Spraying frosted plants with water?

[GrannieAnnie]

My toms and squash have been planted out for a number of weeks now but last night after dark I learned the temps were to go below freezing so  wearing a miner's light and feeling strange I crept about and tried to cover every zinnia and tender plant with with every pot and basket in the house and fleece or pine needles and newspapers and plastic bags... the garden looked like a dump when finished.

Then this morning I sprayed the plants with water since some things weren't covered but were frosted like the fig tree. 

Will that really help?? i thought I'd read somewhere that water keeps the cells from breaking open if performed before the sun hits the plants. Or is that also an old husband's tale?

[GrannieAnnie]

[tim]

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,59557.0.html