Unexpected frost got all my plants except a few herb that look bad but

[ducks4you]

STUPID WEATHER!!!

 

[dipence71]

tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, broccoli,

I really sorry! I had heard that it was going down to 38 degrees F Saturday night.
I'll bet that your tomatoes and peppers are goners, but the cauliflower and broccoli oughtta do ok, because they are cool weather crops.
In an earlier post I mentioned watching Illinois gardener, where they suggested that you tack on 2 weeks beyond your last average frost date before putting outside any warm weather crops. AND, I even remember a Memorial Day that flirted with 35 degrees F for a low!!! At least you can pick up some more plants! I'm transplanting MY tomato seedlings now to bigger pots, that are going to live on the enclosed, windowed porch while I'm on vacation the latter half of May. I'll put all tomatoes (and tobacco plants!!) in the ground in June, when I'm back. They just cannot handle chills.

BTW, WHERE in Central Illinois are you? I live 22 miles SSE of Urbana.

I live about 50 mi SW of Springfield....

 

[simple life]

We had the frost warnings for the last two nights but nothing much seem to come of it the first night but last night they predicted it to be much worse.
I went out and covered everything in my vegetable and perennial gardens and all the newly planted trees just to be on the safe side.
I had no idea what would be affected by it and what would not so I just covered everything.
It was a huge amount of work to cover it all but it was worth it, thankfully my family helped me out but I do not want to do it again.
Sorry to hear of your garden, its certainly a bummer.
I think we are all just itching to get going on the gardening after a long cold winter and the frost is trying to put us back in our places.
Keeping my fingers crossed for all of us that this is the last frost and we get some beautiful spring weather.

 

[ducks4you]

OF COURSE, I get an email with THIS article too late to help anybody!!!
Who are the Three Ice Men?
http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/2010/05/10/who-are-the-three-ice-men/

 

[digitS']

You can tie these frost dates to the calendar but Europe is a big place and North America is too. Imagine gardeners in Florida waiting until after May 13th. Imagine gardeners in Wyoming planting their tomatoes on May 14th .

Warsaw, Poland lies at 52 north latitude. It is as far north as Saskatoon! Can we use latitude to determine a last frost date from Europe to North America? . . . of course not.

I know that "normal" doesn't quite seem like the right word for most of us this year. Still, this link from the US Weather Service: Freeze/Frost tables may be helpful. You can just use the middle of the middle to have an idea of where half of the dates for 32 fall. Notice that it is about a month between 10% and 90% for many places. Twenty years out of 100 have fallen outside of that.

Look at your local forecasts and decide how close you want to chance it. Life is risky and some folks need more confidence than others. Me? Have extra plants if replacement is necessary! You may be surprised how timid I'd be otherwise .

Steve
who, at least, has more confidence in a solar calendar than a lunar one . . .

 

[ducks4you]

TOO TRUE!!