Dealing with the cold - a primer for folks from warm climates

[Stephen A. Mason]

Because I am astoundingly instinctively lazy, I am a huge fan of plants that can survive through the winter and do not require replanting.

Unfortunately, wintering a plant requires protection from freezing. Especially this year. I live in Austin, Texas, and we don’t have much winter. In fact, winter is my favorite weekend of the year.

So here are a few thoughts on getting through a brief and not-very-cold cold snap.

1.) Water. The heat capacity of water is higher than the heat capacity of air. If you water heavily on the afternoon before a freeze, you will essentially store a large reservoir of heat in the soil, which will slow the damage that a freeze would otherwise inflict.
2.) Cover. Down to about 28F, covering a plant will help to protect the plant. I use sheets and blankets. Do not ever directly apply a plastic tarp to your plants. The plastic conducts heat and will actually make things worse for the plant.
3.) Heat sources. I have several friends who place Christmas lights or other light sources under on their plants (under the blanket). I view this as something of a fire hazard, but I’ve never seen one actually catch fire.

Surviving a light freeze is pretty simple. You can also make some structural choices that will help your plants survive. One thing that you can do, long term, is to plant beds right up next to the house. I have a basil plant and a set of jalapenos that survived 3 winters. They are in a bed right next to the house. I’ll tell you in a couple of months if they have survived the winter of 2010.

Mel Bartholemew’s book, Square Foot Gardening, has some great insight on building plant boxes for more intense forms of cold.

[Stephen A. Mason]

Plastic is bad. It transmits heat. I have had my best luck with heavy "moving blanket" type material. Felt. Cotton also works at the right thickness.

[Bill Norton]

Stephen, Great post - I think most kids today only see the orange growers on Florida doing this when it's a "Freeze" news story. I found out the hard way on thought #2 which leads me to ask is there a best thickness of the sheet or blanket and or the type of material. I used fairly heavy picnic blankets that ended up killing those plants. Just curious..

[Rachel Butler]

Do you know what you are going to plant this spring?

[Stephen A. Mason]

Thanks. The best part is that most of the plants made it.

[Ty Mellon]

Stephen,
GREAT post. I am actually cross-posting on our FOOGS FB fan site as well and tagging for twitter! Excellent stuff, my man!

[Rachel Butler]

Great information Stephen. I completely forgot about the watering part. I remember doing that growing up. Great stuff!