Almost a week after the usual frost-free date for the South Fork, I had a hard time believing that what coated the Hook Mill green on Monday morning wasn't dew. But frost it was, and I was glad that I had not gotten around to moving my plants outside.
The date of the first light freeze of the oncoming winter and the last at the beginning of spring are approximations based on climate records. For eastern Long Island, this is sometime around April 15, though the likelihood of variation from year to year is about 30 percent.
Here on the narrow end of the Island between the bays and the ocean, frost or not, the chill lingers longer than elsewhere. Common wisdom says that tomato starts should not be planted in the garden before Memorial Day; I think that is too early. June can be a beast, with heavy rain and cool conditions persisting until the calendar says it is the start of summer.
Planting began for me about the middle of February. After being introduced to dahlias last year by a friend, I was enthusiastic and read up. Somewhere I saw that starting them very early indoors is a good way to get blooms by the middle of the summer. About a dozen healthy dahlia seedlings crowd the space below the south-facing windows, along with parsley, kale, bok choy, and lettuce. Just a single dahlia has sprouted from the tubers I saved from last year — from a richly purple variety that I bought at Marders.
What is funny to me about my seed-starting is that I have no place suitable to plant them. The place where I am staying at Lazy Point is surrounded on all sides by sand. This may be the year I finally turn a narrow strip between the Star parking lot and the Clinton Academy lot into a garden. Growing food there might not be the best; I know for certain that there is a disused fuel oil tank underground. What else might be lurking in the soil remains to be seen.
Ferns, which apparently can mitigate toxins, do well nearby, under a widely spreading cherry tree. Dahlias might survive as well, perhaps fringed by French marigolds with flowers tending toward red. At any rate, it would be interesting to dig around back there. Who knows what I might discover?