What to Harvest Before the First Frost
Pick tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans, and basil before the first 32F night. Greens take a light frost. Kale, carrots, and parsnips can stay in.
Published by ThriveThyme
first frost fall harvest frost tolerance
The Short Answer
Pick every warm-season crop before the first night forecast at 32F or below. Cool-season greens and cabbage-family crops can take a light frost (28 to 32F). Kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, spinach, leeks, carrots, and parsnips can stay in the ground through hard frost.
Check your date on the first frost date page, then use the Frost Harvest Desk for a countdown and a crop list sorted by group.
Pick Before 32F (Tender)
These are damaged or killed by a light frost:
- Tomatoes: pick ripe fruit and mature green fruit. Finish the greens indoors. See how to ripen green tomatoes indoors.
- Peppers and eggplant: pick all usable fruit. Green peppers are fine to eat.
- Basil: cut it all early. Leaves blacken once nights drop into the 40s.
- Cucumbers, summer squash, and beans: pick everything usable.
- Sweet corn and okra: pick what is ready. Frost ends both.
- Watermelon and cantaloupe: pick ripe melons. Unripe melons do not sweeten off the vine.
- Winter squash and pumpkins: cut fruit with hard rinds before a hard frost. Leave a few inches of stem.
- Sweet potatoes: dig before frost and before soil drops below 50F.
Can Take a Light Frost (28 to 32F)
Cover these on frost nights and harvest before a hard freeze below 28F:
- Lettuce, Swiss chard, arugula, and bok choy
- Beets and radishes
- Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kohlrabi
- Peas and celery
Extension lists differ on a few of these. Cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, and peas often hold into the mid 20s F. Treat 28F as the safe line.
Leave In (Frost Sweetens or Holds)
- Kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts
- Spinach and leeks
- Carrots, parsnips, and turnips: mulch and dig before the ground freezes solid
Why they get sweeter: vegetables that taste better after frost.
Curing and Storing
- Winter squash and pumpkins: cure in a warm spot, about 80 to 85F, for 1 to 2 weeks, then store cool and dry. Skip curing for acorn squash.
- Sweet potatoes: cure warm and humid for about a week before storing.
- Do not refrigerate tomatoes, peppers, or winter squash. Cold below about 50F hurts quality.
Next Steps
Ride out a light frost with covers: protecting plants from early frost. Put empty beds to work with the Cover Crop Desk or plant garlic with the Garlic Desk.