Early season crops and a blizzard

We like to get a crop of cold hardy crops in the ground in early April. Stuff like kale, brassicas, radishes, and salad greens. We plant our crop of napa cabbage for kimchi making at this time of year, also. This year we had a bit of a distraction due to the birth of our first child, and instead of doing the smart thing and checking the weather forecast before planting, I just went ahead and put 40 or so cabbage, broccoli, and brussel sprout plants in the ground. Two days later we got a foot of snow and temps in the teens. Whoops.

Right before the snow hit I covered the plants in straw and wetted it down with the hose. The snow piled on top of the straw, providing additional insulation. For the next four days (up to and including today) temps ranged from the high teens to low 30s. I uncovered one plant to see how it was doing on an afternoon with above freezing temps. The brussel sprout plant looked happy and healthy, much to my relief and delight. Phew!

Out of an unfortunate screw up, we have learned an easy, cheap, and effective way to protect cold hardy plants when the weather doesn't respect our wishes.  Which, in South Dakota, is most of the time.