At 5 a.m. I went outside and saw heavy frost on the roof and on the windshield of our Subaru. And this was on top of the ridge; our garden is down below where frost will settle. But our tomatoes were fine because Will and I worked all day yesterday covering our them. A dear friend had given me some larger plastic nursery pots and we had a few others so we used 50 to cover tomatoes. Then I had a bright idea. Gina, a friend of ours, has a greenhouse in Cook and I remembered seeing piles of used pots along their fence.

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I drove in and sure enough, Gina quickly helped me load 50 more pots into the car. (I told her I’d return them today.) When I got home, Will and I finished covering the plants then set a cap of hay on each one as they do have holes and we didn’t want frost seeping inside. We had a little corn and beans up, so I quickly hoed a little dirt over each plant.

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This morning I walked down and uncovered a few tomatoes. They are in perfect shape! Will is uncovering the rest right now as our temperatures are swiftly climbing and no cold nights in the forecast. Whew! — Jackie

7 COMMENTS

  1. Deb,

    It seems like there’s always a challenge (OR MORE) when we homestead. In New Mexico we had grasshoppers like crazy one year but by mowing around the garden and spreading Semispore (sp?) we got a crop. Then there has been hail….and drought….and

  3. Howard,

    Yes, reed canary grass is considered an “invasive species” here too and it makes no sense to us either as in many of our hayfields it grows in low-lying areas. If it was killed out only rough, sharp-edged swamp grass would grow and NOTHING eats that and it’s sure not endangered! On upland it does not grow so it never sprouts in our garden even if we should possibly have a few seeds. We harvest it very early before it even sends out bloom heads, so no seeds.

  4. The tomato plants look great. What a great way to protect them from frost.
    I don’t have a frost problem but we have millions upon millions of cicadas that are killing many branches on blueberry, dogwood, redbud, cherry and maple trees. I wonder how others are dealing with this plague-proportion problem. I have been catching them each day and have fed over 1400 cicadas to the chickens who relish them. I for one will be happy when they die and stop their humming noise. I did not protect my trees and I am paying the price.

  5. I was thinking about you when I saw the forecast! We were safe just south of Duluth but I am always nervous until about the 15th of June. I am glad everything worked out.

  6. Glad everything survived the frost after all your efforts! Thanks for the update on what’s happening with you and Will.

  7. Good going. When we lived in New York we borrowed sap buckets from the farm I worked on’s saphouse to ward off a few late frosts. By the way I meant to include this in my last comment. Alaska considers reed canary grass an invasive species. It makes no sense to me but there you are.

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