After the Freeze…

The first hard frost of the season always brings mixed feelings for me. On one hand, I’m relieved to finally have a reason to uproot the leggy tomatoes and sad-looking squash. On the other hand, I feel the pressure to get everything looking as nice as possible again.

When I start working in my frost-damaged garden, I usually follow this order:

1. Harvest any remaining produce on the plants.

2. Pull up all dead and destroyed plants.

3. Pull weeds and tidy up the existing beds.

Once I finish all that, I typically transplant any last-second fall plants, then mulch and water. It can seem daunting to clean up the garden, but we can usually get it back into shape within a week—and then we don’t really have to worry too much about it until it’s time to expand for the spring garden.