Over the last week, we’ve been blessed with glorious spring weather. Sunshine and temperatures in the high teens and twenties (ºC) have, quite literally, made the garden blossom. It’s been a delight to be outside, getting jobs done and feeling the warmth on our backs, but don’t let a mild spell lull you into a false sense of security, there’s still every chance that temperatures will plummet again. Ignored, or not properly prepared for, the result could be devastation for your precious plants. The good news is that it’s not at all difficult to protect them.
Gardeners of old would not have chanced anything to luck, keeping frost-sensitive plants in a greenhouse or conservatory until the end of May or early June when all chance of frost had passed. These days climate change has tended to make us a lot more confident of bringing jobs forward; we adhere less to the established rules, sometimes throwing caution to the wind. Garden centres do not help the novice gardener by offering tender plants, such as half-hardy annuals, extremely early in the year when they still require one or two months indoors before planting out. This is shameful profiteering in my opinion. Such temptations diminish the confidence of inexperienced gardeners, who should be helped towards making good choices rather than led a merry dance.
Here in Broadstairs, by the sea, where spring is usually mild, I have often brought tender plants out into the fresh air by early April. This year is no exception. However, when a period of cold weather is forecast, I must be on standby to put my plans into reverse. Here are some of my top tips for surviving a spring cold snap with your garden unscathed.
- Delay sowing and planting. We had planned to plant various seeds and tubers over the Easter break, but have decided to hold off for one week until it warms up. If you are lucky enough to have a heated greenhouse or a bright windowsill, then you can crack on, but we’ve used up most of our frost-safe space already. Even if your seedlings and young plants survive a cold snap their growth may be ‘checked’ (delayed) by low temperatures. You will probably find that seeds sown later overtake them, so enjoy one last day in front of the fire with a good book, or do more ground work, and save your seeds for another day. Even hardy plants that have started into growth are more susceptible to frost damage now than they were over winter. Newly formed tissue is considerably more vulnerable than overwintering branches, crowns, tubers, roots, rhizomes etc., especially when exposed to the elements By and large, spring bulbs, hardy annuals and biennials are completely safe if temperatures dip below freezing for a short time. They are used to such conditions and will bounce back immediately it warms up again.
- Move what you can. If you have vulnerable plants that can be moved, for example growing in pots, pop them in a garage, shed, porch or greenhouse until the chill lifts. Even if the space is unheated, it’s unlikely a spring frost will be heavy enough to permeate that far. Keep plants off the floor where the air is coldest, and out of draughts if at all possible. Ventilate during the day, especially if it’s warm. It does not matter if plants are left in the dark for a couple of days. Better that than frosted. The critical period for frost is 8pm to 8am, so you can bring plants back outside during the day if you have the time and energy to do so.
- Cover everything else. Cold snaps don’t generally last long, so use anything you have to hand to protect plants in situ. Horticultural fleece is ideal for wrapping larger plants or laying over emerging seedlings in trays, pots or raised beds. If you don’t have fleece to hand, you can use old sheets or blankets, bubble wrap, bin liners, cardboard boxes or newspaper. Be careful not to crush or damage any fragile new growth but do anchor your coverings, especially if wind is forecast. Take the greatest care, as covering clumsily can do more harm than good. It is rarely wise to dig a treasured plant up in such circumstances: cloches can be used to protect larger and more delicate plants. If you don’t have cloches, upturned buckets or pots with the drainage holes bunged up will do just fine. Remove them as soon as you possibly can, otherwise the plants will become drawn and leggy underneath; slugs and snails may also move in and give you a different headache altogether. Where tender plants are yet to break the surface of the soil, for example dahlias, gingers, gladioli and cannas, a good, thick mulch will help to protect them in the short term and nourish them in the long term.
- Accept that nature is in charge. In some cases there is very little you can do to protect plants, especially large ones. Broadstairs is awash with the most gorgeous magnolia and camellia blossom at the moment. It’s magical to behold. Sadly, if the temperature drops below freezing the blooms will be scorched and rendered brown and unlovely. This will be heartbreaking, but it’s a risk one takes: for every year when disaster strikes there will five or six when it does not. The trees themselves will not be harmed and will go on to bloom beautifully again. The impact of frost on fruit tree blossom has a longer-lasting effect, potentially destroying the year’s crop. If you have small fruit trees that can be wrapped in fleece, try that. If you live somewhere that’s susceptible to spring frosts, seek advice on varieties that blossom later.
- Avoid treading on your lawn. The crunch of frosted grass underfoot may be enjoyable, but your lawn will not share your amusement, especially if it’s actively growing again. With each footstep you are breaking hundreds of frozen blades of grass. This in turn ruptures new tissue and causes it to die back. Wait an hour or two until the sun has melted the frost and then stride forth on your daily garden inspection. Your lawn will thank you for your patience.
