We got a bit excited with all this warm weather, and planted our peppers and eggplants last week.  We know better.  But we did it anyway.

 

Our cold hardiness zone is between 6 and 7 and our last frost date is actually May 15th.  When we heard the forecast for this week, we had to do something to protect those tender plants from cold damage.  The kale, spinach, and lettuces don't mind 40 degrees, but tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants want to be warm.
 

Fortunately we haven't planted our tomatoes yet, so we still have all the 2 liter bottles that we use to deep-water the tomatoes.  We put bamboo stakes beside each plant and dropped the big bottles down over each one letting the stake come through the small hole at the top.  
 

IT WORKED!!!!  All our plants did fine!  We take them off during the day when it's warm, and put them back on at night to protect them from the cold.

The last cold snap before planting season is called "blackberry winter" around here.  Look around and you can see that the wild blackberries everywhere are blooming, hence the name.  

Maybe, next year I will be patient and wait until after blackberry winter to plant the warm season crops.  I don't mind planting them once, but I really don't want to have to plant them twice.  Maybe I'll wait til May 15th.  Then again, since we now have a garden hack, maybe we'll risk it.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!