Patchy frost after midnight

After a cold, rainy day more reminiscent of March than May, we here in Chicago are threatened with "patchy frost after midnight", mostly the western suburbs. After an obsessive scouring of all weather-related media, I am reasonably sure my garden will be safe from ice. However, with many of my annuals in the ground already, I'm not taking any chances. Late afternoon found me scrambling around the house for old sheets to cover up all the plants that I couldn't bring into the basement for the night.

I wasn't sure what to do about the worm bins, which left the sheltered confines of my basement a few weeks back. They are sitting up against the side of the house, and they are a pain to move: heavy and drippy with wormy compost juice. I found a website attesting to the general hardiness of redworms, so I'm going to take my chances and let them stay outside. It probably wouldn't hurt for my worms to take a hit, anyway. A little natural selection may be in order, given the general explosion in the population in the past month.

As I was fussing over the strawberries and potted tomatoes, I noticed that my second round of French breakfast radishes were ready for harvest. With chilled fingers, I yanked them up on the way inside to the kitchen. I planted some seed from Renee's and some from Pinetree. The Renee's radishes, elongated and relatively slim, are what I have come to expect for the variety. The Pinetree seeds came up globe-shaped, even though they were billed as French breakfast. What gives? They taste similar, though. Tonight for dinner, we will have radishes, butter and salt on baguette, followed by chicken with tarragon and a salad of spinach and mizuna. Each dish has a homegrown component! So it must be late Spring, no matter what the weather feels like.