A spring cold snap is unlikely to last for long. Most measures are simply a sensible precaution and a small price to pay for keeping your garden on track for the year. If the worst happens and seedlings or plants are lost to Jack Frost, there is still ample time to resow, replant and generally catch up. Long lasting damage as a result of a spring cold is unusual, unless the plants concerned are very tender, in which case they could be killed outright. Avoid that situation by being patient, studying the weather forecast and erring on the side of caution. If ever there was a parallel with Aesop’s fable ‘The Tortoise and The Hare’, it is this. Slow and steady wins the race. TFG.
Categories: Annoyances, Container gardening, Practical Advice, Seeds and Sowing, Weather
Such good advise. I am an old war horse that had to learn the hard way. Take heed young gardeners.
I’ve already been sent some pictures of frost scalded dahlias for assessment. I had to resist being smug and saying ‘I told you so!’
I thought it might be a bad idea but just spent the morning sowing with frozen hands. The thing is, I thought I’d better get on with it while I have the time, and the seeds would germinate after the cold spell. Oh well, we will see. Lovely to read you as ever !
In general, most seeds need more warmth to germinate than they do to grow on. So warmth in the short term is important for germination. You might get by with your theory that they will germinate when the soil warms up again, provided no harm comes to them in the meantime. Were you sowing indoors or out? Dan
Outdoors but some are in seedtrays in one of those awful little plastic covered frames – that’s all I have space for in my very small garden. Fingers crossed ! 🙂
Really helpful and enjoyable read. Been studying the weather app on the phone for a few days now so this was most handy. Time now shortly to bring those pots inside…..looks like the conservatory is going to be taken over once again…….may be much easier to get a greenhouse heater!
It would be, but a couple of nights snug in the conservatory is hopefully all that’s needed to keep them safe and well. Hope no harm comes to any of your plants Ian.
I am glad to see your plants are still in their trays at flowering stage. I have four trays of seeds that I neglected to label so I am hoping that I can keep them in the trays for long enough to be able to determine which is which!
Ahh, that happens Chris! After a while you become very adept at identifying plants from their seedlings. As they grow it will get easier to tell them apart.
Wow, in April!? I often think it would be nice to experience ‘real’ weather, particularly a ‘real’ winter, but all this frosty business lingering so late would be a bit much. But then, there would be less of a rush to get all the winter chores done.
I hear what you say. Those of us who live in places with distinct seasons tend to have a bit of a love / hate relationship with the weather. It’s a blessing and a curse. So much to enjoy about the change of seasons but also unpredictability. However it’s very hard to comprehend what it would be like to garden somewhere where conditions are more consistent. There are things we’d miss and things we’d enjoy. Late frost would definitely not be missed!
Apples! You would miss apples around the neighborhood. Several cultivars of apple happen to reasonably well here, although not as well as in cooler climates. There were only two (!) cultivars of apple that performed ‘somewhat’ adequately in Beverly Hills (in Los Angeles County), and neither were particularly good. Of course, there is more to it than just apples, but that happens to be something that is so common in other regions that it is difficult to imagine it lacking for those of us in milder climates.
We have had several nights of quite heavy frost this past week and expect further such nights also. We will proceed with caution!
Good man! It’s so easy to get caught out. It’s at times like these that I wish I had a heated greenhouse. One day ….. 💭
Amen to that.
In my last comment I wrote about high temperatures causing plants to “explode” – and they did. Today it snowed for hours… Nothing settled, but after consulting the forecast rather late in the day, around 10 pm, I was caught out in that “above freezing” has been changed to “slight frost” for the night. 😧 So, headtorch mounted, I rushed outside to place emergency cloches (in the form of small plastic buckets they sell tomatoes in, and which I had faithfully collected over the winter for just that purpose) over the emerging flowering stalks of epimediums and bleeding hearts after a cruel lesson of lost flowers last year.
However, any idea of feeling smug about my foresight to keep those buckets quickly vanished when, after wrapping a window box and pots with Ranunculus and Coronaria anemones in bubble wrap, I discovered that the horticultural fleece I had placed over some big, half-hardy evergreens in pots on the roof terrace not only had been soaked and partly blown off by the snowstorm and rain earlier in the day but actually was frozen to the decking already, in a way that I couldn’t pick it up again without totally tearing it to bits. Instead, in desparation the three evergreens were thus yanked from frost into cosy room temperature inside. Not sure which will do more damage… Now, I’m just praying it won’t be as cold on ground level for otherwise there’ll be quite a bit of damage, not to mention said tomato buckets probably will have come too late. 🙄
Fingers crossed for your plants, dear Stefanie !
Such a great article. Thanks for sharing this amazing home gardeninginformation. I just love the tips that you have shared these are truly good ideas for home gardening.
Found your post interesting to read. I cant wait to see your . post soon
Thank you for sharing such great thoughts. Very impressive
You are most welcome! Dan