We’ve had frost 2 nights in a row. It got down to 29°F Wednesday evening, and 28°F Thursday night. That marks the end of most of the garden. Some of the hoophouse plants were damaged, probably because we don’t have the sides securely attached yet. I picked all the remaining peppers yesterday and over this weekend will pull all the warm season plants, then sow spinach to overwinter.
Also on the agenda this weekend is closing up the hoophouse. Earlier this season we finally made roll-up sides for the hoophouse, making it cooler in there for summer crops. End result? I got a nice crop of peppers, and my first ever melons, and the earliest cucumbers I’ve ever grown. 
I finally bought some wiggle wire yesterday, and we will install that over the long weekend. The wiggle wire will allow us to securely close the sides for the winter, but then easily open them again in the spring. We also need to repair the plastic that blew out during Hurricane Irene. This was not UV stable greenhouse plastic, but rather some bits and pieces left over from other projects such as the hens’ snowdome. This time we’ll use greenhouse plastic, or maybe some plexiglass. I have an idea…. haven’t got it completely figured out yet, though.
The wiggle wire was expensive! Fortunately, I expect it will have a long life and be reuseable, but eight 6 ft. pieces came to over $80 bucks. That pushes the cost of the hoophouse up considerably. At least I was able to drive to the supplier and pick it up, as the shipping cost was astronomical. The weather forecast calls for warm sunny days this weekend, perfect for installing the wigglewire. The heat will make the 
plastic more flexible and I hope easier to work with during the install. We’ll see.
While driving to the greenhouse supplier, I came across a gorgeous farm, Intervale Farm, with a beautiful display of pumpkins and squash. I had to stop. They had a huge selection of squases and pumpkins, beautifully displayed, including some on my list of squashes to try: Tetsubuko, Lady Godiva, Confection, and Burgess Buttercup. Unfortunately, I didn’t hae much cash on me, so only those four and a pumpkin came home with me. But I could have brought home a carload!
This year I grew Johnny’s Honey Bear, so a squash smackdown is in the future. Stay tuned….
