I thought I was going to find out the other night with a forcasted low of 24 degrees. I checked the foreast at 10:30pm and it still had 24 forecasted on every site. Including updated 9pm webcasts. I did have my doubts as it was 38 degrees at that point. Low and behold the low was 35 degrees. How the heck can you be off by 11 degrees that close in time? I must admit I was grateful. My tres have a life line yet for fall color! Most times the duration of the freeze will impact what happens. If it hits 32 (which technically is a freeze) for an hour, it'll have little impact for hardy plants. I've already had 30 and 31 degrees in mid-Sept and it did nothing to my decidious plants. They are just now taking on some color almost a month later. Fall color for new transplants is completely random. Some show their best colors due to the stress and other show NO fall color even though they are known for a good display. For example my 'Jelena' witch hazel (planted spring 2011) didn't have any fall color last year and isn't showing any color yet this year either. On the flip side my 'Girard's Purple' and 'Arnold Promise' had/have glorious fall color.

ok .. just kidding ... lol i would like everyones opinion ... god knows i dont know everything ... my key: dormant to dormant is just fine .... hold it over in your garage for a week or two ... get them in the ground .... there can be no expanding buds in the great white north ... or hold them on the north side of a building ... lay them on their sides if wind is an issue ... upright is irrelevant until spring growth starts ... no issue of sunburn.. since new tissue isnt there ... bringing ACTIVELY GROWING stock up north [from a warmer zone to a colder zone] .. it needs to be tempered to the temps ... aka 'hardened off' ... before it ever get frosted or frozen ... UNTIL ALL FROST THREATS ARE GONE .. in fact.. these would be better off being held over near a garage ...where you can drag them in if temps threaten to go too cold .... temp outside is irrelevant since the structure wil be 2 zones warmer from retained heat ... you should contact your vendor.. and find out what the sun situation was ... if you are bringing in product that has been in polyhouses ... they will need to be hardened off to the sun ... if actively growing ... think of my freckled red-headed son ... and how his skin takes to the first sun of summer ... once he hardens off .. lol .. he doesnt burn ... lol if damp on arrival .. do NOT water ... in cold temps.. they need very little water.. if dormant ... tend toward dry rather than sopping wet .. the pot will NOT dry out in z5 for months ... NEVER leave a black pot in the sun .. period.. paragraph ... the last thing you need is 100 degree roots from the sun hitting the black pot.. on a tree thats sits in 30 degree weather .... snow should be irrelevent ... but for remaining upright ... its just water ... normal wind should also be irrelevent ... if properly staked .. dont complain about damage ... trees/conifers.. if they live .. fix themselves ... we can deal with all that later ... 4/1 to 4/15 in my zone 5 ... plant them all ... NEVER WATER AGAIN .. AFTER PLANTING... until your second knuckle tells you they are dry .. might not be until june ... mulch them within a few weeks ... i think that covers it.. in bullet form ... ken

I'm the Queen when it comes to cooking this way. The trick is to think about what you're going to do with it, and do the prep from the grocery store to the fridge/freezer. For example, I often pound chicken breasts flat and freeze them, so when I forget to take something out, these will actually thaw out by the time I need them. Whenever you throw something on the grill, throw something else on as well, and freeze it to use later. I almost always have cooked hot dogs, turkey burgers, chicken or beef in my freezer ready to put in some kind of casserole. I preprep my veggies ahead for the whole week. Last week when I made a Broccoli & Beef stir fry, those were already cleaned and cut, which helped the process immensely. Cleaning vegetables is like mopping the floor to me, so dealing with them all at one time when my energy is high is a huge help for me. For pizza: Sausage is pre-browned and frozen in packages for two pizzas (One sausage link will cover two for us.) Veggies are pre-cut, and my sauce is already made from the pizza I made last week. The one thing I could do that would help to cut down the time is to pre-cut my parchment pizza rounds. Whenever I make a casserole, I make two. It doesn't take much longer to make an extra when you're making one anyway, and I ''bank'' the casserole in the freezer for those days I don't feel like cooking. I'll take a bag of potatoes and make twice-baked potatoes from the whole thing. I add broccoli (and sometimes bacon) along with cooked onions, and stuff to make the potatoes creamy, sometimes with a little peppercorn dressing, topped with cheese. Those potatoes are a complete meal for us, and So Delicious! When I make soup, I always freeze half for later. A quart jar is a perfect size to put the leftovers into. I often make tomato/meat sauce for lasagna and freeze it for later. Sometimes I'll boil ground beef to cook it (if you're looking to get rid of the fat) and put it in the freezer, ready to use for a meat sauce. And often, it's the extra pan of lasagna that's frozen, which I need to cook. Once it's cooked, I'll freeze slices of it, so it only need to be nuked. Whichever way, it's always delicious. When I make cookies, I roll them into balls and freeze them so I can make them when the urge strikes. There's nothing better than a warm cookie. I always have a loaf of garlic bread, sliced and in foil, ready to go in the freezer. One of my favorite appetizers is a Broccoli Ball made with stuffing mix and parmesan cheese. I always freeze a double batch, so I can take how however many I need and bake them. (I often pair these with barbequed meatballs which I prepare the same way.) I try to freeze packages flat, so they thaw in less time. I'll go ahead and slice some things when I get them home from the store, before I prepackage them for the freezer. Freezing things in ice cube trays, then repackaging them for meals really does help matters. Right now I have little blocks of chili sauce to pair with kosher beef hot dogs. Forgive me, please; I think I got a little carried away!

When I freeze eggplant I usually slice it, roast it and freeze it on sheet trays, then package it in ziplocks. I can take out as much as I need for whatever dish I'm making. I've roasted it and mashed it for baba ganouj also, but found that I didn't use that as much as I use the slices. I did try beading the slices with bread crumbs and then baking but really, the plain/roasted slices are something I use the most of, it's more versatile that way. Good luck and have fun! Annie