Possible lite frost.

[flyin-lowe]

First off I am a newbie to gardening (2nd year) so still learning the ropes.
A couple weeks ago we were in the middle of a warm spell and when I checked the extended forecast they were calling for warmer then average temps. Coaching baseball and work have a lot of my time this spring so I decided to put my garden out a little earlier then I should have. This week we had a cold front sit on top of us with temps in the 40's and we got over 4 inches of rain.

So far everything I have out looks good except for a couple of jalapeno plants I have out (I have since read they need a little warmer weather) but oh well I only have four of them. So far I have potatoes that are about 6 inches tall, strawberries that are a couple inches tall, tomato plants that are about 4-5 inches (no buds yet) peppers, broccoli (about 2-3 inches tall) and cucumbers (2-3 inches tall). There is alight frost forecasted in the morning, right now they are calling for lows around 33 degrees. I assume the potatoes, broccoli, strawberries will all be fine but I don't know about cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers (they are already suffering).

What steps if any should I take given what I have out and what stage they are in. The only thing I have that is budding are a few of the strawberry plants.

 

[lazy gardener]

First off I am a newbie to gardening (2nd year) so still learning the ropes.
A couple weeks ago we were in the middle of a warm spell and when I checked the extended forecast they were calling for warmer then average temps. Coaching baseball and work have a lot of my time this spring so I decided to put my garden out a little earlier then I should have. This week we had a cold front sit on top of us with temps in the 40's and we got over 4 inches of rain.

So far everything I have out looks good except for a couple of jalapeno plants I have out (I have since read they need a little warmer weather) but oh well I only have four of them. So far I have potatoes that are about 6 inches tall, strawberries that are a couple inches tall, tomato plants that are about 4-5 inches (no buds yet) peppers, broccoli (about 2-3 inches tall) and cucumbers (2-3 inches tall). There is alight frost forecasted in the morning, right now they are calling for lows around 33 degrees. I assume the potatoes, broccoli, strawberries will all be fine but I don't know about cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers (they are already suffering).

What steps if any should I take given what I have out and what stage they are in. The only thing I have that is budding are a few of the strawberry plants.

Can you cover them with some blankets or sheets? or some plastic? If you have some milk jugs, those make great hot caps for tomatoes and peppers. I start saving milk jugs for that purpose every spring. And if I can save a bunch of them from the previous year (without hubby tossing them as he goes around on his cleaning missions), I'm well set up to keep those warm weather plants heated up until the spring chills settle down.

 

[flyin-lowe]

I tried to cover them with plastic last year with plastic when a late frost was forcasted but it is so windy around here it was hard to do. I didn't have anything else that was light enough that it wouldn't crush the plants. Of the things I have listed which would be the most likely to suffer from the frost? If I can get some boxes or jugs to cover some plants which should I protect first?

 

[lazy gardener]

Tomatoes and peppers. If you have a bale of hay or straw, you could pile some loosely over the plants.

 

[flyin-lowe]

I checked the weather before dark last night and they were saying "patchy frost" but the lowes in my area were forecasted at 36. When I first woke up this morning I checked and no frost. They are forecasting the same for tonight/tomorrow morning. Ill play it by ear as the day goes by. Now I need to figure out what type of fence I am going to put up around the garden to keep the chickens out this year. Last year they never went to the garden until after it was till under in the fall, then it became a favorite spot of theirs. Right now I have kept them in their run because they head that way as soon as I let them out.