Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, and carrots should be fine.

As for the garlic, so long as the ground isn't frozen, you can plant it. You should still have plenty of time. I don't know about potatoes.

Good luck!

If it's going to be a really tough freeze, you might want to mulch the carrots. Especially if the shoulders stick up above ground. The rest should be OK but don't be alarmed if they don't look great when the sun comes up.
I ran the sprinkler on the vegetable garden about ten days ago to get the tomatoes through a light frost - covering with old sheets will help also. But we had a definite freeze last Friday night and I decided there weren't enough tomatoes left to bother with. The foliage was frosted and I have to finish picking the greenies.

It's supposed to get down to 30. If I cover that bed with a row cover, that might help a lot. I'm mainly worried about the carrots and greens. It's time to give up on the zukes and 'lopes. (Sigh.)

The potato plants are falling over and drying up. I'll probably harvest them in the next weekend or two.

I have the tomato plants right up next to my sliding back door. The "bleed-through" from the house might raise their environmental temperature by 1-3 degrees, enough to keep them from freezing, although they do look a little sad. There are some tiny tomatoes and flowers on them. It doesn't look good for their survival, but just out of curiosity I'd like to keep them going as long as I can.

The #^!@&* sqirrels keep digging up stuff. They dug up several potatoes, a garlic clove or two, and they dug into my tomato containers. Looking for what, I don't know. There's nothing there!

I don't want to spray Liquid Fence on the potatoes this close to harvest, but the garlic's still fair game. I think the tree rats got away with an entire bulb's worth of Georgia Crystal.

Going off rant, at least I don't have to worry about harvesting stuff Saturday night by flashlight. The greens and the carrots could do with some more growing.

You must have planted the potatoes quite late?

Not that late. I planted the potatoes in May. The zucchini and melons I planted late because flea beetles kept scouring them to the ground. It was the third round of plantings that finally survived. The carrots and lettuce, and some of the broccoli, were specifically planted as a fall crop.

Lilacs, I am in the same boat as you. I have some carrots that could be harvested now, but some that need more time, and I also planted a fall crop of spinach and lettuce that is still quite small. There are also a few onions still out there that I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and pull. Our forecast is calling for a low in the upper 20's for the next two nights, and a low of 27 with a chance of rain/snow mix on Sunday. We got a little rain last night, so the ground is fairly moist. I plan to use the row cover and hope for the best. The pumpkins, beans, and peppers in the veggie patch were done in by frost a couple of weeks ago, but I do have one container of pepper plants that are almost ready to harvest. I'm going to move that into the garage each night, to try to buy a little more time. Do you have a garage, or unheated basement you could move the container of tomatoes to? Or an old sheet that you could cover it with?

Here's to holding off old man winter : )
Bonnie

I just looked at the 10-day weather forecast. 28 for a low on Saturday, and lows in the low 30s all next week. I'll have to do a triage to figure out what vegetables can be saved and what are worth saving.

The melons and zucchinis are goners. After the freeze, I'll pull what's left and compost it. I have one row cover. I can drape it over the tomatoes, over the broccoli and potatoes, or over the carrots and lettuce. I might opt for the carrots and lettuce. The broccoli will probably be okay even at 28. They never formed heads, anyway, so even if they go I guess I'm not losing anything. The tomato plants do have small tomatoes, but it will probably take another three weeks to get anything edible, and I just don't think that's going to happen.

So that leaves the greens and the carrots. The potatoes will probably die, but it's harvest time for them, anyway. From what I understand, though, I'm not supposed to harvest until two weeks after they die back entirely. That will put it into November. I don't want the tubers to freeze solid. That's my job, after I cook and mash them.

I guess the Brussels sprouts will be okay. I've heard that frost makes them sweeter, but is 28 degrees too low? I also put in some fall crop brassica in September that are still small. I guess they won't head up, either.

Next year, I'm going to plant too early instead of too late, and worry about spring freezes for a change.

For the tomatoes, pull the plants, roots and all, and hang them upside down in a room that doesn't freeze. I hang them in my not-quite-freezing pantry/laundry room. They continue to ripen, and hold very well. Last year I grew Long Keeper, then hung the plants at the end of the growing season, and had tomatoes past March! The other tomatoes were finished by Christmas, but that's pretty good, too.

Catherine

If you double the row covers, you'll get more protection. Also, I store my carrots, beets, turnips right where they grow. Just pile on hay thickly and dig when you need them. Very easy.

Maybe a little off topic, but in what zone do you have to start worrying about the ground freezing?

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Lilacs - try the Savers by you for cheap sheets to use as covers. I got two king size sheets at Unique Thrift for $3 each that I've been using to protect the tomatoes.

I grew brussel sprouts last year that were tiny tiny when the snows hit last winter. I just left them until the spring and then they started getting to be brussel sprout size after it started warming up.

Assuming you are not talking about sweet potatos, a freeze will kill the tops but will not hurt the potatos under ground. My tops usually die back in mid-September but I leave some in the ground until around New Years and have never had a problem. On the other hand, you do not need to leave them in the ground for two weeks (or any amount of time) before harvesting. Again, I always dig some from living plants through August and early September.

Jack, I'm just guessing about zones and the ground freezing but our soil begins to freeze when daytime temperatures do not rise above freezing. After a week like that, frost has begun working its way down.

So, I'm thinking that places like Oklahoma City in zone 7 where daytime Winter temperatures below freezing are uncommon and not likely to be extended, would not experience this. Whereas, St. Louis, in zone 6, would have frozen soil at least during some Winters.

People in those zones should weigh-in if I'm off-base here.

Steve