Frost in Late May? What the Heck?
According to NOAA, there's a "slight chance" for frost Sunday morning and Monday morning; nighttime temps are supposed to be 37 and 39 F, respectively. I guess it's a good thing I'm behind on planting my vegetable garden, but I do have two hot pepper plants out, and I'm worried about the wisteria I planted. It did not take kindly to the April snow
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And so far, the only vegetables I have outside (still in flats) are the cooler weather stuff such as leeks, cabbage, kale, spinach, collards, etc., which I expect will be okay. Oh, and the marigold seedlings. If it gets very nippy, they'll get covered with plastic overnight.
flummoxicated, do you have / use cloches? If your pepper plants are small enough to fit under a one-gallon water jug or one-gallon milk jug, cut the bottom off or, if the plant is very young and small enough that you can get away with this, cut a hole in the bottom just big enough for the pepper plant's "drip line. For overnight, probably leave the cap in place. You'll want some kind of stick or stake in the ground to which to tie the jug's handle to keep it from blowing away if there should be a breeze. (They're lightweight and have proportionately generous surfaces to catch the wind.)
If you don't have one-gallon jugs available, even a kitchen trash bag can protect your pepper plants . Clear plastic is preferred if they have to be covered during the day, but do remember with any kind of plastic or glass cover to vent them generously or actually remove them because even on a cloudy day heat will build up quickly enough to cook your baby plants or your young starts or seedlings.
"Glass." That reminds me that if the pepper plants or other 'youngsters' are small enough to fit under them, inverted canning jars or other glass jars placed over them during the night will keep them safe from frost or freeze (as long as the temperature doesn't get too, too low.) Remember to remove the jars in the morning before the sun gets going.
A cheap plastic drop cloth will serve as overnight protection, too, but you do have to secure it.
Spare bucket or pail?
Re: the heavy towel. I've never been a great fan of cotton (which I'm assuming your towel is) for warmth. I know that if I wear enough layers of cotton I'm plenty warm, but I mean in terms of blanketing plants which are so much less temperature adaptable than humans. Can you find a remnant of polyester fleece, or an inexpensive fleece "throw" or lap robe, maybe at someplace like Goodwill or at a rummage sale? Polyester fleece is something like 80-something or 90-something percent as effective an insulator when wet as wool is when it's wet---and wool retains at least 90-percent (higher, actually, if I recall correctly) of its insulating capacity when wet. A fleece cover or wrap covered with plastic (sheeting, bag, bag-opened-out-flat) would keep your babies warm and keep the warmth providing layer dry.
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