I realize lots of gardeners had it tougher than us. Sunday night got down to about 30 for a couple hours, but last night, Monday 16 March, it froze by midnight and stayed in the upper 20's until about an hour ago (8 a.m. Tuesdeay, right now.)
Our 50% last frost date according to Farmer's Almanac is next weekend, 22 March. I'm ready for this false spring nonsense to be over and would really, really like to plant out my cucumber starts, as well as the eggplant and okra. The peppers are ready too.
This year I moved 6 experimental "Early Bird" tomatoes outside in middle-February, with the understanding that I would wheel them into the garage on cold nights. They are in 10-gallon grow bags, so it it is "doable"but still kind of a hassle. Now, the plants are too large for me to be able to handle them, so I've had to protect them in place. Used big cardboard boxes, frost cloth, burlap coffee sacks. Shown above, first photo.
Others showing the rosemary against the back fence and the tomatoes under buckets. The rosemary is frost hardy, Arp and Alcade, but I still prefer to cover it loosely.
Maybe this will be the last time for all this. Hope so! NE Texas.
by NPKzone8a
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I also cover the front yard rosemary loosely, burlap coffee bags below and frost cloth around the upper outside, but I let the garlic fend for itself. (Hardneck, Amish Rocambole.)
https://preview.redd.it/z56h8nzl4mpg1.jpeg?width=698&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5b5c93219a998690d972fcaf9fef9ce4f0b0ec2
10 a.m. Tuesday, 17 March. Most of the main-season tomatoes looked like this one when I removed the buckets. It’s pretty clear to me that they didn’t offer enough protection under the circumstances. The plants had been buffeted by cold winds (not freezing) for a couple hours before I covered them.
Fortunately I have spare seedlings with which to replace the casualties. Still, it’s an unwelcome setback, and another of those “learning the hard way” situations. It reached 27 F, well below the mild frost we had the night before.
https://preview.redd.it/h2ndcvmoompg1.jpeg?width=1020&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b8a469dcb1411f1d2b112e25bfbb0accc2b3d93