In the 29 years I've lived in Pasadena, we've had 1 or no frosts each winter. If we had a frost it would be in early January. This year we had two hard frosts in February destroying eggplant seedlings that I had put out. It is unprecedented. Now I learn today that we have another possible frost alert. The temperature high in Pasadena was in the sixties today and the snow level is supposed to drop to 3000 feet.
Now in New England I now the drill of frosts in the Fall but a new routine of dealing with killing frosts in the Spring is a whole new concept. Afterall in Pasadena, many plants survive through the winter with nary a scar: beets, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, leeks, garlic, rutabaga and all herbs.
Having lost plants this February, I'm not taking any chances so I've covered the eggplant and also the tomatoes. See picture of Mark's old shirts clothes pinned to the towers to protect the tomatoes. It's colorful at least and good use of both the shirts and the towers.
