Sometimes you have to get creative. These pictures are from last year, May 2.

In your case, I would push some sticks along side the little plants, and then lay a blanket over all. The sticks need to be a bit taller than your little plants. Hopefully they will keep the lettuce from being flattened.

Moni

I have use newspaper, cardboard boxes, straw, boards. Many things will work, even a blanket. what ever you use it will better if you make sure it does not mash the plants or blow away.

Do I need to cover the potato plants? I was under the impression they were frost tolerant, but then read in another thread that people were covering them last year....

You can cover the little lettuce plants with the material of your choice--anything from a natural material like straw, grass clippings or shredded leaves, to textiles like old blankets or bedspreads to containers like Moni shows in her photos. Be sure you put something underneath a heavy blanket or bedspread to suspend it slightly above the tiny lettuce plants like Larry said or it could crush them since they are young and still delicate and small. In the past I've used concrete blocks, bricks or clay pots underneath the blankets to hold them up above delicate plants. Then, weight down the blanket or other textile on all 4 sides so the wind doesn't blow it away. Avoid using something like sheet plastic or a plastic tarp unless you can ensure the plastic sheeting doesn't touch the plants---plastic will conduct cold to the plants and they will be damaged wherever the plant touches the plastic. If you use plastic containers, make sure they are larger than the plants so the plants aren't touching the plastic.

Normally lettuce would be cold hardy down into the mid or low 20s, but it depends on pre-conditioning. If lettuce plants sprouted and grew only in cooler temperatures, they'd be hardened off to the cold and would tolerate it fairly well, up to a point. However, it has been warm lately and these plants are used to warm temperatures more than cold ones, so they may not be hardened off to the cold. That is why covering them up is important. And, if something goes horribly wrong and they freeze, then your son has learned a painful lesson about gardening in Oklahoma's erratic spring temperatures. (Personally, I hope he doesn't have to learn that lesson just yet.)

With the potatoes, the foliage itself can suffer freeze damage or frost damage (which are separate types of damage caused in different ways) but the seed potatoes and underground stolons of the plants would not suffer damage unless the ground itself actually froze. So, the plants are cold hardy in one way (they grow well even in cold soil) but not in another (the foliage cannot tolerate a heavy frost or a freeze, but often most varieties will tolerate a light frost). Again, though, pre-conditioning plays a role. If your potato foliage has been exposed to a lot of barely-above-freezing temperatures or light frosts since it emerged from the ground, it might be slightly more cold-tolerant than potato foliage that has been growing only in warmer air temperatures. With potatoes that have emerged from the ground and are growing, I cover them if I am expecting any frost or freezing temperatures.

When potato plants suffer frost or freeze damage, they usually rebound just fine. If they only suffer it once, you might not notice any change in yield compared to years in which they didn't suffer cold damage. However, if they repeatedly freeze back or suffer frost damage, they expend energy each time on regrowing their stolons, stems, leaves, etc., and that can reduce the amount of energy available to set and size up tubers at the appropriate time.

On the news this morning, they are calling this a "light freeze". In other words, I don't think the freezing temps will last longer than a couple of hours at most. I'm going to take steps to protect some of my warmer weather plants, like tomato seedlings, morning glory seedlings, etc., but I think the lettuce and sugar snaps will be okay. If not, I've got plenty of seeds to start again in hopes I will get some lettuce before the heat gets too bad. It's always a gamble in Oklahoma, no matter what one does or doesn't do.

I just hope I get some sugar snap peas and lettuce before they succumb to the heat! LOL!

Susan

Hi Susan,

You might need to look for an updated news broadcast. I believe the weather forecast has gone downhill, unless y'all stay a lot warmer there because of all the concrete in the city. We have a Freeze Warning in effect for us down here in southern OK with freezing temperatures expected to last for a prolonged period, but y'all have a Hard Freeze Warning up there in your part of central OK. They just issued it a couple of hours ago.

I'll link it.

Because I am in a cold microclimate, I subtract 5 degrees from what they say we'll have. Currently they are saying 30 degrees for us, so I'm preparing for 25.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Hard Freeze Warning

Dawn, you're right, in edmond we're forecast for 37 tonight, 27 tomorrow, then mid 40s the rest of the week for overnight lows... Not promising for me, as im generally about 4-5 degrees lower than forecast as well.

Backyardmomma, I brought all my pots of lettuce in. The in-ground stuff im going to mulch to death and cover with an old blanket, but im not hopeful. I have terrible luck with anything lettuce-like surviving freezes other than spinach. My chard is always the first to go. I hope yours makes it! Your little gardener is awfully cute tending his lettuce!

I've considered using christmas lights under my row covers for the tomatoes. Does anyone have any experience with this? I only have two beds with toms in-ground. If I did try lights, will one strand per bed even make a difference? The beds are both 3'x14'. I was planning on covering each plant with individual buckets/pots then mulching with pine needles/leaves then put 6mm plastic over my hoops plus a strand of lights. Im just wondering if it will be enough/excessive? If tomatoes go below 40 multiple nights, does it stunt their growth? Or is it only if daytime highs are in the 40's. I have multiple tomatoes on the plants, id hate to lose them but... I guess we shall see! :)

How cold can my carrot sprouts, radishes, and beets tolerate? Im going to mulch and cover but ultimately that generally only prevents frost and keeps the temps a few degrees above outside temps.

I have places on the sunny south side of the yard in between shrubs and concrete driveway and sidewalks to tuck things in. The lettuce will just have to make it or I'll reseed everything that I can. Thanks for the updated forecast, Dawn.

I have lots of little seedlings that are up in the garden and I am hopeful they will make it, too, If not, I won't worry too much since I have a lot of extra seed left over that I can reseed of most. The Partridge Pea seedlings may not make it, but there are still seeds in the soil that haven't sprouted yet. Same for the Marigolds and Cleome.

It is already getting cool here........

Susan