Protecting Vegetables from Frost
It's been spring for a little while, but it's cold as the dickens out there. Many vegetables, even the frost-hardy ones, can wither if it gets too chilly. An easy, if not exceedingly attractive, way to protect tender plants is by putting old Kahlua bottles, milk cartons, or even cardboard boxes over the top. From experience, I sleep better in cardboard than surrounded by Kahlua (though I do like Kahlua-soaked dreams) and I trust my plants feel the same. Seriously, corrugated cardboard works quite well. According to the experts, it's best to put your covers on before it get too cold and try to water your garden before doing so -- the extra water will prop up the temperature a bit.
Good list of the various frost tolerances for plants here.
2 comments:
Good tip, especially considering that last average frost for this area is early May - and to have to wait until then (and lose the 50-70 GD days during April) seems like such a waste of time during our relatively short growing season.
Can the cardboard boxes be left on during the day or will they smother the plants?
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