First frost, a week early

Woke to white on the shed roof and a skin of ice on the water butt, thin enough to push a finger through. The dahlias are finished: the leaves went black overnight and hang like wet cloth. Last year the first frost did not arrive until the ninth, so this one is early by about a week.

Lifted the tubers before breakfast and left them to dry on newspaper in the porch. The beans came down too; the last handful went into a jar of brine, which is as much ceremony as they get.

Overnight low at the gauge by the fence: minus 1.5. The forecast says it will not repeat for a few days, so the leeks and the late chard stay put under their cloth.