So last night we had a frost and my husband got his chance to tell me 'I told you so'. The weather predictions kept saying the low would be 40 degrees F, but fortunately I am a born pessimist. 40 degrees would be fine to leave the babies unprotected if you had some assurance that temps would not go any lower. Planning for the worst, I rushed home from work to cover my baby tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, tomatillas, muskmelon and beans (did not know if they would be sensitive to the frost but I was on a roll). First, I used frost cloth to form a tent over my Armenian cucumbers which was tedious and time consuming. As I was poring over the best solution for the rest of the veggies my husband, kicked back, drinking a beer and watching my shenanigans, suggested covering the plants with pots. My first inclination was to disdain this suggestion because he is, after all, a non-gardener. But I had to admit the idea had merit. I was cold, tired and a glass of wine was calling my name. So I took out all my plastic pots and buckets (I have many) and in 5 minutes flat had all my babies covered with their own black plastic greenhouses.
This morning we woke up to 37 degrees at 8:30 a.m., so who knows how low temps dipped at sunrise. I was nervous. I had visions of all my starts being a mushy, wilted mess, and having to start all over again. So I waited until temps were over 40 to uncover everyone, and......they all looked fine. It absolutely worked. So hopefully we are done with frosts but if not I am good to go with my nursery pots.
Covering baby tomato plants with nursery pots
Not fancy but it worked
Healthy, happy tomato plant the next day
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