Yikes!
There is a scary freeze warning tonight for all of Miami-Dade, including Coastal Miami-Dade. The wind is blowing cold and hard at 20 mph from the north, with gusts as high as 29 mph. It’s going to be a long night. There could be sub-freezing temperatures starting at 11pm tonight until as late as 9am tomorrow.
I’m feeling lucky because the garden is protected from wind in every direction, especially North and West. To the East I’ve got the bay 1 mile away and the river just a few hundred feet away, both of which help to regulate air temperature.
Just in case I covered up the tomatoes with tarps. At least it will keep the harsh wind off of them.
They are almost my height on the trellis and already have clusters of fruit. Being one of the most cold sensitive plants in the garden and the hardest to protect because of the trellising, it’s worth the effort.
There are other plants to worry about as well, but unfortunately, there is little that can be done for them. Bananas, basil, peppers, eggplant, loofah and the list goes on…
Some things will actually benefit from the chill. All the brassicas like cabbage, collards and kale will be sweeter after tonight! Carrots sweeten up with a chill too.
As for myself, I’m keeping my fingers crossed until the morning. Wish me luck!
I just did the same thing, covered tomatoes with plastic, thinking that it will help keep them from drying out in the cold wind. I figured that the cabbage and lettuce will be fine. It was not such a crazy idea then. I also watered everything late in the afternoon, we have a well and the water may warm up the plans a bit, does this help?
Anyway lets hope for the best.
Yes, watering helps. I set my irrigation timer to water for 3 hours from 6am-9am, which is the coldest part of the freeze.
As the water in the ground evaporates it releases warmth. Sometimes it can be enough to keep the core of the plants from freezing. Drip irrigating crops that are covered has the added benefit of capturing the heat inside of the material, potentially affecting the whole plant.
Thanks!! the tomatoes survived.