Protect your garden from frost

The winds are whipping out there today and the temperature dipped overnight. I checked out the weather forecast and was surprised to see that the temps may dip as low as 32° tonight. Hey, my squash is looking great, I’m not ready for it to freeze yet! I bet I’m not alone in this thinking. The temps are getting lower at night and flirting with frost, so maybe it’s time to look at how to protect your fall garden.

We talked about how to prepare the unused portion of your garden for the winter, but how can you prepare the plants still in your garden for the coming frost? The first thing that comes to mind is to simply cover your plants. This will work as long as it doesn’t get too cold, and it is simple to do. Get a lightweight plastic tarp, sheets, newspaper, or whatever you can come up with and put it over the plants in early evening. The idea is to cover the plants before the heat of the day escapes. Trap the warmth under the cover to protect the plants overnight. Be careful to keep the covering from squashing the plant! It’s important not to forget to remove the cover in the morning, or as soon as the temperatures rise. The plants can suffocate if you don’t! This is probably the easiest method in a raised bed, but not too tough in a conventional garden either.

Ready for some not quite as obvious ideas? Well, at least not quite as obvious to me… The first thing you can do is keep an eye on the forecast and water the garden a day or two before the frost is predicted. The moisture in the air around the plant will help keep it warmer. If you don’t mind the water bill, you can also put the sprinkler on and lightly spray the plants all night. The running water will take a lot longer to freeze. Another idea is to hang small lights, like Christmas lights, around the garden. Come on, we’ve all seen Christmas lights out already, so put yours to good use – decorate your garden! The heat coming off of the lights will suffice to keep the frost off of the plants. Another suggestion is to mulch. It seems I can’t get through a blog post without suggesting mulch, but there it is. Protect the plants and their roots with a layer of mulch. A couple of inches should do!

I am interested to hear any other ideas to keep the frost at bay! Let us know if you have any.