Help... my garden froze!
 

Hubby and I went out last night and covered the garden... didn't count on the wind picking up and blowing the tarp off. I know that I need to get all of the tomatoes out of the garden (36 well producing plants worth), but do I really need to rush and do it today? Or am I OK for a couple of days as long as I get the red ones out? The timing just really is terrible! Gonna be pushing it to get it done. Thanks for your advice. I'll try to check back for responses later... too many things to get done today!

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

I don't think that was a killing frost, was it?

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

Pull some reds and some greens.

Cut them open. If they ARE frozen you need to pull them all and then slap them in the FREEZER immediately.

Then you may pull them out of the freezer and can them at your leisure.

Or, just pull them out of the freezer and cook with them.

IF they are not frozen, you do NOT need to pull them.

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

I'd agree with Wallew's advice.

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

Quick update... thank you all for your replies. Just came in from picking the reddest ones. Doesn't look as bad as I first thought. The plants didn't die... but they did get damaged. I think I will be okay... but will watch them close to be sure. Some black spots on the plants, but I think they are ok. Made some schedule changes... so now I am off to make stewed tomatoes!

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

Just consider this PRACTICE for cold climate ops.
Solar flux is flatline for the last 4 months.
current flux value is 66 today, hasnt been over 90 all year.
going to be a LATE SPRING.
You want to be stocking a lot of grain.
think calories per dollar.
A little over half a million calories will keep (one) human alive for a year.
Hint: Edible plants will not grow on glaciers.

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

Can you explain this "solar flux" and how it relates to a late Spring?
Thanks.

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

I have never frozen tomatoes before, do they have to be blanched first?

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

Well Banjo, in a nutshell, it appears that Mr SUN is entering a quiet phase.
The solar flux is a parameter measured daily by NASA and others for 50 years or so, and the solar flux measurements co-relates well with the mean smoothed sunspot number, which also tracks well with mean solar output. while flux measurements have only been done in recent times, ( after ww2), the sunspots count data is available in a pretty continuous form from early in the 17 century, and in a very marginal form for several centuries prior.
From historical record, we can co-relate a period from 1650 to 1710 AD where-in sunspots were either extremely rare or completely nonexistant and this time period corresponds to the "little ice age" across northern Europe, east coast of north america, and was a time period of cool to cold summers, severe winters advancing glaciers,crop failures,famine and somewhat reduced human population.
I am not an astrophysicist, and certainly make no claim to what the current solar cycle 24 will do in the future, but for the present we are at a historical low in mean solar output, and by far the longest period of no sunspot activity in modern times.
for more information look up "Maunder Minimum" or "Maunder- Dalton"
or "Little Ice Age"
for current solar data you can go here: http://www.dxlc.com/solar/

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

That's interesting, thanks for the explanation. I'll have to look into that further. Kinda flys in the face of global warming though, doesn't it?

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

yes global warming was over about mid 2007.

Re: Help... my garden froze!
 

I've never frozen tomatoes before either, but I've heard that if you freeze them, they are very easy to peel.