I'm about 15 minutes North of the Orlando area and so far (besides the leaf miners) I'm having a pretty decent harvest. Known to be a weather know-it-all, I know what to expect ahead of time but I have no clue on how to prepare for a freeze for the garden. I live on a lake and the temps tend to be 4 degrees cooler (wind chill factor) than the forecasted temps for my area.
My tomato plants that dropped their leaves are growing back and are growing new leaves and tomatoes. And my grape tomato plant that has been producing insane amounts of grape tomatoes is still going strong, and my pepper plants just started blossoming again as well.
My question is, will covering the tomato/lettuce/strawberry/pepper plants with a thin bed sheet or blanket protect the garden plants from the freeze?
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Francis Barnswallow
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- Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:28 pm
- Location: Orlando
Depending on the amount of cold you have, a sheet should protect your plants from this freeze. If the temperatures don't fall much below 32F, your plants should be fine with the sheet.
A blanket may be too heavy unless you have a good support system, especially on the tomatoes since their growing point is delicate.
Also, you need not cover the lettuce, any of the Brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) and strawberries (unless they have fruit/flowers; the leaves are frost tolerant, but the blossoms are not). All of these plants will be just fine with a light freeze. You can cover them if you want, but definitely make sure the peppers and tomatoes are covered first.
If you don't want to risk having frost damage, I would cover the tender vegetables if the temperature is forecast to be 36F or lower since frost can occur at this air temperature.
Most of my tender vegetables are gone now, but amazingly, the pepper plants I have are only slightly damaged and there have been several light freezes with frost on those nights. They must have a warm spot.
After all this, a light sheet should protect your plants from a very light freeze. Try not to let the sheet touch the leaves though. Also, be sure to remove the sheet before the sun shines on the plants so they don't overheat. If you experience a freeze below 28F or more than a couple of hours, you will most likely need something more suited to cold protection. Even if frost does not get them, the cold can still damage the tender vegetables in a hard freeze.
A blanket may be too heavy unless you have a good support system, especially on the tomatoes since their growing point is delicate.
Also, you need not cover the lettuce, any of the Brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) and strawberries (unless they have fruit/flowers; the leaves are frost tolerant, but the blossoms are not). All of these plants will be just fine with a light freeze. You can cover them if you want, but definitely make sure the peppers and tomatoes are covered first.
If you don't want to risk having frost damage, I would cover the tender vegetables if the temperature is forecast to be 36F or lower since frost can occur at this air temperature.
Most of my tender vegetables are gone now, but amazingly, the pepper plants I have are only slightly damaged and there have been several light freezes with frost on those nights. They must have a warm spot.
After all this, a light sheet should protect your plants from a very light freeze. Try not to let the sheet touch the leaves though. Also, be sure to remove the sheet before the sun shines on the plants so they don't overheat. If you experience a freeze below 28F or more than a couple of hours, you will most likely need something more suited to cold protection. Even if frost does not get them, the cold can still damage the tender vegetables in a hard freeze.
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Francis Barnswallow
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 696
- Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:28 pm
- Location: Orlando
