The Three Chilly Saints came late this year. Usually the last dip of cold weather comes around the 11th-13th of May. Last year, it never came at all, we had a heavenly warm spring. This year, our temperatures dipped to the low thirties on the 20th-22nd of May. Very late.
I had not yet planted my melons, peppers, squash and tomatoes in the garden. As soil temps prior to the dip had already hit 50 degrees where I live, planting out around May 15th would have been fine for the roots. Water uptake would not have been hindered. While not a killing frost, an air temperature of 34 degrees will give the tender tissue of plant leaves a bit of a nip.
I am not sure I would have had enough blankets to cover all the plants scattered about my many little gardens. I’m glad all the plant babies were in two spots and I had a blanket large enough to cover the batch on the deck. The other batch, melons and squash, went back into the greenhouse for the weekend. Depending on the heat the greenhouse generated during the day, the greenhouse can easily stay 5-10 degrees warmer than the outside air overnight, during darkness.
So I watered all the plants very well, covered the big batch, utilized the greenhouse and hoped for the best for the rest.
As most gardeners, running out to the garden to check the damage was the first task of the day. While most warm weather plants hadn’t been transplanted yet, I had gone ahead and created some pretty planters and settled other flowers into their final spots for the season.
My tropical brugmansia? No damage from frost, just some leftover leave shedding from the wind we had in previous days. *whew*
Only one plant had frost damage.
~The End~