Expecting a freeze tonight...what has to be coverd???????????

[mothergoose]

OK...I know it is my own fault for planting early in unseasonable weather...but I could'nt help it! Now, they are saying anywhere from 28 to 32 from 1am till 8am Friday. We have radish, lettuce, turnips, kholirabi, spinach, potatoes all up and doing great. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussle sprouts plants in, still have cans on them.
Our strawberries are in full bloom, rhubarb and horseradish and lots of herbs are all up real good. Will all of that have to be coverd?
How about flowers? hollyhocks, columbines, bleeding hearts, iris', lilies, lots of other perenials.

Everything looks so good right now, I want to be sure I cover the things that will not tollerate these temps.

Thanks for your help,
Christie

 

[smileyfacecat]

According to the page in my Southern Exposure Seed Catalog, referencing Cold Season Gardening (pg 87):
(Key for the following items ~ Type - the lowest degree the plant can handle)
Broccoli - 28*F, Leaves may be able to handle 15*F, but heads are more sensitive.
Cabbage - 20*-25*F, If damaged by frost, peel off affected leaves
Cauliflower - 32*F, Leaves may be able to handle 15*F, but heads are more sensitive.
Spinach - 5*-10* (If Long Standing Bloomsdale, or Winter Bloomsdale), small leaves can handle down until 5*, and Large leaves until 10*
Kohlrabi - 20*F (?), requires further experimentation
Lettuce - varies, so I would cover it if I were you
Radishes - 20* for the roots, and 16* for the leaves

Sorry i don't have any more information. However, I can say that my turnips, beets, strawberries, and radishes have made it through a few frosts now with little (strawberries wilted a little, but will recover), to no damage. Good Luck!

 

[catjac1975]

OK...I know it is my own fault for planting early in unseasonable weather...but I could'nt help it! Now, they are saying anywhere from 28 to 32 from 1am till 8am Friday. We have radish, lettuce, turnips, kholirabi, spinach, potatoes all up and doing great. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussle sprouts plants in, still have cans on them.
Our strawberries are in full bloom, rhubarb and horseradish and lots of herbs are all up real good. Will all of that have to be coverd?
How about flowers? hollyhocks, columbines, bleeding hearts, iris', lilies, lots of other perenials.

Everything looks so good right now, I want to be sure I cover the things that will not tollerate these temps.

Thanks for your help,
Christie

Flowers should be fine. Lettuce and the plants in the broccoli family should be covered. One thing you can also do. Get up early and go out and hose down the plants you are most worried about. The plants get damaged when the sun hits the ice on the plant and burns the plant tissue. Water will melt the frost and save the plants. If you are really loyal you could water them down every couple hours over night. That will keep the plants from freezing. I am technically in zone 6 but, call myself zone 5 because of the low temps we often get , although not this year. I would not have the broccoli plants out now without a covering of some sort.

 

[curly_kate]

I wouldn't worry about anything that you have in the ground now. It's not a super-hard freeze predicted, so what you have in should be hardy enough to make it.

 

[lesa]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about those too much. Some of my plants/flowers came up in our freak warm spell... I can see some are a little frost burned on their tips- but they will be fine, when the weather warms up again...All your veggies are cool weather crops so they should be fine. Here's hoping the weatherman is wrong...

 

[kathiesgarden]

Hi,
Thanks for the good info. We are also expecting a freeze tonight in Eastern Washington. I put plastic covers on all my flats in the greenhouse and will hope for the best!! I mostly have flowers (zinnias, calibrachoa, zinnias, etc.) which are going to go into my baskets and pots eventually. I may have moved them into the greenhouse too early. Spring just doesn't want to come yet, but I'm ready whenever it is.
Kathie

 

[mothergoose]

Thank you all so much for all your advice. You would have had a chuckle watching all of us out in the dark last night fighting the wind and cold trying to cover all my precious plants. We covered alot, but some just had to tough it out. Last I checked at 1 am it was 37...I did'nt wake up again until 6:30 and it was 33. Hopefully it was'nt freezing too long. We did get a frost, but so far everything that was not covered looks ok. I am now heading out to uncover everything and put everything away. Only expecting a low of 34 tonight...hope it does'nt get that low....I miss 80!

Thanks again,
Christie

 

[digitS']

Would you like to know what the current temperature is at any weather station anywhere in North America?

You will start in southern California. Just use the "Quick Zoom" box at the top of the map and go all the way to the bottom of the drop-down to "North America."

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/gmap/index.php

Candadian, Mexican, even Caribbean stations are included. It is just a matter of dragging the map around and waiting a moment for the data to load.

Altho' it is 27F here this morning (& very foggy!), it is a minus 31 at the Eureka weather station, North West Territories, Canada.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

The tops of my potatoes got frosted last Friday morning, but not all of them. I think they'll recover. I threw a black, rubber, horse watering bowl I had close by, on top of my new azalea bush, just to be safe. Easy to cover, easy to remove. If you have any painter's cloths or, like me, you save old, vinyl shower curtains for drop cloths, you can cover with those, too. Also, sheets and old curtains are great covers. Secure these with some rocks or bricks. My spinach, lettuce, radishes, asparagus--even the geranium I had transplanted between a blackberry bush and my new asparagus bed did not get hit. However, it's right next to the garage. Plants in beds adjacent to buildings can get a little heat from them and avoid a frost that way, too.
WHEN IN DOUBT COVER.