Showing posts with label sheets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sheets. Show all posts

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Frost Damage Report

Passion Flower Frost Damage
On Monday the low was 49 degrees, Tuesday's low was 38 and on Wednesday the low was 35 degrees. Not too scary for a Northern Girl. I was very close to not really covering anything at all, but boy, am I glad that I did! Look at the poor passion flower! This is the first frost that the passion flower has felt and it did suffer some damage but it was minimal overall and the vine will have no trouble bouncing back as it warms up this weekend. We didn't cover it all, so I'm pretty pleased with how it held up.
Marigold Frost Damage
 I thought for sure that the marigolds would hold their own against the frosty temperatures, but alas, they show signs of serious freezer burn. All of the green foliage has turned a dark green/black color and the flower heads are all shriveled and wilted. I'd be very surprised if these bounce back, since they took a pretty heavy hit. Oddly, all of the marigolds have the same frost damage whether they were covered or not.
Marigold Frost Damage

 Tomato Frost Damage



 The tomatoes held up better than I expected. I mean, we're growing tomatoes in JANUARY, for crying out loud!  The parts that were exposed to the air had the typical frost damage with wilted leaves and stems. But the hubby did a great job of covering mostly everything so there are only a few sections affected.  I took a peek under the sheets and the main parts of the plants all look great. I think the Christmas lights helped out, I really do. Some parts of the tomato plants that were covered with only the sheet had some damage,  but every section covered by both lights and sheets was perfect!  Yeah! Christmas lights saved the day!
Ruby survived the frost just fine but the green grass did not.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Frosty Florida

Oh No! There are rumors of a frost heading this way. Never before have I had to contemplate frost proofing a fully fruiting vegetable garden. Maybe Dad would cover a few young starts if there was a late frost in New York, but not a garden in full bloom. I'm thankful that the raised beds aren't that big otherwise I'd just have to call it quits right now, practice a little survival of the fittest.  Two weeks ago we broke a heat record with 85 degrees. Tonight, hard frost. What a roller coaster!

Wanna see how 5 sheets, 2 clamps and 5 sets of net Christmas lights will keep my tomatoes frost free?

Let's take a look:


All small pots go into the larger raised bed then draped with lights

More little pots go into the other raised bed and more lights are draped over everything

Ohhh! So Pretty!


Throw some sheets on top to keep the little bit of heat in.
All set for the frost!