Participants: Wayne County Vocational Agriculture students,  Justin Horton Vo Ag teacher, Extension ANR agent and assistants.  

Situation:  Two late rows of tomatoes in the school garden were loaded with large smooth green tomatoes and an early frost was predicted.  The two primary options were to harvest mostly every tomato except the smaller green ones cover the tomatoes to protect them from the frost.  The ANR agent had experience extending the season for garden produce and decided to build an A-Frame structure and double-covering it with tobacco canvas on October 6.  The rows were each about 120 feet in length.  On October 15 and 16 I removed the canvas on one side and harvested 1000 lbs of large green and ripening tomatoes.  I put the canvas back on and harvested 300 lbs on November 2.  The forecast predicted very cold weather and we decided to terminate the crop.  On November 10 we did a final harvest of 150 lbs and disassembled the  the protective structure. We also pulled the plants up and removed the landscape fabric between the rows.  Next we  removed the plastic mulch and dripline.  Most of these tomatoes have been used in the cafeterias.  We took some of the ripe ones to our local soup kitchen to keep from losing them and to benefit people who are food insecure.  This was a lot of extra work for the students and extension staff, but the tomato quality and total yield made it a great success.