Frost Protection ….. a wise word on a few products
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
I know a lot of you will or have already started to get early plantings out into the garden, but if you don’t give them a little protection you investment in little starters and your valuable time just might take a hard hit from late hard frosts and the sometimes drying, burning gusty winds. On the market for several years and a favorite of many is the walls of water. This great product that you fill with water and place around each plant will offer protection to tender plants even when the temperature gets down to the mid teens. I have found it best to set these units up in the garden several days in advance to help warm the soil. An improvised lid over the top is recomended for those extra cold nights. Next in line and probably the most popular is the garden frost blanket. We have been selling this white spun-bound product for years. Offered in many sizes you can even cover an entire garden bed, containerized early plantings, or flats of garden center plants that you are “hardening off” before they are planted in the garden. They do vary in density but most will give you a seven degree of temperature protection. Other benefits of this product is you can use it year after year, it protects tender seedlings and transplants from sunburn as well as gusty drying spring winds. For crops that don’t need pollination you can leave the blanket on the entire season as it lets light and water through! This great product will also give you protection from insects as well as larger snackers (deer, rodents, and rabbits). Just make sure you anchor the fabric down securly or your distant neighbor just might find it in his garden after a very windy day.
Other products are on the market so you may want to shop around, but most importantly they are well worth the investment. With that said I will wrap up this little helpful hint and let you get back to the early spring garden………… Happy Planting………… Doug
I know a lot of you will or have already started to get early plantings out into the garden, but if you don’t give them a little protection you investment in little starters and your valuable time just might take a hard hit from late hard frosts and the sometimes drying, burning gusty winds. On the market for several years and a favorite of many is the walls of water. This great product that you fill with water and place around each plant will offer protection to tender plants even when the temperature gets down to the mid teens. I have found it best to set these units up in the garden several days in advance to help warm the soil. An improvised lid over the top is recomended for those extra cold nights. Next in line and probably the most popular is the garden frost blanket. We have been selling this white spun-bound product for years. Offered in many sizes you can even cover an entire garden bed, containerized early plantings, or flats of garden center plants that you are “hardening off” before they are planted in the garden. They do vary in density but most will give you a seven degree of temperature protection. Other benefits of this product is you can use it year after year, it protects tender seedlings and transplants from sunburn as well as gusty drying spring winds. For crops that don’t need pollination you can leave the blanket on the entire season as it lets light and water through! This great product will also give you protection from insects as well as larger snackers (deer, rodents, and rabbits). Just make sure you anchor the fabric down securly or your distant neighbor just might find it in his garden after a very windy day.
Other products are on the market so you may want to shop around, but most importantly they are well worth the investment. With that said I will wrap up this little helpful hint and let you get back to the early spring garden………… Happy Planting………… Doug
