Covering Plants for Frost

Last week we had a frost warning for 2 nights in a row. FROST...IN MAY!!! But sure enough it got down into the 30s for 2 nights in a row. We had 90+ tomato plants in the ground that were at risk. 

I didnt want to go out and buy a ton of special row covers for frost risk...but I heard that just covering them with any pot, milk jug, bucket, etc would protect them just fine. So we dug out as many containers as we could find. Thankfully last year someone had given me about 100 large potting buckets last year!! I had no idea at the time what I was going to do with them so they just got tucked into the back of the garage. They sure did save the day!!!

Addie LOVED covering all the plants, which was a major bonus for me because I was about 38 weeks pregnant and really didn't want to squat down on the ground to bend and cover that many plants :) Addie covered all the plants and then in the morning we uncovered them all once the sun was out. We did this for 2 days and all the tomatoes survived without any problems. 

All our peppers, eggplant, basil, and legumes were not in the ground yet so I just took all the pots inside for those nights. I left the lettuce, spearmint, garlic, onions and chives to fend for themselves with the frost...and they did just fine without being covered. 

A few days later, with the risk of frost gone, I planted a bed of bush beans and a bed of bush peas. I also got all the peppers, eggplant and basil in the ground. The only thing left is more onions and a few flowers...which at this point will probably not get planted until after I have the baby!