DazedandConfused
Veteran Member
Temps dipping down to 30 tonight. Frost warning Got about 35 Tomato,Pepper and Squash plants I need to protect.
Will covering them with straw work ?
Will covering them with straw work ?
Dad always put buckets over tomato and pepper plants. You will have to be out bright and early to get them off before the sun comes up good or they will cook. One of my not fun teenage memories is covering 100 plus plants in the late afternoon and then having to get up earlier than usual to take them off.
I think you will have to put some type of frost covering over the squash, not sure straw will work.
Last week the low was supposed to be 46 and we had a HARD freeze. My little tomato plants survived it. Last night the low was supposed to be 40, I brought them in the house. HARD freeze again. The low tonight is supposed to be 27 --- it will probably be 19. I'm just going to put them out in the sun a little after lunch and bring them in again about 4 pm. Our last frost date is supposed to be May 1st.
Good luck!
Pails, sheets... for 30 degrees, almost anything will work. Straw, piled deeply enough, will work.
We were up in the garden in the dark last night, covering 1500 onion plants. The Reemay was freezing to the ground as we worked, despite a stiff breeze. It got down to 22 degrees (and we had single digit windchills)... I'm seriously afraid I may have lost the onions, and I'm worried that my fruit crop may be gone as well, even though most of my trees are in tight bud stage, if that. I know the sweet cherry, which was in full bloom, is toast :-(
Summerthyme