"Historical" First Frost Date + Pile o' Rocks

So my "historical" first frost date is here. November 14 - no frost. In fact, November 14th has a forecast high temperature of 73^o. Very Indian summer. Again...

A very cool thing I came across last year was the Gardener's Forecast at www.weather.com. It lists the 10 day forecast, chance of precipitation, watering need of plants, wind speed, UV index, and most importantly....frost and freeze risks!

As you can see, no frost forecasted for the next 10 days.









But what a difference a couple days make in this maple tree's colors:


Fall is most certainly here, if not in true temperatures.
















Anyhow.

An update on a project I've been working on. Chris and I decided to save our money and scale back the fence extension until a later date, so we redesigned the side yard this weekend. We sat at the kitchen table, not-to-scale drawing of the back in hand, wine in the other, chatting about what we should grow because we eat a lot of. (PS -- Champagne, I can't do it anymore. It's not you, it's me. I'm moving on. Love shouldn't hurt! Hahahhaa)

Here's the list of edibles. (Of course we'll have tons of native plants and beautiful flowers too!) Stars (*) indicate we currently have the plant, or ordered it this year.

Backyard (North, East, South)
Mandarin trees (3)*
Winter squash
Cucumbers
Blueberry bushes(4)*
Currant bushes(2)*
Sunflowers
Apple tree*
Fruit salad tree*
Peach tree*
Cherry tree*
Kiwi vines (future arbor)
Grape vines (future arbor)
Lemon tree (anchors future arbor, replaces Japanese maple)
Fig tree
More Grape vines*

Sideyard with raised beds (South)
Soybeans
Tomatoes!
Peppers
Salad bits
Summer squash
Garlic
Leeks
Broccoli
Onions
Beans
Carrots
Radishes
Peas
Asparagus(in rock bed!)

Other sideyard (North)
Pomegranate bush*
Pear tree
Grape vines
Corn

Speaking of the future asparagus garden...

That big pile o' rocks I was so happy about...yeah, well I have to move it. Seems that it is the perfect place for a raised bed made from those very rocks. Yes, the black widow condominiums are being torn down in favor of productive land. Talk about a role reversal....now if only that could happen in real life.

Before and after













I fear the bed's outline in front will need to be changed. Ah, screw it. It's dug in already.

And annotated pics for your enjoyment


















And that's the news for now. Goodnight!