I doubt the freezing temps are going to hurt them as long as you get them planted and covered with a little dirt and leaves.
You might try my double rake method so you can get them covered with some dirt and leaves nicely.
First rake just the top layer of leaves over. You have to press down lightly but not hard enough to get those mostly broken down leaves or any of that nice mulchey compost layer on top.
Just pile those leaves up along the edge of your bed.
Then rake it again, this time raking down hard and get all of the broken down leaves, mulchy/composted stuff and as much top soil as you can and rake it over. You can just pile it up along the edge of your leaf pile, or you could rake it over to the other side of the bed.
Then you can drop your seeds, and any fertilizer (if using any)...
Then rake the composted leaf litter and top soil back on top of the seeds.
Then rake the leaves back on.
I usually walk the bed down after that, stepping on every bit of it best I can... BUT since yours are tailing big time at this point I would skip that step.
If you get them covered with a as much top soil and leaves as you can, then freezing temps should not be a problem.
PS.. I have some 3 leafers up already (were up on 3/18) and man it has turned off cold since they came up. There are just a very small number up at this point but they survived temps in the upper 20's (one night so far)...
It was 32 at my house at 5:30 am, and then just before sun up it moved to 31 degrees and just after sunup (for a short period) it moved to 30 degrees..
Down in the hollow where some of my early bird 3 leafers were up I am sure it was cooler than that. Probably in the 27-29 degree range.
A couple days later they were still up and green and looking good.
I think this stuff is a little tougher than we think sometimes !
TNhunter
