I'VE JUST SEEN A FROST

(Music: I'VE JUST SEEN A FACE, Lennon-McCartney) (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)

I've just seen a frost
I can't forget the plants I've lost
Because I didn't keep them decently
Protected -- I mean essentially
They died
Died, died, died, die-die-died

Had it been perpetual day
They would have looked the other way
At 35 F they wouldn't have frozen
But those clear night skies they caught 'em dozin'
They died
Died, died, died, die-die-died

Fallin', temperature's fallin'
And I feel maudlin
Remembering when

American crops like tomatoes
Peppers, eggplants, potatoes
Corn and beans, and basil too
Live or die depending what you do
At night
Night, night, night, nigh-nigh-night

Fallin', temperature's fallin'
And I feel maudlin
Remembering when 

Fallin', temperature's fallin'
And I feel maudlin
Remembering when 

From 32 to 38
They can die of cold or can look just great
If covered with Reemay or a sheet
Or sprinkled overhead, they may still taste sweet
The next day
Day, day, day, day-day-day

Sullen, yes I'm sullen
Cell walls are explodin'
With the cold

Carrots soon need diggin'
Or we'll be eatin'
Mush and mold

Fallin', temperature's fallin'
And I feel maudlin
Remembering when

Comments: The "American" crops referred to (basil is not a part of this list) come from Central or South America. Reemay is the brand name of a spun polyester fiber which can protect against light frosts. Carrots survive mild but not heavy freezes.
Radiation frosts -- frosts which occur under clear night skies at air temperatures above freezing -- are legendary among gardeners, and are thought to occur most frequently around the time of a full moon. 

 
Excerpted from The Beetless' Gardening Book: An Organic Gardening Songbook/Guidebook, copyright 1997 by Chris Roth (info./disclaimers) (glossary) (index) (gardening guide)