Those Cold Fall Nights

Sheets covering frost sensitive plants.

There is nothing better than wrapping up in a blanket on a cold cold night. 

Tonight we are having an overnight low of 32 or 33 degrees.  We still have cold sensitive plants like tomatoes, tomatillos, squash and peppers.  We still hope to harvest more from them before winter sets in.  While they may make it through the night, if they do get cold enough they will be done for.

So we loosely wrap our plants up to keep them from freezing.  This method only works with light to moderate freezes.  Really hard freezes are hard to avoid even with this method.  We wrap up the plants in old sheets, the ones we keep around for painting and for this exact reason.  Sheets work well because they are lightweight.  If you had some stakes or supports you could use blankets if you had them.

Pillow Case covering a small Pepper Plant

We cover each plant or groups of plants, trying to cover them down to the ground.  This works well to keep the freeze back.  Keeping in the heat some while keeping the wind down and frost at bay.

It is important to remove the covers in the morning so the plants and ground can be warmed by the sun.  We have made the mistake in the past of not uncovering them leading to the plants freezing the next night.  Also the other issue can arise if the sheets are damp, they are less effective.  We hang our sheets off of the swing set to dry out during the day.