If like many keen gardeners across the UK you have been braving the elements recently to ensure that your garden looks its best through the winter months then it will probably come as no surprise to you to hear that extremely cold and frosty weather can cause tremendous damage to your garden plants.
In cold conditions, frosty conditions in particular, garden plants that are damaged are usually recognisable due to their limp, blackened or distorted appearance. The reason for this is that extreme weather conditions such as frost can cause the water in the plants cells to freeze which in turn can damage the plants cell wall.
In many instances plants are damaged not by the frost itself but the damage caused when the plants rapidly defrost. Garden plants that are positioned directly in the morning sun are particularly vulnerable as the frozen water within their cell walls will defrost rapidly, in some cases causing the cells to rupture, causing serious damage to your plant.
The cold weather conditions can also spell trouble for evergreen or more tolerable garden plants as it may cause the soil to freeze. In prolonged cold spells the frozen ground will prevent the plants from extracting water through their roots which eventually effects the dehydration of the plant and in some cases causing the plant to die.
Like all situations in life, prevention is better cure when it comes to preparing for and taking care of your garden during the winter months but it is never too late to start protecting your plant from the elements. There are many methods that are thought to be effective in the battle against frost including moving some plants indoors, planting tender garden plants in raised beds and using protective fleece covers.
A simple and easy way to protect potted garden plants during the winter months is to wrap them in protective Fibre Fleece Roll. Typically made from non-woven insulation polypropylene and readily available from most online garden centres, this light but strong fleece lining roll is strong enough to protect fully grown garden plants and seedlings alike and importantly is a reasonably cheap solution to protecting your garden from frost damage.
For those of you with greenhouses the obvious way to protect plants in the winter months is to move them inside, especially tender or young plants that are not yet fully mature. But in extreme weather even greenhouses can become cold so it may be worth investing in some Insulation Bubble Wrap. Not only is this a great way to insulate and protect your greenhouse from frost damage but it also retains heat keeping your greenhouse at the right temperature.
There are also many other options for maintaining temperature levels in your greenhouse including the use of specially adapted greenhouse heaters. Available in a variety of formats including electric and gas powered, these heaters are suitable for use in both large and small greenhouses and have various heat settings enabling you to control temperature levels throughout the seasons.
Many, including the 2kW Electric Greenhouse Heater available at Plant Me Now, come with a cool air option and automatic thermostat and will leave you with change from £20! For those of you with small gardens and not much shelter for your plants you may want to consider investing in a mini greenhouse, which is essentially a scaled down greenhouse made with replaceable plastic covers as opposed to glass. Most mini greenhouses will come with some sort of polypropylene cover and will be reasonably easy to build.
Widely suited to smaller garden areas such as patios, balconies, courtyards and decking areas, a mini greenhouse can provide all the shelter and protection as their larger brothers especially during the winter months. Your mini greenhouse can be used to help protect tender garden plants in cold weather conditions and for extra protection most garden centres can now provide Protective Fleece Covers for mini greenhouses.
