Gardening is always a risk. There's no way to predict, with certainty, the weather (unless you live closer to the equator...and even then...monsoons). Early Spring and late Fall growing comes with the risk of freezing temperatures. Temps below freezing means the water in the cells of your young seedlings can expand, bursting the cells and killing (or at least damaging) your crop.
We grow plants for food. We spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears to ensure a healthy garden to ensure the most food we can possibly grow for our family. That means being prepared to take steps to protect our plants from frost.
Luckily, there are a few, easy things to do to protect your investments:
1. Find Out Your Frost Dates
Check out the Farmer's Almanac's Frost Date site. Simply put in your zipcode to find your AVERAGE last frost dates in the Spring and first frost dates in the Fall. This will give you a good idea of when to plant, and for how long you'll have to be on freeze-alert.
Keep in mind, however, that your local topography can effect this - what your elevation is, sunken in a valley or high atop a mountain.
2. Water Your Plants The Day Before
This may seem counter-intuitive, but healthy, perky plants will bounce back quicker from stress than an already stressed plant. Plus, if you have an extended snap of cold weather, you're not going to want to water the plants for a few days.
3. Cover
Covering your plants with plastic sheeting, an old blanket, a milk jug, newspaper, or glass domes creates an area of dead space around the plant and helps the air trapped within act as an insulator. Just make sure not to let the cover actually touch your plants or it could burn them.
4. Mulch
Mulching the base of your plants heavily helps trap heat close to the roots. This is especially useful to protect the roots of your plants, if you're not yet worried about above the ground.
5. Heat
The last trick I recommend is using heat. Mainly because this makes me nervous. You can use heat lamps, or Christmas lights that give off a little heat to counteract the effects of cold. Another, safer, option is plastic gallon jugs full of water. Laid out in the sunlight, the water will warm up and then, placed throughout the garden, will radiate mild heat throughout the night.
Did I miss anything? Are you planting yet? Or do you just wait until after your last frost?
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Great post. An old farmer once told me to take some twine and lift and wrap the large leaves of the cauliflower around the heads and tie it up to help protect from late Spring frost, or early fall frost. I have 3 months left until the last frost, uggh sadly.
That's a great idea! I'll have to try that one this year. My cauliflower seedlings are already poking up...in my bathroom lol
I haven't planted outside yet, still two months of snow ahead of me, but i have broc and cauli started with plans to move it into the unheated greenhouse before too long :) I'm thinking I'll need to cover them and put a big black barrel of water in there too.
A greenhouse is on my garden wish list! My cauliflower seedlings just started poking up today! soooooo exciting! Although I have two months until my last frost date...so it'll take some diligence to keep them alive!
Dear @aibell.
Luckily we are not living in a frost prown landscape. We are more likely to fight the hot and allid in summer in our mediterranean climate. Just waten to drop by and thank you for resteeming the article about Co2 mitigation. Did not reach many people, but I will go on talking about that study anyhow.
All the best.
Moritz
Hi Moritz! No worries! I also sent it via email to friends and family members who are not on steem. I loved the positive outlook and the "what can I do" approach. I often worry about the issues with our economy, environment, culture but when I ask "what can I do" I'm often stumped. But I loved reading about practical things that I could do to help the CO2 problem!! Keep sharing amazing stuff @my-permaculture !
You can watch the work of "jean-martin fortier" and "eliot coleman" about this subject, they doing it right ;)
I'm just started my steemit about my work at gardening. Now i'm thinking about ; How to protect the harvest from insect & slugs héhé. Cover, again. :D
Great tips! Thanks for sharing these! :D
Most people around here plant their gardens Memorial Day weekend(These are the average joes, not the serious gardeners.) I’m planning on starting inside, then transfer after the frost. I’ve heard of people using bed sheets if it gets too cold at night, so I plan on doing that if need be.
I've used bed sheets and plastic sheeting (that I found in a shed) with great results. I've already started my seeds indoors because I got cabin-fever-ish!