Northern California Food Not Lawns Garden Update First Frost of 2009

Tips, Tricks

1. You may have heard of this by now, but you can pull up the tomato plants (roots and all) before frost hits and hang them upside down in the garage. They will continue ripening fruit for quite a while. My mother-in-law did it last year and the tomatoes kept going for almost another month after first frost.
2. @growingyourgreens : Straight to the compost bin. Thank you for getting back to me!
3. Once they frost, they will no longer live; they are recycled - composted.
4. Technically the last frost date is April 25th. Although I have planted as early as March 15, but your taking a chance. I now plant early and use remay or cover the small starts.
5. Your tomato plants are huge! I'm just curious, what are you going to do with them now that the first frost came through? Do you dig them up? or do you leave them alone to go into hibernation mode? I live in southern california and my little tomato plants (about 18") have started wilting... of course no frost here, but pretty darn cold (wimp here :) ) Any help would be greatly appreciated John! Btw you have great informative vids.
6. Hey John! Until what time does the frost usually last at your location? Here in the Netherlands they say after april 20th it's safe to plant again.