It depends what you covered the beds with. We had the same thing happen last year and I covered mine with my hoop covers. They thrived so well after 4 inches of snow melted that I left the covers on my beds until May. My spring garden was amazing as a result.

If you covered them swith something non transulcent, I'd remove it during the day and put it back when the temp drops again.
Ah, the joys of planting before the last spring frost. Of course if it's a light frost, all your crops are cool weather so they should survive without cover.

Good luck and stay warm!

I'd bet they'll be fine. If it's not a huge PITA to uncover them tomorrow I would if it's nice out. If it's not, I would think they'll be ok for a couple days. I don't have much experience doing this with seedlings though.

Last fall, I kept tender plants alive under plastic and a layer of blankets until it got to about 17 degrees IIRC.

ribbit - It's predicted to get 22 here tonight. I didn't cover anything, because I really didn't have time. Besides....I'm not gonna worry about it like the fall crop. If they don't make it, i'll just go buy a few transplants from the store. They're alot bigger than my plants anyway....

EG

Sinfonian - I covered them with straw.

EG, I'm not worried about the things I can get from transplant, mostly the peas, carrots, lettuce and radishes. They're not too far along that I couldn't start over, but I'd realy rather not if I don't have to.

I don't think I'm going to uncover them today...It's 5:30 AM and I'm leaving for work. I'll see what the weather is like during the day on Saturday and see what's there. Man, this is going to be a pain in the tush to clean up, isn't it? Just didn't want to spend the cash on hoop covers. Maybe that's a project for another year...

ribbit - I had planned on constructing some hoop covers for this crop, but I've been busy building swp's....oh well, i'm more worried about my plum trees.

EG

Can anyone tell me how to add a picture in this website? Thanks...

snibb - long time no see...here's a link for ya. You got some more impressive photos of your vertical zucchini and tomatoes to show us?

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: inserting pics in posts

Hey there EG!...nice seeing you again...I will see if I can get this to work...I do have some new things for you! Right now my garden is under way out here in SLC, Utah. I have found a way to expand the SFG to make it even more productive. What kind of fun have I missed in here? Did you try the vertical zucchini trick? How did it work? Tomatoes? Let me know, Im interested...

snibb - I can't wait to see your pics! I didn't try the vertical zucchini last year, and will try upside-down tomato cages this spring. The construction of my bed won't allow me to use your method, but as your pics showed - I know it works great. My tomatoes were trellised with wire mesh, and it worked great! The forum was kinda slow for a few months, but as you can see from the number of posts - things are getting busy now.

EG

EG...how do those upside down tomato things work anyway?

Snibb - Before the transplants get very big, some people take a tomato cage, place it over the plant upside down. It's not as good as your method, but the hoops will give the plant some support as it grows upward.

EG

I think Snibb is talking about growing the tomatoes upside down. I'll let you know when I do mine, Snibb. I'm growing these little Tumbling Tom tomatoes to do just that...they will each go in a 5-gallon bucket and be hung from a pole in my garden or a beam on my patio this summer. I've read up on it, and some have had success, some not. I think the small tomatoes have a better chance than larger varieties would.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Ribbit: My hoop covers cost less than $30 and took all of an hour to initially install. I can put them up or take them down in under 15 minutes alone now. I agree that cleaning up straw is a pain in the rear. Good luck with that!

Snibb: Hey there! Yeah, I saw you come through and post a few days ago and was glad you could join us again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

ribbit - I just wanted to see how your stuff is doing so far. My cabbage is good, but I see a little damage on some of the collards and broccoli.

EG

Row covers may be nice for the future, but my beds aren't in a straight line..they overlap and are offset from each other a bit so it may may it interesting to build.

EG, the jury's still out. The lettuce was frozen solid today and there was frost on the radishes and spinach, but I think the straw did a minimal job at keeping the worst out. I took it off as much as I could today, but I'm putting it back tonight. The broccoli and cauliflower look okay so far, but pea sprouts look sad. We've got about 3 more days of this, but if we can survive it, we're good for the long haul. Hopefully your cabage can recover. I've had some broccoli in a pot since last fall that I've been just too lazy to remove and wouldn't you know it sprouted shoots these past two warm weeks. I thought the thing was a gonner!

Good luck!

I have a few pictures that I just loaded into Photobucket. Can anyone tell me how to post and upload a picture? I dont see anything anywhere about "submit picture" as the instructions say...thanks

ribbit - my cabbage looks great, it some of the others that look somewhat damaged. The temp will be 23 here tonight.

EG

Cant get the picture in the text. For another idea-I come out around the first week of Feb. and cover this garden area. If the sun comes out at all, my soil goes from frozen to pretty much perfect in about 5-7 days. I will cover the larger garden in a few weeks as well. Our temps can get down to single digits for weeks during the winter, with plenty of snow. It works great, it lasts forever, and, its dirt cheap. There's lots growing under that right now. Sinfo..thanks for the info, but, I cant get the picture in the text....

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm14/snobblet/IMGP0192.jpg

Snibb, just copy the HTML code under your picture and paste it here. I can generate a thumbnail from my Photobucket, but I don't see that option on yours. You sure have some nice garden photos!

Snibb's picture:

Here is a link that might be useful: Today's New Blog

ribbit - so far, so good. I checked the plants at noon after the sun had time to take care of the frost, and saw some leaf curl - but that's it. Man...that was a hard freeze.

EG