Freezing Temperatures

Today was cold!!!! The weather is calling for temperatures in the mid-thirties tonight and so we spent the day covering all of the cukes and zukes that were planted out last week. The tomatoes peppers and eggplants were covered earlier in the week before another evening of projected frost.

We have never planted the above mentioned crops this early. Other years there has always been a multitude of reasons that we waited until we were not threatened by frost. Either the plants were not ready, the plastic was not laid, or we did not have enough floating row covers to ensure protection if the temperatures dipped towards freezing.

We bought hundreds of high tensile wire hoops to create mini-greenhouse conditions for the plants. The hoops keep the floating row cover from touching the plants (very abrasive on a windy day) as well as allows any frost to settle on the cover and not get through to the plants. We are hoping for the added benefit of reduced wind on our young plants.

The spring winds on our farm are enough to make you batty, on the days that it blows it is relentless, lifting plastic just laid, flying row covers into the trees, and wind whipping young plants; both dehydrating them and bending there often fragile leaves and stems. It will be interesting to see how the plants respond to them as well as how they respond to our field conditions...time will tell.