Updated Apr 19, 10:13 PM Posted Apr 19, 10:13 PM By Mark Torregrossa | mtorregr@mlive.com Source: M Live
We have two or three overnights and early mornings of freezing temperatures in store for Lower Michigan this week. There are some things you can do to save your gardens.
The damage to plants that only last a year (annual flowers and annual vegetables) comes from frozen plant tissue not being able to get nutrients after the freeze.
So any steps you can take aim at keeping the ice from building up on your plants.
First a reality check- it’s only April 19, and there shouldn’t be many annual plantings yet in your garden. There are a few annual vegetables and a few annual flowers that can take a light frost. No annual plants can take a hard freeze with five hours of 28 degrees or lower. We may have that magnitude of cold either Tuesday night/Wednesday morning or Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Wednesday night/Thursday morning has the highest chance of the coldest air for all of southern Lower Michigan.
Cabbage and broccoli are two plants that can take a light frost and survive. (Photo from Matt Bouvy/Abele Greenhouse) Source: M Live Shidonna Raven Garden and Cook
On April 10, I wrote that it would be okay to plant these plants now. At that time a 25 degree night for several hours didn’t look likely. But those are still the plants that you can try to get through this harsh cold spell coming.
If it’s individual plants, like cabbage, then find as many pots or coffee cans or small buckets as you can. Put the bucket right over the plant right at sunset. While the air may drop into the 20s, the soil is still around 40 degrees in many places. That 40 degree heat will fill the bucket with above freezing air. It just might get your plants through the cold. You can do this bucket trick with any individual plant. If you call around to some long-time local greenhouses, you might find what the old-timers call “hot caps.” Hot caps are a bowl shaped wax paper with a rim that you can pile soil on to hold the hot cap down.
If you have a row of plants it’s a little tougher. You can use an old blanket or towel and lay it on top of the row of plants. You could put a tarp on that to add an extra layer.
If you have a row of small plants, like spinach or peas just out of the ground, you could actually take a hoe and cover the plants over with soil. Bury the plants. Two days with the plants buried wouldn’t kill the plants. Thursday you could uncover the row.
Many people are asking about daffodils and tulips. Do you need to cover those flowers, and can you cover them? If we drop to 25 degrees for a few hours, any plant tissue will freeze. So yes you should cover them if you want to see the flowers last a few more weeks. The daffodils have been blooming for a few weeks, so they are about done. It might not be worth the effort for daffodils, but I’d go for it with tulips.
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If you have perennial flowers and perennial herbs, they will be okay and live through the cold. Again though, 25 degrees will freeze and kill most any plant tissue. So unprotected perennials may have their first buds killed and will have to grow out a second set of buds. You can take buckets or garbage cans and cover the perennials. You might stop or minimize the damage.
One last radical step could be done to save plants like tomatoes. Hopefully you haven’t rushed it. If you did, you could dig the tomatoes back up, taking a large soil ball. Brings those plants with the large soil ball into the garage. It’s a mess, but it will save your tomatoes and peppers.
Have you chosen your seeds yet? When will you be planting? When will begin planting?
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