What you do when the first frost of fall arrives tells us a lot about how you garden

What you do when the first frost of fall arrives tells us a lot about how you garden.

Here are five predictable responses to a first frost and what they tell us about you as a gardener.

Do you panic?

When frost beckons for the first time in the fall, some gardeners panic. They run around grabbing sheets off their beds and shower curtains out of the bathrooms to drape over flowers, the vegetable garden, and anything else they think might be saved from the chilling temperatures. They are begging for more time. Another week or two? These same gardeners can often also be found shopping for gifts on Christmas Eve. Their denial of the end of the gardening season may require professional help!

Do you party?

On the complete opposite side of the garden from those who panic, are those gardeners for whom the arrival of frost means they can drop their hoe without remorse and start their off-season party. They head straight inside to forget about the garden until sometime in the spring, when they are sure there won’t be any late frosts. Their rallying call is, “No more gardening to be done until spring!” Let the off-season partying begin. They are part of the “pack it in crowd,” who, quite frankly, are missing out on one of the best seasons for planting and gardening. These people are generally not really gardeners.

Do you plan?

Our planners are ready for that first frost, and have no doubt made a list of all the gardening they plan to do once the frost arrives. For them, that first frost is like a starter’s pistol going off. Now they can start planting the bulbs for spring flowers they ordered earlier in the summer. They can head straight to the garden center while there is still frost on the pumpkin to once again start buying trees and shrubs for fall planting, often at reduced prices. They start digging new planting beds for spring. They are ready with a plan! They’ve planned for this season in the garden for months!

Do you pretend?

Some gardeners like to pretend the first fall frost didn’t happen. They try to ignore it and continue going along as though that first frost won’t be followed by a second frost, a third frost, and eventually, a hard freeze. They want to pretend there is still time, that the growing season isn’t ending. They’ll claim the first frost was not really all that bad, so there’s still time for summer gardening. They may still have some annuals or other summer season plants that they haven’t quite gotten around to planting out. They probably have some seeds they had hoped to sow. They are a lot like those who panic, but they won’t ever show it. They want to appear like a duck gliding smoothly across a pond, hiding its furious paddling beneath the surface.

Do you pause and ponder?

Our final group of gardeners like to pause and ponder once the frost arrives. They expected the frost and may even welcome the frost. They take it in stride as they clean up the vegetable garden. When raking leaves, they pause to reflect on the gardening season. Was it good? Bad? What will they do different next year? They may have a small to-do list, but they are in no great hurry like those who plan. They simply enjoy fall and take the change of season in stride as they rake, mow, maybe do a bit of garden clean up, with plenty of pauses to take in the beauty of the season.

What do you do when that first frost is predicted? Is that how you’d like to respond? If not, adjust accordingly, while there is still time.

Note: I have not yet had a frost on my garden this season and don’t see one happening for quite a while, if the weather forecast is correct. I took that picture in 2007.

(Also posted on Substack.)