Plastic Tent Protects Fall, Winter & Spring.
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Months of winter beauty are preserved by protecting hardy plants in sub-freezing weather at night.
Photo: Brax - VPC
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P
ansies are very cold hardy but, taking a little precaution and giving them a break helps keep them vibrant and blooming even during the coldest sub-freezing spells. Sure, they will stay alive although in a more dormant stage if the temperature is real cold. Yet, we have found that they do best when they are protected from the really cold night air.
This can be used for other plants such as house plants that will be out during the summer and need some protection before you bring them inside for the winter. Also, some of the delicate Spring flowers or vegetables just getting started need a tent if the weather gets too cold and you don’t have a greenhouse.
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Just a bit of plastic dry clean bag and some sticks make a perfect shelter.
Photo: Brax - VPC
You can use a tent made out of plastic to protect Pansies during the coldest part of the winter or to protect Spring flowers that may be caught off guard with a late Spring snow. Save up some large garment bags that you get from the cleaners. You should not keep your close in them once you get home because of the acids that will be released over time and this can harm your finer cloths.
Make a structure out of long thin branches or use clothes hangers but be sure to use a set of pliers to double back the sharp ends. Place the rods, three or four of them, into the soil of your pots or in the ground around your plant. Then when the temperature is going to burrow into the teens or low twenties... place the bag over the robs insuring that the tops of the plant do not touch the top of the bag. If it is windy too, you can add some small rocks to the plastic to keep it in place. The frame also keeps the plastic from banging the plants when the wind kicks up.
It is the air inside the tent that provides the insulation. Sure, it will be cold but the heat from the plants themselves and the soil will keep the roots and especially the flowers in tip-top shape when the sun comes out and they thaw out. May great blooms can be saved and those that will follow will be hearty and bright.
Happy Gardening.
Prepared by UVB staff.
(Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company)
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