Pretty much everyone talks about the weather, especially when they are growing any type of plants or seedlings. When ol Jack frost starts to get close, we gardeners really start paying close attention to the weather.

But even when you watch the weather three times a day or whatever. It's still a best guess as to when ol Jack frost will strike. Now is the time to get to thinking as to what you are going to do when Jack frost hits.
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Gardeners know that there are two critical times when frost can kill your growing season. That's the first frost and the last frost. Waiting until the last minute will only cause you stress and worry. So now is the time to develop a plan of defense.

If you are not sure as to what dates these occur then you can ask your County Extension Agent, or you can go online and find the Farmers Almanac for your region. But this will only tell you the history of the first and last frost that have already occured. This best guess will only go so far. The rest is up to you and how ready you are for them.

There are two different types of frost, there is the (light frost) and the (hard frost). Let's take a look at the light frost first. Because light frosts are usually the first ones to hit your plants. You might think that light frosts are anything to worry about. But the truth is that for some plants it might not make that big of difference. But for some plants it can be a serious blow to them.

Let's beat Jack Frost
Let's beat Jack frost at his own game. Here we will discuss what's in it for some of your plants and what you can expect, and how you want your plants to respond.

Light Frost
First of all when a light frost occurs it is because the tempertures hover right at freezing. They might dip a degree below the freezing mark. Then climb back up when the wind blows. This is because cold air sinks, and plants that are in low spaces will be at risk of frost than plants that are higher above the ground.

Plants that are tropical in nature like peppers, tomatoes, and basil have bacteria on their leaves that can actually cause frost damage. Hardier plants have little trouble with light frost and may even benefit from the light frost.


What you can do about ol Jack Frost
If you are planting seeds in the ground, you usually don't have anything to worry about with frost of either kind. Because by the time they get above ground the frost period is over with. But if you are planting seedlings or transplanting your plants these are the ones that you have to worry about.

These plants are just starting out and their roots have not had time to get fully established in the ground yet. You can use cans, old buckets, hay, mulch, or anything to cover these plants to keep the frost from getting to them.

Don't throw those old sheets or blankets away. Keep them to lay on your plants when you think that frost is close. Sheets are great because they don't weight your plants down but do keep the frost from reaching the plants. Blankets can be used for larger plants and for hard frosts. Since blankets are heavier then you might want to put stakes around the plants to keep the weight off of them. (HINT: A old tarpolien works great also.)

What I did was to buy some 1/2" pvc and some tees and ells. I cut the pve every 5' and put a tee in and glued back together. I would put ells on the end of the pvc and run it down the row on each side of the plants. At the ells and tees I put a 1' pvc in the ell and tees and made a little truss. Then lay my tarps over this. This would shield the plants from the frost and keep the tarps off of the plants. If you don't glue them together then after the threat of frost you can remove them and store them for the next time you need them.

Hard Frosts
If the weather calls for the temperature to drop into the upper 20's for several hours. This can lead to serious frost damage to your plants. This can even kill some plants. For this then I would suggest that you lay several blankets or tarps over these plants. It might weight them down a little. But they should spring back once the blankets or tarps are removed.

Happy Gardening, may all your plants bloom beautifully!

Jesse Auburg  Online Marketing  Entrepreneur
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