Every fall since I began gardening, I work to dispel the myth that the growing season is over, and that frosts will kill anything remaining in the garden.
Not all plants are the same. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, and other crops that thrive on hot temperatures are from hot climates. They didn’t need to survive the cold – instead, they needed to protect from heat. However, broccoli, carrots, garlic, rhubarb, and many other crops came from cool climates. Their systems work differently in the cold – not only do they survive cold temperatures, but they taste better when they get cool in the fall and winter!
It’s Not Frost That Kills, It’s Freeze
The night the first frost comes around in the fall, many people rush out to yank their tomato plants and bring them inside. After that night, it often gets warmer and sometimes there isn’t another frost for several weeks! It’s highly likely all those tomatoes hanging from rafters after that first frost would have been just fine outside through the first frost. The reason is that the first frost is often not a killing frost.
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Frost-Tolerant Plants
Deciduous trees, bushes, and vines go dormant in the winter by losing their soft tissue (leaves), and waiting until spring before producing them again.
Root crops (beets, carrots, radishes, parsnips, daikon, rutabagas) store all of the energy from their leaves into their roots as it gets cooler, and the ground gives them protection against the freezes.
Cole crops (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustards, turnips, watercress) can often survive temperatures below 20F. That means those of us in temperate climates can generally grow them throughout the winter (they don’t grow a whole lot in the winter, but they don’t die and you can continue to pick fresh crop), where others can often grow them with a row cover for protection. ………….
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Article source: One Green Generation
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