Monday night freeze

The freeze last night got southwestern Michigan as well as the Chicago area away from the city proper. Mick Klug, who sells fruit at Lincoln Square, Green City and Lincoln Park along with other markets, told me this morning that it hit 27 degrees at his farm in Berrien County and that his field help told him this morning that the raspberries were frozen solid. It is pretty clear that the selection at farmers markets will be decreasing rapidly this week.

Some of the outlying Illinois areas had moderate frost over the weekend with heavier frost Monday night.

A side effect is that a freeze improves the flavor of kale, Brussels sprouts and parsnips.

My tomato plants. which are still kicking butt and producing tons of fruit, seemed to weather the freeze quite well here ion the Northwest side.

I live in South Bend and they had a story about the apples being pretty worthless this year. I think the story was at http://www.wndu.com

It was chilly last night.

Strangely, my tomatillos gave up the ghost about two weeks ago when we had a 40-degree snap. My tomatoes wilted Sunday night. My peppers, surprisingly, kept up pretty good (I haven't seen what last night did yet).

My garden in Lincoln Square showed no cold damage even in the basil, eggplant and coleus, so the temperature didn't go down as far as 34 in this part of the city. Unfortunately, very few (but more than zero)growers selling at farmers markets are located in Chicago, and these few are likely the only ones not hit by frost.

Our tomatillos have looked pathetic for a couple of weeks but are still producing in spite of the miserable condition of their foliage. I think Joel's and our problems with the tomatillos may be a combination of cool temperatures and shorter days. My recollection is that they poop out even without frost.