The plants you mentioned can all survive temporary freezes. That's not a problem. The potential problems are your plants were not born outside, but in the sheltered indoors. Try putting them out when the weather promises to be mild for a couple days and they should be OK.

If you have reason to believe you will have freezing temps for more than 24 hours I wouldn't put them outside. Being cold tolerant is one thing, being able to go from heated house to sub freezing outdoor conditions overnight is another.

Generally you don't want to plant anything that will have to endure freezes. You can 'cheat' this system a bit with winter sowing or providing protection in the form of hoop houses, cold frames etc., but there is no veggie that will live for long with air/soil temps below freezing. Some are just more tolerant than others.

I had freezing weather a little while back and the Kale and Collards I had out were not fazed. There was even frost on the leaves. The low was 23. Kele, collards and the other should be OK. If you are planting lettuce you might one to wait a bit. I am putting mine in this week from seed. If the get killed then I plant again. The seeds are cheap are them not

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Some broccoli varieties as Packman have a tendency to button up if set out too early in prolonged unsettled weather. Tom

Broccoli and collards love a good frost

I set some of my seedlings out this week beneath a plastic covered tunnel. It's vented on both ends, but because it's wide enough to cover the row, the soil itself absorbs and retains solar warmth. When I've used cloches or hotcaps, the tops of the plants were protected, but early growth was not as fast as with the bigger tunnel.

Do use some type of protection, even if they are milk carton cloches. It's not the cold, but cold wind that will stress the plants. I use cutworm collars made from cut up plastic cups, too. It's sooo sad when you get seedlings all the way to transplanting and then lose them to cutworms.

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I am struggling with the same questions Bella trix.

I live in zone 7 and kale and collards do just fine here throughout the winter were the low temperatures can be high 20Âs at night followed by warmer 40Âs and 50Âs during the day. All kale literature I read says itÂs flavor is even improved by frost.

What I started to do this year was to set my cold hardy plants out in waves. So for cold hardy stuff like snowpeas, kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli, onions, and spinach plant a 3rd now, another 3rd in a couple of weeks, and the last 3rd a couple of weeks after that. This way your whole crop is not wiped-out with some bad weather, and if you are lucky the stuff you start early will survive and you will get fresh veggies earlier and have a longer harvest period. I am doing the same with lettuce, which is a little less cold hardy, starting this week.

I start my plants indoors and harden them for 5 to 7 days on my covered patio before transplanting them into the garden. It is important to slowly acclimate them to outdoor conditions, both the lower temperature and the direct sunlight, before sticking them into the ground.

A moderately heavy row cover, especially if you can rig it so that it's not directly in contact with the seedlings, will provide shelter from wind, frost, and sun for a couple of weeks until it warms up more.

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Thanks, everyone, for your help! I waited to plant until March 25th when I would have at least three days above freezing. I put all my transplants under 1g water jugs (tops off) for a few days to give them protection from the sun and wind. Of course, five days after I planted, it dropped down to 25F! Aggh! I removed the plastic water jugs that were touching leaves, spread Christmas light under the plants and my frost tarps over the plants. I don't think the lights really did anything (I use the small bulbs, should have used the large bulbs), but I'm sure the ghostly glow gave my neighbors something to talk about. In any case, all the plants were fine through the low temperatures, even the ones with a little frost on their leaves. Here are some of them now:

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Kohlrabi and Lettuce on the right, Kale, Collards, Cabbage and Broccoli on the left. They look a little bare now, but once it warms up, I'll plant Alyssum and Chamomile in between the plants and Jolly Jester Marigolds on the edges.

Thanks again,
Bellatrix