Should I keep my cabbage covered over easter vaction?

OK , I might have been a little early on planting my cabbage plants. In central Il we have a frost warning in place over the weekend and I have been covering them the last two nights and uncovering them midmorning. I was wondering should I keep them covered for 2 days or just trust "cold hardy" vegatables to do what they do? I am not to worried about some of the other things I have planed for some reason but I am being careful with my cabbage plants. I have been covering most of them with buckets and I am thinking if I leave them covered it will bake them in two days with good sun. My plan is maybe prop the buckets up a bit with a rock to vent. What I don't have buckets for I used straw to lightly mulch them and have not moved the straw in the daytime but no more straw. So what are your thoughts?
Should I keep my cabbage covered over easter vaction?
If they have been in the ground for a few weeks or so I would not worry about covering them. Straw is great. Cabbages are hardy and yes, keeping buckets over them over Easter could be a disaster if the weather gets warm. Just mulch heavy and count on cabbage hardiness. If you lose them, it is not too late to start again.
Reply:okay. Cover them, but only partially.if you leave a little space for air to get in, the plant will harden, and get stronger, and wont die. every day after, lift the cover about one inch higher, until the plant is completely exposed. then yu wont have to worry anymore.
Reply:If they're hardy they should be ok, assuming that they are fairly well established. Don't use buckets to cover them unless you are going to be there next morning to remove them: a combination of baking under a bucket without any light will be disastrous for your crop unless you like limp, straggly yellow cabbage.



If you want to cover them straw is fine to use, although I usually use either dry bracken leaves or a bit of hessian material. Both will let light penetrate, both will keep frost off and both will dry out without trapping moisture so if it rains your plants won't rot. Good luck!