‘Tis the season when frost advisories and warnings are beginning to appear in the weather forecast. In this article, we will discuss how to prepare and protect your vegetable garden when cold temperatures head your way!
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Temperature
At what temperature should you begin to take action? Anything near 32°F is when frost is going to occur. Be mindful of temperatures forecasted within a few degrees of freezing, as ground temperature is colder and tender plants can be affected quickly.
Light frost: occurs when the nighttime temperatures drop to, at, or just below 32°F
Hard frost/killing frost: occurs when nighttime temperatures drop to,at, or below 28°F for a prolonged period of time
Give them a blanket
When a light frost is predicted, it is not necessary to pull everything from your garden. Simply cover your susceptible vegetation with a sheet or blanket.
Depending on the sturdiness of your plant, you can drape the covering directly on the plant or use stakes/hoops to prop up the covering.
This will protect the plant from the damaging frost while allowing it to continue to grow when the temperatures go up again.
Covering instead of picking/pulling is especially helpful when you don’t have time to process all the produce at once or for plants that need just a little more time to ripen. In early fall, it is common to have a few frost nights followed by many days of continued growing temperatures.
Utilizing cover- whether a blanket, mulch, hoop tunnel or otherwise can extend your harvest by weeks or even months!
Tomatoes and frost
Special precaution needs to be taken in regards to tomatoes and frost, especially when you plan on canning the tomatoes.
It is recommended that tomatoes not be canned from dead or frost killed vines as their pH can be adversely affected, thus potentially affecting the safety of your recipe.
If you missed a plant or it already has been affected, do not toss it! Freeze the tomatoes or even dehydrate! The tomato is still good, just not for canning.
When frost is predicted, go ahead and pick all of the tomatoes. Any unripened tomatoes can be set in a windowsill to fully ripen.
Have room in your garage and a plant full of unripened tomatoes? Pull the entire plant and hang it up in a protected building. The tomatoes will continue to ripen!
Frost tolerant vegetables
Many vegetables have no issue withstanding frost (some will even hold up during a freeze!) and no special precaution needs to be taken.
These vegetables can tolerate a light frost:
- beets
- parsnip
- lettuce
- chard
- peas
- Chinese cabbage
- endive
- radicchio
- cauliflower
- parsley
- celery
- potatoes
- green onions
- Bibb/leaf lettuce
These vegetables will survive a hard frost:
- sweet onions
- garlic
- leeks
- rhubarb
- rutabaga
- broccoli
- kohlrabi
- kale
- cabbage
- chicory
- Brussels sprouts
- arugula
- fava beans
- mustard
- radish
- turnip
- carrots
*the green tops on some of the root vegetables my be killed by frost but the root itself will remain in good condition.
Fragile vegetables
These vegetables absolutely cannot withstand any frost temperatures and must be protected or picked before the cold comes.
- benas
- cucumbers
- eggplant
- melons
- okra
- peppers
- pumpkins
- squash
- sweet corn
- sweet potatoes
- tomatoes
Over-winter vegetables
Some hardy vegetables are even able to withstand prolonged winter conditions.
As long as these are well mulched or protected in hoop tunnels, greenhouses, cold frames or poly tunnels, you may find yourself harvesting all year long!
- kale
- lettuce
- carrots
- Asian greens
- scallions
- spinach
- arugula
Want more information on growing vegetables in winter? Check out this blog post from Savvy Gardening!
Fall brings seasonable cold but that doesn’t mean gardening ends with the first frost! These tips and tricks can help you extend the life of your garden as well as save those fragile vegetables!
Thank you for stopping by the homestead!
Until next time,
Melissa
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