Today’s Garden Ideas

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As the fall weather approaches, we begin to think about what we need to do to protect our garden from the colder weather. The biggest danger to outdoor plants and flowers as the nights begin to grow longer and colder is frost. Frost is a huge risk to your garden as it will quickly kill your beautiful blooms and possibly, any fall vegetables that you have planted. Here are a few quick tips on how to protect your garden from frost this fall.

Of course the best way to protect your garden is to plant only things that can stand up to the frost. Looking for plants that are deemed “frost hardy” can be a good starting point but also make sure you ask local nurseries what will grow well in your local climate as sometimes this term only indicates that the plant can stand up to light frost. Asking your neighbors what works well in their gardens can also give you a better indication of what to plant, especially if you’re new to the area.

If you’ve already planted things that won’t stand up to frost very well or you simply want blooms or vegetables in your garden that you think may not do well in frost, there are certain things that you can do to protect them. The first is ensuring that you store the heat your garden gathers throughout the day and allow the plants to use it during the night. This can be done by covering the plants with a container or other covering of some sort. Small plants can be capped with an upside-down jar or other plastic container, as long as you make sure that the plant is completely covered so that the frost does not come into contact with the plant and that the heat from the ground will remain trapped inside. Large plants can be covered with newspaper to help protect them. If there’s a large area of the garden that you want covered, simply place a stake at each corner of the garden and lay a tarp over the stakes. Make sure to remove all coverings and tarps in the morning so the ground can begin to store heat again.

Potted plants generally don’t do well in the frost. This is because their roots are left unprotected and therefore, vulnerable to damage. Take them inside at night if you can, making sure to put them back out in the morning or bury the entire pot in the ground; it will still be able to use some of the heat.