To truly enjoy a cool season garden you will need to understand the skill of frost protection. In the cool season garden series we have been learning about the High Performance Garden Characteristic #9 Extending the Growing Season. Today we will be discussing when to cover what parts of the garden and how to accurately apply frost protection in your garden. Are you ready to begin? Join me in the Abundance Garden to discuss the theory behind Frost Protection.
For the majority of gardeners we will experience frost and hard freezes. If we can protect our plants through the lighter frosts we can extend our gardening season and truly get the most out of our gardens. In a high performance garden I can usually extend my season up to 8 weeks for my cold weather crops and 3-4 weeks for my warm weather crops. As you prepare for frost protection in your garden it is important to know what a cool and warm weather crop is. A cold weather plant can withstand a freeze down to about 20-25 deg. F. A warm weather plant will not tolerate any frost at all and will die once frozen. You can get the list of warm and cool weather plants in the article Know Your Planting Zones. This article is also a great resource for estimating your first frost date in your garden which you will need for planning purposes.
In my growing zone I have a very short season, so the warm weather plants will generally have immature fruit on them when the first frost threatens. We will usually get a frost down around 20 degrees towards the end of September. After that first frost it generally warms up and may not freeze until the end of October. Every year my goal is to get the tomatoes and peppers through that first frost so they can continue to vine ripen into October.
About 3 weeks ahead of my average 1st frost date I will start watching the weather forecast. I will use the same forecast every day to get a feel for how accurate it is for my garden. I use weather.com and it can get about 4 degrees colder in my garden then what they predict for my zip code. Every garden will have its own micro climate and temperature range. You will want to get a thermometer and put it in the garden so you can figure out the difference in temperature that your garden has from the forecast.
Once I know that I have 4 degrees colder to subtract from the estimated forecast I can predict the nights that I will need to cover the plants. Start monitoring your temperatures to get an idea of when you will need to protect your garden.
For the warm weather plants, I will cover them if the forecast says it will be 36 deg. F or colder. For the cool weather plants I know that they will take a frost easily down to 25 deg. F so I will cover them if the forecast says it will be 29 or lower. Once you figure out how many degrees your garden differs from the forecast you can add or subtract from 32 deg. F to know when to cover your plants.
It is fun to have garden crops even after you have had a few frosts. So, stay tuned for next week to learn about how to cover your garden! How is your cool season garden going? Would you like to end the year with an easy and efficient garden that will produce more nutrient dense produce than you have ever had before? Check out the Leafy Greens Container Garden or the Abundance Garden Course to begin your high performance garden today!
Until next time may your garden be easy, fun, productive and always organic!
Lynn
Email Lynn any questions you have about cool season gardening or any type of gardening question. She would love to help you achieve the high performance garden of your dreams!
