I am not able to give much advice but I wanted to say I am so sorry for your greenhouse loss. That must be awful!

Can you cover plants with plastic? Just a thought. The kind they sell for painting is fairly cheap.

I also use gallon jugs and plastic kitty litter jugs to protect plants. They are opaque but do let in the light.

I cut the bottoms off the jugs and use the opening (where the cap goes) as a vent hole. I use jugs for my wintersowing so I had plenty saved up for protection.

I also use them for tender plants to protect from munching rabbits. I might add more vent holes as it gets warmer for those.

I have done this with perenials not tomatoes though.

Good luck with the plants!!!!

Karen

Now we are getting a lot of frost and below 0 temps again...

You don't indicate a zone or location so can I ask where you live that you would be trying to grow tomatoes when temps outside are 0? I must be missing something here because no one can grow tomatoes in that kind of weather.

Are these just young seedlings or actual plants? What size containers are they in? What kind of sun exposure can they get?

Need lots more details please.

Dave

I'm in northern Alberta ( Canada )...it's 5 C today, but it's supposed to drop down to below 0 again tonight. We had been having nice (17 C) weather up until a few days ago...and then the frost hit. You can see your breath outside right now...it's chilly.
Some of them are seedlings, and those ones I bought a small plastic greenhouse for ( it's about 2 feet tall)...I've left them outside for now, but wondering if I should bring them in.
The others are flowering plants. One of them already has a small beefsteak starting on it.
During the "uncloudy" days, they can get full sun from 9-9, depending on where I put them and how often I move them.
I still have them in the containers they came in.

They will be fine

1st off, I live in the same area (Leduc), and I feel your pain. My first planting of outdoor tomatoes died off with that frost a week or 2 ago, even with covering.That's why I grow extra seedlings, so I have backups for my outdoor plants.

Dealing more directly with your question,I move my container tomatoes in and out of the garage every morning and night(I only have so much space in my small greenhouse).I use mechanics wire to tie an upside down tomato cage to the top of my 5 gallon buckets, so that the stems have some support, in case I was a little rough with the moving. My black cherry done like this is about 4 feet tall, and has dozens of fruit, with some beginning to ripen.

Oh, awesome. Glad that someone else can feel my pain. lol
Well, if it's good enough for your Leduc tomatoes, then it's certainly good enough for my St Albert ones.
Thanks to all of you for your quick responses.

Sorry, I was a little ambiguous. I meant they will be fine to move in and out, not fine to leave outside. It sounds like it will get real nasty tonight, so take everything inside that you can.

lol! It's ok...I understood what you meant.
Just glad I didn't take down the awning from over my apple tree. It's in full blossom...lost all our apples last year from the wind.
Thanks again!

Oh, your poor greenhouse! :( I'm out in SK, so feeling your pain as well. We've got a risk of frost tonight, too. I've got all the toms and peppers in my small (hoop) cold frames with a little space heater under there. The peppers and pole bean starts in are in there, too.

If you have cages or stakes, could you set them up in and around the flats on your lawn and then cover with blankets like you would with a fall frost? I'm assuming anyone gardening in the prairie provinces would have a stash of garden blankets somewhere. ;)

Just brought in everything that I could carry, and covered up those things that I couldn't...it's snowing!!! UGH!!!
It's June...this should NOT be happening. *sniff*
It's been snowing south east of Edmonton ( Camrose area ) for the last half hour already...
Is Spring EVER going to come? What are the chances for summer comming?
Good thing I believe in the Farmer's Almanac and not the weather network. lol
What are the chances of my tomatoes getting fruit if I just leave them on my living room floor? I could use a small paint brush for pollinating right?