Heart of Gold squash |
We still have kale, carrots, parsnips, swiss chard, parsley, sage, mint and rosemary growing. Today, we finished harvesting all squashes, and found a few small zucchini hidden under wilting leaves. This was a good year for winter and summer squash.
We harvested 5 Jack O’Lantern pumpkins, 7 Acorn and 5
Heart of Gold squash. Since mid July, we have harvested zucchini, which is a summer squash, non-stop - from 6 plants. We started all of our squash plants in pots from seeds in late March. They
were grown under lights in the basement. Squash plants need warm temperatures.
Leaves will die when temperatures approach freezing. After we planted them out in mid May, we were on guard for cold temperatures, and one night we covered them. We also covered them on nights in October if temperatures threatened to hover around freezing.
Today we pulled up a few beets and small onions that still
remained in the garden. A red pepper, cherry tomato and basil plant in pots survive in the unheated greenhouse.
In mid September, we planted our favourite and easiest crop – garlic. Each year we plant more and more, this year about 225 cloves in 2 8x4 raised beds and 1 4x4 raised bed. See how we grow this great crop here.