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Vegetable Gardening

Freeze warning in RI - advice?

15 years ago

There's a freeze warning in RI for tonight. Have to figure out what I need to pull from the garden and what will make it through okay. I feel like I should know this, but I don't usually have the fall crops I planted this year. I still have broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, collards, beets, turnips, and a little chard. I'm thinking the kale and collards should be fine (am I wrong?), the brussels sprouts are iffy, the broccoli probably needs to be picked (not much left anyway), and the beets, turnips, and chard should come out. Any input would be appreciated!

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Comments (2)

tcstoehr
15 years ago
All of those veggies are frost tolerant, as far as I know. Perhaps the beets are the least so, but the root should survive fine so no point in yanking them yet.
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mom2wildboys
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks! With a little more digging, I uncovered this handy information:

-- Less hardy. Protect or harvest if temperatures are predicted to go below the upper 20s: broccoli heads, cauliflower heads, English peas, fava beans, lettuce, snow peas.

-- Moderately hardy. Will tolerate temperatures down to the mid-20s with little or no damage: Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, mustard, spinach, Swiss chard, turnip greens.

-- Very hardy. Will survive temperatures in the low 20s and even teens if given some protection: beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, collards, garlic, kale, onions, parsley, leeks, radish roots, shallots, turnip roots.

I was surprised to read the temps the "very hardy" plants will survive! I have to think the beet greens might be damaged by those temps even if the roots are okay.

Here is a link that might be useful: The source for that info
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