As the temperatures drop and winter approaches, gardeners are left with the challenge of protecting their plants from frost damage. Here at Riverview Tree and Landscaping, we understand the importance of safeguarding your investments in a garden. Knowing how to protect plants from frost is important in keeping your garden healthy and thriving all the way through the colder months.
Why You Need to Know How to Protect Plants from Frost
Frost is dangerous for plants, especially those that are not resistant to the cold. As temperatures move below freezing, the interior of plant cells freezes, forming ice crystals. While this happens, the cell wall explodes, and sometimes it will kill the plant. In this regard, damage can be prevented by knowing how to save your plants from frost which will save you losses from damaging your garden. More so, saving your plants is an extension of the growing season and, thus allows you to spend more time in your garden.
Methods to Protect Plants from Frost
There are several methods on how to protect your plants from frost damage effectively. Let’s explore some of the most popular techniques:
Covering Plants
Covering plants is the most basic way to save them from frost. You can cover your plants with anything such as a blanket, sheet, or frost cloth, which will separate your plants from cold air. While covering your plants, ensure that the cover goes all the way to the ground so that it can trap warmth from the soil. Once in a while, remove the covers to allow sunlight and air circulation.
Creating a Microclimate
Creating a microclimate around your plants is another effective way of protecting them from frost. You can do this by positioning your plants near walls, fences, or large rocks that absorb heat during the day and release it at night. You can also make use of mulch to insulate the soil at the base of the plants to retain warmth.
Using Water to Protect Plants
Believe it or not, water can be a good defense mechanism against frost on plants. The heat of moist soil is longer retained than that of dry soil, so watering before the frost event can make plants warm up. Even some gardeners use sprinkler systems to make a protective ice layer around the plants, keeping them from freezing temperatures.
Moving Potted Plants Indoors
One of the easiest means of protecting potted plants from frost is to move them indoors. You simply bring them into a garage, shed, or your house when frost is expected. This is useful for tender plants that are not cold hardy.
How to Protect Plants from Frost
Having said all these above, this is not an exhaustive list on how to protect plants from frost, but additional tips could be useful as in the sections below;
Be Alert Regarding Weather Predictions
Find out if weather forecasts do indicate when the occurrence of frost might take place. For you, such weather will imply a period within which most plants require to be frost-protected.
Prioritize Sensitive Plants
Protect the most sensitive plants first, which includes tender annuals, tropical plants, and recently planted specimens that have not had a chance to develop hardy root systems.
Avoid Fertilizing Late in the Season
Late seasonal fertilizing promotes a new growth spurt, leaving the plant more sensitive to frost. Fertilizing should be stopped approximately six weeks before the first expected frost in your area.
Prune with Caution
Prune with care at the end of summer or early fall. Pruning stimulates new growth that may not have a chance to harden off before frost.
Use Protective Structures
Invest in cold frames, hoop houses, or greenhouses for long-term protection of your plants. These structures can create a warmer environment and extend the growing season.
Group Plants Together
By planting them in clusters, you provide the potted plants with warmth from one another and help create a microclimate that is more resistant to frost damage.
Choose Hardy Zone Appropriate Plants
In designing your garden, select plants hardy for your hardiness zone. The hardy plants are naturally more resistant to frost damage and, therefore, require less protection.
Know How to Protect Plants from Frost
Protection from frost: knowing how to preserve your plants is the core of a good gardener. Using the techniques and tips you will have learned, you will safeguard investments in your garden and maintain a thriving landscape even in the face of low temperatures. Protecting your plants from frost will save you money by saving you from losses of plants but also the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful garden throughout the year.
Riverview Tree and Landscaping is dedicated to helping customers create and maintain their beautiful outdoors. Understanding how to protect plants from frost is one of the ways to be an ever-more successful and skilled gardener. Actually, all that is needed is a little preparation and knowledge to keep your plants healthy and vibrant through the cold months.
Frost can destroy your gardening effort; but with these techniques on how to protect plants from frost, face those cold seasons without a worry. Come spring, when this garden bursts back into action and gets ready to supply beauty and fun for another year.
At Riverview Tree and Landscaping, we’re here to guide you through all your gardening and landscaping needs, be it advice, supplies, or larger landscaping projects; our staff of experts stands ready to help you out.
Happy gardening!
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