How to Protect Your Plants from Frost Damage

The October Frost Doesn't Have to Mean Your Plants Get Lost

Cold fall evenings don't have to mean that your plants and flowers die right away. Frost damage can be avoided. Granted, you won't have a lush, full, fruitful garden in the middle of December, but with the following tips, your garden will last until the weather is too cold to produce anything.

Methods to Protect from Frost

You can do several things to safeguard your plants from frost:

• Water the garden thoroughly before it gets dark.
• Consider using an electric fan to artificially create a breeze to prevent frost from settling. (Be sure to use caution and be sure to protect electrical connections from the elements.)
• Cover it up before dusk. Your garden's stored heat is lost before it gets dark. If you can, build a frame around the plants, and drape newspaper, cardboard or plastic tarps over your plants to prevent heat loss.
• You can use jars to cover smaller plants, but be sure to remove them in the morning so they don't overheat in the sun.
• Collect heat during the day by painting plastic milk jugs black, filling them with water, and placing them in the daytime sun around your plants. The collected heat will radiate throughout the night.
• Move container-grown plants inside. Or, if that's impossible, wrap the pot in burlap or bubble wrap, or even bury the pot to protect the foliage.

If none of those efforts work and your plants do receive some frost damage, don't cut the damaged parts off of your plants. The dead leaves and stems will insulate your plants from further damage. (You'll have to prune your plants in the spring anyway.)

Pay the Cost to Fight the Frost

For more information about safeguarding your garden from frost until winter hits, call KC Landscape Curbing at (816) 820-0965.