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Last week, I was scrambling to harvest all of my roma tomatoes because we had a frost warning. It turned out to be a false alarm. I suppose we'll be making lots of fried green tomatoes!
Has frost hit your area? The arrival of frost can sometimes nip a neighbor's yard or garden but spare your own. Gardening is so local, even personal.
How to Predict a Frost
Consider these factors when the radio and TV reports say "frost tonight."
- How warm was it during the day? If the temperature reached 75 degrees F (in the East or North) or 80 degrees F (in the desert Southwest), the chance of the mercury falling below 32 degrees is slim.
- Is it windy? A still night allows cold air to pool near the ground; a breeze keeps things stirred up.
- Is it cloudy? If the Sun sets through a layer of thickening clouds, the clouds will slow radiational cooling and help stave off a frost.
- What is the dew point? As a rule of thumb, don't worry about a frost if the dew point (the temperature at which water vapor condenses) is above 45 degrees on the evening weather report.
- How is your garden sited? Gardens on slopes or high ground often survive when the coldest air puddles down in the valleys and hollows.
See frost dates for your area. Click here for the U.S. Frost Chart and for the Canadian Frost Chart on Almanac.com.
Better Safe Than Sorry
If you're a gardener, here are few tips on preparing for frost.
- When nights get cold, protect tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants with old sheets, paper bags, or plastic at night and remove the coverings in the morning.
- Bring geraniums indoors before the first frost arrives. Keep them in a sunny window in a relatively moist room; the kitchen is often best.
- Harvest basil and other tender herbs before a frost. Even if they survive the frost, they don't do well in cold temperatures. The same is true for summer squash, peppers, and most annuals.
- Harvest all tomatoes and let them ripen indoors on tabletops or counters out of the sun.
Tell us: Has Jack Frost visited you? If so, when was your frost date (or what date do you predict)? If you're a gardener, were you able to reap your harvest before the frost? Please post your comments below!
Tomatoes in British Columbia.
Tomatoes in British Columbia. I uprooted my Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes from my balcony just before our cold snap in September. (Now it's warm again). I picked off the leaves, and hung whole plants upside down to dry indoors. The tomatoes ripen a few at a time making a nice fresh snack. The tiniest will be too small to fry, but provide bright colour contrast in the arrangement! Perhaps they will make a spooky Halloween decoration for my door!
Here in Calais, ME we have
Here in Calais, ME we have had 2 or 3 frosts since late September. However, no hard frost as yet. It was a terrible year in the garden due to above average rain early on and cool temps all summer...no tomatoes to speak of this year. I have never taken to fried green tomatoes, but do like green tomato mincemeat etc..so all is not lost I guess.
We here on the shores of
We here on the shores of Oneida Lake have escaped a frost ,while others inland have had one.The unfrozen lake gives us a bit of insulation since the water holds some warmth.But watch out after it freezes,then it acts like a giant ICE CUBE!
Folklore says if we in LA
Folklore says if we in LA have fog in August we can expect frost on that same day in October, we had no fog in August so now I'm not sure! But, usually it is anywhere from mid to late Oct. when we get our first frost. Our garden has long given up it's bounty except for my sweet potatos and I'm told they need to be harvested when the leaves turn yellow or after the first frost. Seems they are much sweeter after it has frosted on them, so I shall wait for frost before harvesting them.
Our first frost in upstate
Our first frost in upstate New York usually comes anywhere from mid-to late September, and it did so last Friday night (18th). Now we can go and pick apples this coming weekend because the frost will have made them even sweeter! I covered my container tomato plants with plastic because I didn't want to harvest all the fruit just yet, since we're having much warmer weather this week (but not so much sun). I make it so that each container becomes its own little greenhouse. I should be able to prolong their season on the vines into October.
The first frost in Prince
The first frost in Prince Albert SK Canada is about the 4Th of Sept. This year the temp has been at a record level and seems more like August than Sept with Temperatures reaching 28 and 29 celsius. As of the 22 of Sept there has been no frost and no temperatures even close and it looks like there will be no frost until Oct. What a great fall.
The first frost in Indiana
The first frost in Indiana usually doesn't arrive until mid or late October. Before that, I snip my herbs, mince them, and put them in plastic containers in the freezer. They make wonderful fresh herb additions to soups and stews! Or you can simply cut down the entire herb plant, hang it upside down in a cool place, and use the herbs dried. I harvest my green tomatoes before the frost and put them in a brown bag on the kitchen counter. They will eventually ripen. However, check them frequently as sometimes they are too green and will never ripen. Then you can use them for fried green tomatoes!