This morning we awoke to a temperature reading of -2 C (that's 30 in F) and a garden covered in frost! We knew it was coming and had covered the tomato and pepper plants late yesterday afternoon.
Unfortunately many of the plants did not fare too well, in spite of our attempts to protect them.
Most of the tomatoes look like this. ☹️
The buds on the pepper plants are toast! We may have to replace them too. ☹️
Luckily, it is early enough in the season to purchase more plants, so it won't be a total loss.
Thinking that the potatoes are hearty, we didn't attempt to cover them. This is the result.
Every potato plant has been frozen!
Upon doing some online research, we learned that potatoes will come back, so we tilled between the rows and hilled the soil over the frost damaged leaves.
The onions, beets, broccoli and cabbage plants are fine. So are the carrot, lettuce and kale seedlings.
A hard frost in early June is rare here, but not unheard of. Planting tender vegetables too early is taking a chance. Next year, I will wait another week before planting tomatoes and peppers in the garden. Lesson learned!
Thanks for stopping by my garden blog.
Hello friend, it's a shame that this happened to them luckily it was not the whole harvest and the good thing is that they could recover what was lost
Oh well, now I have an excuse to go out and get more plants! 🌻
Sorry to hear about your veggies. Most people here in Ottawa do their planting when Canadian Tire or some other store puts the plants out, but I know our last frost free day is June 10 although we haven't had a late frost in many years. It's June 5 for southwestern Ontario. I found this calculator when I googled which contradicts what I say but they are using new data based on 1981-2010 climate norms.
https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates
June 10 seems like a long time to wait, especially when the days are warm, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. The loss of my tomatoes was particularly disappointing because I started some new varieties from seed in the coldframe and was looking forward to seeing the results. Oh well, there's always next year!
One of the nice things about gardening is getting another chance next year.
That is terrible news @anise. It has been a crazy year for gardening.
Yes it has. Things will get better now I'm sure!
Oh pity that the incident happened, I think they should wait a little longer to place the plants because if something happens like this they lose, at least they could do something for some of them, but you know they should wait a little longer.
Greetings
Yes, I wrote the date in my gardening journal so next year I will remember how long to wait.
Something unexpected but the important thing is to learn the lesson and do it well for the next time and we learned that we have to wait a little longer in case this cold happens without notifying.
Now to recover what is harmed and learned lesson
So true. I learn something every day in the garde. One must only be quiet and watchful.
This is how it is the best method to learn
Wow... garden? You name this fields garden? I am impressed. I hope you can rescue the little potato plants, but because I have no garden or balcony I am totally unexperienced how plants cope with cold. Here the weather is the other way around. Spring was super short and now we have heatwaves and thunderstorms for weeks....
Oh, this is only 1 of my 3 vegetable gardens...and I have a hill of flowers and several smaller flower gardens! So now you know why I have not been posting my needlework lately. Gardening is my real passion but it's getting harder every year. I need a new body!
Oh no 😣 I'm sorry you lost so mucb of your crop.
Out of curiousity where are you? Here in Tucson it was 107 degrees today...we have the opposite problem!
I am in Nova Scotia and I was taking a bit of a chance setting out tender plants too early, but we hardly ever get a hard frost so late and covering the plants is usually sufficient just in case. My body does not like the heat and I would probably stay indoors all summer if I lived where you do. I want to find a place where the temperature is 65-70 year round!
Oh wow. I have always dreamed of going there. I remember watching a documentary about how beautiful it is there and all the wildlife when I was a child. Recently I had a one day layover in Ontario, which was fun but not quite the same. It is still on my wishlist! I miss seasons and snow, we have neither here! haha.
Do you have a green house or conservatory? I know it rarely happens, but maybe it will help for next year.
Yes, it is certainly beautiful here....so many trees and lakes...and bugs, haha. I have a couple cold frames that provide lettuce and spinach much of the winter. I would love a greenhouse, or even a hoop house. Maybe next year....