Ruud Kleinpaste: Covering and protecting your garden from frost - Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Winter is a mere 2 weeks away and that means the coldest periods are very nigh indeed. Frost is –for some plant species– quite damaging. 

Growth basically stops; Invertebrates tend to hibernate, and our birds will go through a hungry phase, frantically looking for something to eat. 

Traditionally, many gardeners find ways to protect their plants and their soils; covering these is often the best way to keep everything intact. 

Starting with Compost heaps: Drape tarpaulin over the top and keep it down with some bricks or heavy wood; alternatively: get some pea straw and put that over the compost (at least 10 cm thick).  

Pea straw. Photo / Supplied 

If you are in an area where frosts can be too much for, say, fruit trees such as citrus, then Mulching the root zone might be a good preventative action: Citrus are “surface-rooting” and hence do not like a low temperature, so it pays to keep them mulched. Bark, Compost, Chippered branches, Organic matter is useful; anything that suppresses the cold nights!  

Mulch for winter. Photo/ Supplied 

Lemons and other citrus plants are currently developing fruits. Frost Cloth is often a good preventative cover that will make a few degrees difference. There’s even a “Liquid Frost cloth” that will protect plants up to a -3-degree frost. Spray this Liquid VaporGuard over the sensitive plants well before the evening, so that the wax can set. 

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