Prevent frost from damaging spring flowers

Spring can be a bit of a tricky season. This is because temperatures tend to fluctuate quite a bit and you can easily be caught off guard by spring frost. Just as your garden starts coming back to life, the frost hits and your spring flowers suffer as a result. While you cannot stop the frost, you can take a few steps to protect your plants. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Bring your plants inside

One sure way of keeping your spring flowers safe from the frost is to bring them indoors. Even if you don’t bring them into your home, another enclosed area like your patio could provide just the protection they need. Wait until the weather is warm enough before placing them outside again.

Hydration

Keeping your plants hydrated is always important for obvious reasons. However, many people do not know that moist soil is also warmer than dry soil. So, if you keep an eye on the local weather reports, you should be able to tell when frost may occur. Water your plants before the frost to make sure that their roots are safe in damp soil. Don’t spray water everywhere, however. You want to water at soil level for best results.

Covering up

Covering your spring flowers and plants at night is an excellent way of preventing frost from causing damage. There re various materials that can be used. You can usually find them at nurseries and hardware stores with a garden and outdoor section. When it comes to sprouts, you can place an upside down bucket or something similar on top of them to protect them against the frost. Protect shrubs and trees by draping sheets of plastic over them. Cover flowers with old bedsheets or similar materials propped up by wooden stakes. You don’t want to rest the material directly on your flowers.

Removing the covering

While covering your plants is a great way of protecting them. You should remove the covering in the morning to allow the plants to ‘breathe’ and get some much-needed sunlight. When the weather is warm enough, you will no longer need to cover your plants and you can save these covering materials for next year.

There you have it, a few easy tips to keep your spring flowers and plants safe against the harsh effects of cool temperatures and spring frost. Remember that this is also a great time to take stock of your garden, do some cleaning up and prepare to plant.