Hello. I hate to revive an old thread, i a follower up question. I have over 100 sprouted garlic at my house right now. The greens are anywhere from 6 to 10 in tall, our daytime highs are in the 50s and '60s, and are overnight lows range from mid 20s to low 40s, is it safe to plant my garlic outside? I know that garlic doesn't mind the cold, but would repeated freezing temperatures overnight and warm temperatures during the day bother it over much? It doesn't stay cold enough long enough for the ground to freeze. All I have to do is stick my finger in the soil and less than half an inch down it's pleasantly cool.

You should determine if the leafless stems are alive or not. If they are they will releaf; if they aren't theres little left to do but remove them.

and this is why.. over the years.. i am NEVER excited.. when they pop out of the ground.. there is simply nothing i can do on acreage ... and mother nature hates me.. you asked what to do .. NOTHING ... any green will continue to photosynthesize.. even a half leaf.. even just a celery stalk with no leaf ... so just ignore them for a week or two.. and then start picking off completely dead stuff.. even using scissors to cut damage off a half leaf ... like you might do with a houseplant ... inside a few weeks... as the plant continues its spring push.. most of them will hide or overgrow the damage ... and even the ones totally froze to the ground will recover... but that will take much monger whats really damaging.. and heart breaking.. is when they freeze to the ground.. RECOVER.. and then get hit with frost again ... since hosta come up on stored energy ... getting hit twice.. can really set the plant back a year or two ... but by this time.. you are suicidal .. and all you can do is complain .. become your inner farmer..... ken

Tomato plants are very hardy in many ways. I just hope their exposure to freezing temps is one of them. Have to see. **** There's a difference between a frost and a freeze, and I'm not going to go into all the variables that distinguish those two. Up here in the subtundra we're accustomed to dealing with frost and freezes at both ends of the growing season. Different varieties can have different tolerances to freezes and those same varieties maybe won't have the same tolerances the next year. What it boils down to is the nature of the cell fluids within each cell and how probable it is that ice xstals will form. When they form and stay around for several hours then the cells are totally destroyed and no way back. I never take off damaged leaves from the plants b'c I want healing to occur at the juncture with the main stem such that no open wounds are exposed. The damaged leaves fall off naturally. Not about freeze, but I've had plants that were stripped of all foliage by Colorado Potato Beetles and usually they come back as well. The problem is that the plant can go just so far in terms of healing itself, and then if there's no photosynthesis to create energy compounds, as in no leaves, it can't go any further. Carolyn