.."cold" being a relative term, of course. Here in phoenix, even in winter, it rarely gets down to, or below, freezing. Tonight, it's supposed to hit 31, so in order to insure that my tomatoes do not freeze to death, I've taken a few steps..
For the tomato plants in the ground, around the periphery of the backyard, I've covered/wrapped them in blankets or frost cloth.
Here's the 4 plants along the east wall. I've run a string of christmas lights through and around them, to add a little warmth, and covered with a couple of frost cloths.
There's also the solo plant along my south wall. Since it was just one plant, a whole string of lights seemed overkill, so I filled a 1 quart bottle with very warm water, placed it at the bottom of the plant, and wrapped the whole thing with a blanket.
My 'Ildi' tomato plant, the sole tomato plant in the side garden. This one should be okay, as it has a wall behind it, lots of pavers on the ground near it, plenty of landscaping bricks near it, and the side of the house to its east.. but to be safe, I covered it with a microfiber sheet, and put another bottle full of warm water at its base. For anyone wondering, that's our grape vine in the corner. It's about 2.5" thick at its base.
.. and then there's the 5 potted plants. For these, I moved them along the back wall of the house, where it's just a tiny bit warmer, and ran another string of lights along them.
.. tomorrow is supposed to get down to 27 or 28.. so, fingers crossed this is enough. After tomorrow, it's suppose to warm up again, with lows around 40 for at least a week or two.