By George! - A Blog!

At the end of October we had weather forecasts that warned us of early cold weather. That should have been a “wake-up” call. Are you ready for the steps needed to save your plants from frost damage? Our plants have enjoyed warm weather and they have put out new shoots. These are prime targets for Jack Frost. An early frost catches our plants before they have naturally gone into dormancy as the temperatures drop day by day.

First, there is no need to worry about winter vegetables, they won’t suffer. Being slowed down by the cold will be good for them because their flavor will improve. Its the remnants of summer vegetables that should draw our attention. It’s a fact that tomatoes and peppers are perennials, and many gardeners have had their plants live through two or three seasons, especially if they were dug up with plenty of roots and stored for the winter in a five-gallon container that were brought into a shelter during a freezing night. If you are growing citrus, Bird of Paradise and Bougainvillea you might think of helping them by hardening them off. This means slowing down their growth by not watering as liberally as previously. It’s a judgement call because you don’t want the plants to wilt but nor do you want them to produce new shoots–which are more sensitive to freezing temperatures than old growth.

Tomatoes and peppers out in the ground that are producing need to be covered at night with an old sheet that is taken off each morning to let the sunshine provide energy. This becomes quite a chore but this can be lessened by covering with a material called Floating Row Cover that can be left on all the time because it lets in more light than does a sheet. Nurseries and hardware stores sell it.

It’s common knowledge that some parts of the city are colder than others and you need to know about your own backyard. The weather forecasts that we get usually refer to the situation at the official weather reporting station–the airport in our case of Tucson. In general, sloping areas are warmer than the flat low-lying ones because moving air is less cold than still air that has “ponded”. A small garden that is surrounded by a high wall is another kind of cold “pond”.

You can easily find out the relationship between your yard and that of the airport by using a Maximum-minimum thermometer.As the mercury is moved by shrinking (or expanding) a little metal rod is also moved but stays put when the mercury returns. You don’t have to get out of bed during the coldest part of the night to read the thermometer, you wait until after breakfast and, using the magnet that comes with it, restore the little metal bar to the current temperature ready for the next night. Nurseries and hardware stores sell this useful thermometer for less than twenty-five dollars. Place it in an open area away from a warm wall and not under a tree or a shelter to truly measure what’s going on.

Keep a record of each morning’s reading, together with the previous day’s forecast, to give you a comparison. If your yard is five degrees warmer each night there’s no need to panic when a forecast predicts freezing. If, on the other hand, your place is consistently five degrees colder you’d better watch out and be prepared to take action when you hear the forecast.

If you are concerned about a citrus tree you need to know that limes are the most sensitive and grapefruit are the more hardy with tangerines and oranges in between. Twenty eight degrees of frost for a few hours will cause damage otherwise a cold night merely slows down the tree’s activity. There’s seldom any need to take off the fruit.

You’ll be listening for the forecast some time in the evening, after dark, so you need to know just where to quickly find the extension cord, a 60 watt bulb, a metal bucket and a sheet to cover the tree. The bulb goes in the bucket and the bucket, on the ground and under the tree, holds the heat in a little, but you want the heat to float up through the tree’s foliage. The covering will hold in the heat. Some people think that Christmas tree lights are helpful but in fact they merely warm the cold night air as long as you can see them. If you can stuff them among the foliage where they don’t show, they’ll do a better job of keeping the tree warm.

If you notice “frost on the pumpkins” next morning don’t panic and spray it off. It’s better to let the morning sunshine melt it off.