Although gardeners in most growing zones face frost at some points in the winter, frost is the most devastating to plants in the spring and fall, when plants are actively growing. Gardeners can protect most plants from a light frost with recyclables and garden supplies.
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Gardeners should not only be aware of their USDA growing zone, but they should also consult their local county extension for the average first and last frost in their area. Counting back from these dates helps determine the proper time to start seeds, and alerts gardeners when to stop fertilizing to help plants harden off for the winter.
Depending on the severity of the frost, gardeners can choose from several items to use as a garden frost blanket. The floating row cover that kept squash bugs off the garden in the summer also offers a few degrees of frost protection. Heavy-duty row covers may provide up to 10 degrees of frost protection, but old sheets and blankets can provide similar protection in small areas.
A 3-inch layer of organic mulch protects perennials from frost heaving when temperatures are variable. Hybrid tea roses, which need protection at the graft union, need as much as 10 inches of soil and mulch mounded around the base of the plants before subfreezing temperatures arrive.
Depending on the vegetables a gardener grows, a light frost can be a welcome visitor in the vegetable garden. Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and kale are not only frost-tolerant, but develop an improved taste from extra sugar production when frost hits. Gardeners can harvest unripe tomatoes for frying or pickling, and other tender vegetables like zucchini can be harvested and used as baby vegetables in salads.
Late spring frosts can decimate seedlings set out too early in the vegetable garden. The best defense is Wall O’ Water garden teepees, which gardeners can fill with warm water for added protection. However, this can be an expensive solution in a large garden, so gardeners should improvise with milk jugs and 2-liter soda bottles with the bottoms cut out. Painting these homemade cloches black and placing them over plants before the sun sets allows even more warmth to collect under the vessels.
It’s frustrating when weather forecasters predict an early frost in the fall flower garden, as many weeks of good growing weather may follow. The tenderest annuals in the garden may show blackening and withering even at temperatures that hover above the freezing mark.
Coleus, impatiens, potato vine, and petunias will show signs of dieback when any frost touches the garden. However, these plants may send up new growth from the roots if a month or more of growing weather follows the frost, so don’t yank the plants until a hard freeze occurs.
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