Field note · September 2026

First frost and the tomato harvest

Oak Summit Nursery · Southern Manitoba

first frost this morning, sept 12 is about average though it's been a week earlier some years. I collected our tomatoes yeseterday ahead of the cold weather.. note when I could see frost on the grass and took this reading the weather app said we were at 4C (40F), and more uphill areas were 2-3C, a few ft of elevation makes all the difference. most of the plants in the nursery are perennial, so a hard frost might slow them down but otherwise won't affect them.. I maybe should have put the potted figs in the greenhouse will need to check on them. I collected ~100 bags of tomatos last night, not full bags in ranges from a handful to maybe a gallon per plant with my setup and short season, but each bag is a distinct heirloom cultivar. I grow them in isolation from pollinators, and they're mostly a repository of interesting genetics to stock our seed shop. for fun and to experiment, I also have some growing under lights inside now becoming a winter garden. 9 months until we can grow them outside again, last frost is early june in southern Manitoba.