Recent cold snap

I'm happy to say that my veggies did very well during the recent cold snap here. I think it got to about 26 at the lowest point sometime Thursday morning. I covered them with sheets and such.

I had a few leaves on my 'maters and eggplants that looked pretty bruised, so I snipped those off and I think they'll be ok. I notice I have 3 little broccoli heads forming now!

I have snap beans about ready to pick - actually had to go ahead & pick several that had gotten a bit bigger then I would have liked. I don't know whether I'll have enough for a nice sized potful, but we'll see.

I pulled 4 or 5 nice turnips this morning I think I'll try roasting them in the oven and have them with the beef roast I'm plannning for dinner tonight.

Finally gave up and pulled my first fall planting of radishes. It's the strangest thing - the very first one I pulled a couple of weeks ago was nice sized. I sliced it up into a salad. So I was very hopeful I'd have better luck than I did in the spring with them. But the others just never made radishes - supposed to be about the easiest veggie to grow and I can't seem to do it!

Just thought I'd give a little update! I know several others who still have gardens were having cold snaps - how'd your gardens fare?

Don't know how I ended up with this in the non-sfg section. You can "fix" it if you like, Boffer.

I was happy with how mine fared too! We had three days of frost that just damaged the leaves near the top of my trellis. I only covered the plants the first night, the coldest of the three, and was surprised by the frost the other two mornings. It looks like we'll have a few ripe cucumber this week and still lots of bell peppers and little tomatoes.

I thought my swiss chard that I didn't cover had been hurt, but then realized I just hadn't watered it in days.

I'm feeling blessed to still have a fall garden in December--what about everyone else?

I love gardening in the fall here in the deep south, Debbie! It's more comfortable to be out in the garden with the intense heat of summer. And the bugs haven't been as bad - though I did take the extra precaution of covering with super light insect covers. I don't have to water anywhere near as much, either!

I am definitely going to have a fall garden from now on, if possible!

P.S. Welcome to the forum!!!

I put plastic on all the beds at both mine and my son's houses. We pulled it over and all the way down when it got down to 31 mid week. Sides are raised now.

Son's House - collards, kale, and chard are looking good. Cut broccoli for dinner tonight and the leaves are looking really good. He plans to leave the plants for as long as possible and hope for some side shoot, and start cutting outer leaves for greens now that the main floret has been cut. Lemon and Thai Basil are still holding on and 1 hot pepper plant is blossoming. Some lettuce bolted but the red sails is doing good.

I'll check out my house tomorrow. I left the sides down with a 1 foot opening at the tops when I left home last Wed., but things had already survived the first 2 frosts.



Kay

Kay, Does the plastic you used allow the sunshine in? I checked at Lowes for some, but only found some green colored plastic that didn't look like it would let the sun in. Don't they make clear plastic that can be used for that?

Thanks.

Not to jump in where I wasn't asked, but I think you may be looking in the wrong department, Sherry.

In the paint area or maybe back by all the insulation, you will see contractor's plastic and/or plastic drop cloths. Those usually come in black, white, and clear. They also come in different thicknesses like 1mm, 4mm, and 6mm. Obviously, the thinner, the more light comes through. The thicker, the more durable to wind or random pokes from taking plastic on and off.

Any plastic, or covering, will work for frost protection only. But, if you plan to keep the plastic on during colder days, you need some form of clear plastic for maxx light allowance.

I always welcome your opinions and ideas, BBG. I wondered about the drop cloth kind of plastic, but wasn't sure whether it would be ok. I just thought that if I had to buy plastic for protecting my plants, I might as well get it so the sun could shine through in case I did need to leave it on for a couple of days. We do get some freezing weather that lasts for days at a time here, though certainly not as often as more northern areas.

Yes, I guess I was looking in the wrong place - the garden center! LOL, you'd think that would be the best place to look for plastic to cover plants, but apparently not if you want the sun to be able to reach the plants! I wonder why the folks who make such things for plants don't think of that! Thanks, BBG!

sherryeo wrote:Kay, Does the plastic you used allow the sunshine in? I checked at Lowes for some, but only found some green colored plastic that didn't look like it would let the sun in. Don't they make clear plastic that can be used for that?

Thanks.

Yes, I used the 6mil "clear" plastic from Lowes. It is really milky colored not really clear. Other than being a bit dry because no rain can get in, everything looked really good when I got home. The lettuce seed experiment has 1" plants. Who knows maybe some will last until we get a hard freeze and I'm going to try to delay that with some grow cover fabric under the plastic. Carrots are also about 1" and the garlic has sprouted about6 or 7". It is not covered with plastic, just straw and will probably die back during the hard freeze, but Boffer says the roots will survive and resprout come spring.



Kay

Thanks, Kay. I am debating back and forth about using the clear-ish plastic. It does usually warm up during the day even when we get freezing cold at night, so it probably wouldn't do to leave the plastic on all day. But then it might not be warm enough for me to take the plastic off before I leave for work some mornings.

I just hate that it's dark now by the time I get off work!!! I have to get out in the dark to try to cover the plants! But I love my garden. I guess I shouldn't be complaining.

Sherry - I am having the same problem with my radishes in Tampa, FL! Tried several different plantings and just like you - no radishes!! Planted Cherry Belles - any thoughts suggestions on how I can get this "easy to grow" plant to fill my salad plate would be appreciated:) Thanks!

sherryeo wrote:I'm happy to say that my veggies did very well during the recent cold snap here. I think it got to about 26 at the lowest point sometime Thursday morning. I covered them with sheets and such.

I had a few leaves on my 'maters and eggplants that looked pretty bruised, so I snipped those off and I think they'll be ok. I notice I have 3 little broccoli heads forming now!

I have snap beans about ready to pick - actually had to go ahead & pick several that had gotten a bit bigger then I would have liked. I don't know whether I'll have enough for a nice sized potful, but we'll see.

I pulled 4 or 5 nice turnips this morning I think I'll try roasting them in the oven and have them with the beef roast I'm plannning for dinner tonight.

Finally gave up and pulled my first fall planting of radishes. It's the strangest thing - the very first one I pulled a couple of weeks ago was nice sized. I sliced it up into a salad. So I was very hopeful I'd have better luck than I did in the spring with them. But the others just never made radishes - supposed to be about the easiest veggie to grow and I can't seem to do it!

Just thought I'd give a little update! I know several others who still have gardens were having cold snaps - how'd your gardens fare?

Welcome to the forum, kgreseth! I see where you already got some good advice in another post about radishes. Which is good, because as you can tell from my post here, I certainly haven't mastered growing radishes!

The replies you got in the other thread about radishes may help me, too, so thanks for posting it.

See you around the forum!

Oh! I should have mentioned in my last post - I had to come home after I got off work at 8 p.m. and try to cover my plants as best I could. I probably looked pretty funny trying to pull those covers over the beds with the wind trying its hardest to make them fly away. It's supposed to get down to what would be a record low for this date here - 28 degrees. Brrrr.

I had snap beans almost ready to pick, so I hope they make it. We'll see how things fare, I suppose. It's supposed to be down into the 30s for several days in a row, I think - at least one other night down to freezing.

We had a heat wave yesterday. I think we got up to 32 WHOOT! WHOOT!
Its been brutal cold