Oiy!! Been 80's for almost the last 2 months..now freezing

[Francis Barnswallow]

It's been a warmer, no hotter than normal winter in my area. So I figured the really cold snaps were over and I went and planted tomato, lettuce, pepper and cucumber seeds 2 weeks ago in the garden...not in pots.

All are growing nicely but the big Man upstairs decided to send a strong cold front my way with below freezing temps.

How do I protect the seedlings from the freeze? Or am I outta luck?

[runfox]

Did the seeds come up out of the ground? I'm just north of you in Deltona, We had the one freeze a week or so ago but I think we will be good from now on. I just set my garden up , getting plants and seeds in the ground too. If the shoots came up out of the ground, before the freeze, only time will tell if the live. But its early yet, so worst case you replant and your have a good start. Normally we wouldn't start planting till late Feb or March.
If we have another freeze and you have green shoots coming up, cover with mulch and plastic, I would think.

[rainbowgardener]

It's odd to be planting lettuce at the same time as tomato pepper and cucumber. Lettuce is cold weather crop. It will be fine, but may not last long later, if your weather warms up quickly. That will lead your lettuce to bolt and go to seed early. Tomatoes and peppers are warm weather crops. If the tomatoes and peppers are sprouted they are likely goners, though you can try putting hot caps over them. Cucumber is the warmest of warm weather crop and it was not going to do anything anyway. Cucumber seeds in the ground will not germinate until the soil temperature is well warmed up, over 70 degrees preferably 75 (doesn't matter what the air temp is, if the soil isn't warmed up they won't germinate).

Successful gardeners need to pay a little more attention to the individual requirements of different plants.

[jal_ut]

Cover them. Here are some ideas.

Use a bucket, hot cap, wall-o-water, or tarp. There is a way to fold a hot cap from a sheet of newspaper. You can get some 2 mil painters drop tarps and put some pots or buckets by the plants to hold the plastic up above the plants, then throw dirt on the edges to hold it down.

You didn't say how many plants nor how big of an area. If you can cover them there will be enough heat from the ground to keep them from freezing unless the temp gets real low.

[Francis Barnswallow]

It's an 8' by 4' raised garden. I covered the garden with an old sheet and placed 3 big spotlights inside with the seedlings. It felt warm inside the sheet when I checked it before I went to bed last night. So far so good. Tonight will be the coldest so we'll see.

[tc_31_fillAmenist]

It's an 8' by 4' raised garden. I covered the garden with an old sheet and placed 3 big spotlights inside with the seedlings. ...

I think you'll be fine doing exactly what you did last night. That's pretty much what I did the first part of January when it hit 32F at the airport(a little colder here).

I had tarp though so that's mostly what I used.

I watered thoroughly, set a few jugs/buckets of water around the plants and used tarp, blankets, buckets etc. to cover. They were fine.

A few potatoes that had just come up I just buried with nice dry lightweight Live Oak leaves. Blew them off the next day and they were fine.

Some tomatoes that I had in big pots. I lugged them inside so of course they were fine.

I watched a volunteer tomato pull though it undamaged with no protection. I suspect it watched back and laughed at my frantic efforts.

I don't feel like covering this time so will gamble. At least I have less to lose than [url=https://veggiesofvero.com/index.htm]these people.[/url] I may start checking their [url=https://veggiesofvero.com/index_files/VOVFarmNews.htm]Farm News[/url] to get an idea what I "should" have planted... or should be harvesting.

[jal_ut]

I predict your plants will be fine. Adding a little extra heat is a nice touch.

[Francis Barnswallow]

They look good. Plus we have a warm up (back to the 80's) in a few days, then 70's for awhile.

Thanks for the tips yall.

[jal_ut]

Good report.

Here I am with an inch of fresh snow this morning. Its still about 6 to 7 weeks before I can get to planting.

[tc_31_fillAmenist]

I "think" it hit 39F at the airport but only 41F in my yard. It's usually the other way around. Either way, I lucked out.

I miss the snow jal_ut. The first one anyway.