Night before last the temperature was predicted to drop down to below 32 F (0-C) so before dark we turned on the water sprinklers. The entire garden was covered in ice the next morning but when it melted everything was fine. We picked beans that afternoon. The nights are still cool and we are watching the weather reports closely now.
I've always been curious how that works ... sprinklers before the frost. I know some of the growers around here will water before a frost, but I never understood how that prevented damage?
I asked Mike about it and he said that the frost freezes the cells in the plants but the ice protects them. It doesn't make sense to me but it does work.
If you let water freeze on the plants, it is an insulation for them. They and their roots will not get any colder than the ice covering them.
Plant pots freeze the roots here in winter, plant roots are protected to a certain depth in the soil from frost. Not something we want to think about yet. Last winter was good to us. K
Way to go! It is a chilling thought that winter is so close-by. Good that you saved your crops and were able to harvest.
We keep a eye on the weather reports the entire growing season. At almost 6000 elevation frost can occur at any time. One year we had 3 inches of wet sloppy snow on June the 8th. Covered the plants with every blanket and quilt we had and didn't lose a thing!
