We just had a late season cold snap and heavy frost, like much of the rest of the country. Fortunately, we didn’t have any snow or other precipitation like other areas, and it only got down to 29–many plants can tolerate temperatures down to 28, even though they don’t like it that cold.
So, last night my husband and I scurried around to cover as much as we could to protect it from the frost/cold. Fortunately, I am still growing our more tender summer vegetables in trays, so I simply moved them, and my potted flowers into the garage. Here’s how we protected the rest:
I wrapped my fig trees in beach towels and set an upside down trash can over them. They probably would have been okay uncovered since they are planted against a south facing masonry wall, but I didn’t want to take the chance. Strawberry plants can tolerate the cold–ours stay green through the winter. I left the ferns on the porch because they were protected from the frost, and were up against the brick walls.I have wee tiny basil plants in this pot and they haven’t liked the cooler weather that we’ve had recently. Hopefully, it will warm up and they’ll be happier soon. The rest of the herbs in this garden survived the winter, so I wasn’t concerned about them.My other basil plants. They are a little taller so I was especially keen to protect them. I didn’t worry about the lettuce or arugula because I have grown some through the winter. Anything that is considered a spring crop can take the kind of cold we experienced last night.I have two baby Butterstick squash plants in this tank. I set the cinder block holes over each one, and then covered with a sheet and used two more cinder blocks to secure the sheet. It was really windy last night while we were doing this.The perennial bed on the north side of the house. I have stakes in this garden for candle holders. These served nicely as supports for the sheets so that they didn’t lay on the plants. You should always use fabric to cover your plants, never plastic sheeting, and you should try to keep the fabric off the plants’ leaves so the frost doesn’t land on the sheet, and then on through to the plants’ leaves. The plants that aren’t covered are Lenten Rose because they can handle the cold/frost.This is the cutting garden and I used the plant supports and the frame for the sheets. My husband has some little tiny clamps that I used to secure the sheet to the plant supports. I couldn’t cover the rest, so I hope that they will be okay….We removed these wall baskets from the wall and put them back to back and set them in a large trug tub that kept them upright. I will hang them back up as soon as it warms up.
I really hope that this is the last cold snap of the spring–our normal frost free date is 4/11, so this is a really late one.
Cathy At Home on the River 
I will have to look outside to see if my plants survived.
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