How to Safeguard Your Garden Plants in Biting Cold

“The Love Of Gardening Is A Seed Once Sown That Never Dies.” – Gertrude Jekyll

Your captivating green garden speaks of your love for your plants. For you, plants are like your own babies. You nurture them with love, rejoice as they grow, and feel hurt when they get hurt. Sometimes, when a dear plant leaves you for good, your eyes get filled with tears. 

Such is the immensity of your love for your green family. This love for your living plants is natural when you are extremely protective about non-living things as well. Some of you even consider your bike to be living and renew your motorcycle insurance the moment it expires to make sure your bike is taken care of.

With such a sensitive heart, how can you see your dear garden plants in a painful situation? After all, they also love you and improve the air quality in your home. 

Every year, when winter arrives, you may feel worried about your garden. When you make all the arrangements to protect your loved ones from buying cold-weather clothes, installing heaters, and so on, deep inside, you may wonder if you can also do any such things for your plants. 

After all, they whispered in your ears, “Dear guardian, we feel too cold in winter.” There are some simple yet effective ways to protect your garden throughout winter, and here, we’ll discuss them.

5 Actionable Ways to Safeguard Your Garden Plants in Biting Cold:

1. Ensure That Your Plants Remain Healthy and Are Well Nurtured in Summer and Spring: 

According to horticulturists at the University of Georgia Extension, the best way to protect your plants in winter is to ensure that they remain healthy and well-nurtured in summer and spring. Plants are also living beings, having a body. They also have health that you need to look after. 

If you put your best efforts to keep them in the best of their health during the summer and spring season, they’ll emerge into strong healthy plants. Follow a home composting guide to help provide them with the nutrients they need. Protect your plants with durable PVC planters from FlowerWindowBoxes.com.

Strong plants can tolerate winter cold better than weak plants. Now, the question that arises here is how can you keep your plants healthy? The answer is to get back to the basics. 

Water them well, ensure adequate sunlight, and protect them well from pests and rodents. These are the pillars of good plant health. Additionally, you should also have a gardener visit your garden at regular intervals and do what’s needful for the well-being of your plants. 

They may add manure, fertilizer, detect an ailing plant, and take actionable steps to bring it back to health. 

2. Wrap Tender Plants:

 We wear woolen clothes to protect ourselves from winters. Although your garden plants cannot wear woolens, you can wrap tender plants for comfort during harsh winters. The banana plant, tree fern, and Ficus carica are some examples of tender plants. 

Furthermore, there are different types of plant coverings that you can choose from, but make sure that you remove the coverings as soon as the weather grows more moderate. Now, let’s discuss the different types of plant coverings:

Different types of plant coverings: 

• Burlap: 

Burlap is a natural fiber that can serve as an effective winter covering for moderately hardy plants. It can protect shrubs and trees. To use this natural fiber to comfort your plants, you only have to wrap it loosely around them. But, once burlap becomes wet and heavy, it may cause breakage to your plants. 

You can create a tepee of stakes to prevent this, then drape the burlap around them. After that, you can secure it with twine. This will secure your plants against any damages from the burlap covering. 

• Plastic: 

Plastics can help, but it is better to avoid them as they don’t breathe. They can trap moisture that can damage your plants and may even kill them in severe cases.

If you don’t have any other option available at a particular instant, then you can use plastic in a pinch, but remember to remove it first thing in the morning. This is essential for the health and longevity of your green family. 

• Polypropylene or Polypropylene Fleece: 

Lightweight and breathable, propylene or propylene fleece is one of the best winter comfort covers for plants. It also lets some light in which adds to its qualities. You can easily purchase them from a garden supply store. 

3. Buy a Greenhouse: 

A greenhouse can serve as a perfect winter home for your green family. It is made up of materials such as glass or clear plastic. When sunlight enters the greenhouse, it is absorbed by plants and all other opaque materials and gets converted into heat. As the material of a greenhouse is insulating, heat cannot escape. 

As a result, the surface and the air inside the greenhouse become warm, keeping your green family healthy and happy even during harsh winters. So, you can buy a greenhouse to safeguard your garden plants against biting cold. Furthermore, if you don’t know whether a plant will thrive without direct sunlight or not, you can research its needs online. You could even invest in an outdoor space, such as a Trueline patio, that provides protection from colder temperatures and bad weather conditions.

But, before storing your plants in it, you should ensure that there are no loose panes. Also, plants need good air circulation inside the greenhouse. Furthermore, don’t forget that the greenhouse can provide your plants light and heat, but watering and nurturing them remains your responsibility. 

Plants need small amounts of water to survive, even in winter. So, don’t forget to water your plants at any cost. Well-watered and pruned plants pose a much lower wildfire risk.

4. Buy Cloches or Cold Frames: 

In simple terms, a cloche is a mini greenhouse. It is a small glass covering that you can put over your garden plants to protect them from frost, storms, and hail. The best thing about cloches is that you can move them around your garden. Depending upon the design and size, a cloche can protect a single plant or multiple plants. 

You can select the best cloches for your garden depending upon your design preferences, size of your plants, and location. As cloches are usually small, you can buy a cold frame if you have a large garden. 

A cold frame is a transparent outdoor frame that protects your plants from cold. It, too, serves as a mini greenhouse. Unlike a cloche, a cold frame is cuboidal in shape. The good news is that it is also portable. 

Moreover, you can also build a cold frame yourself. Get the required raw materials, express your creativity and build your own customized cold frame for your green family. Although plants cannot express themselves, they too have feelings. 

I’m sure your garden plants will love to live in a warm shelter made with your love.

5. Move Your Garden Plants Indoors: 

For plants in pots, you can move them to a warmer place indoors. It is a challenging task, but when you have to do it, just make a perfect cup of coffee, relish it, boost your energy levels and get to work. After all, your plants will be quite happy with the pleasant change and your company will give them immense joy. 

For best results, you can keep them indoors near a window, where they can receive sunlight whenever the sun shines ablaze. But, if your house doesn’t get enough sunlight for your plants to thrive indoors, it is best to bring them in at night and put them outside when the sun shines. This will ensure that your plants don’t die due to a lack of sunlight. 

However, there are some plants such as broadleaf palm, snake plant and ficus that can thrive well indoors without sunlight. You can let them in without any worries. Furthermore, if you don’t know whether a plant will thrive without direct sunlight or not, you can research its needs online.

If a particular plant needs direct sunlight essentially, you can try other options to safeguard it against harsh winters. 

Furthermore, if you don’t know whether a plant will thrive without direct sunlight or not, you can research its needs online. You could even invest in an outdoor space, such as a Trueline patio, that provides protection from colder temperatures and bad weather conditions.

Most plants are cold-sensitive. They cannot bear frosty winters. This makes it imperative for you to take actionable steps to protect your green family from biting cold. Buying a greenhouse, building a cold frame, and letting your garden plants indoors are effective ways to keep them warm.