It’s been an unusually warm start to fall in many areas of North America, my home in west central Missouri is no exception where we’re still seeing temperatures up into the 90s F the past few days. But I know we’re inching closer to our usual first frost date and I’m most certainly going to be prepared because our weather is notorious for changing practically overnight and then changing again.
If you’re somewhere that experiences frost, which is basically anywhere up through USDA Hardiness zone 10, it pays to be prepared for the unexpected. Sometimes you may only have a few hours warning that a frost is coming overnight and scrambling to find everything you need at the last minute and covering plants in the dark is no fun. Especially when the forecast shows a two-week warm up after one night of frost.
On today’s episode of Just Grow Something we’ll review what the USDA Hardiness Zone map actually means, what temperatures differentiate a frost from a freeze, which crops can survive an initial frost, and different options for frost and freeze protection in the garden. By the end you should have a pretty good idea of what you’ll need to have on hand based on your hardiness zone, what you’re growing in the garden and how much work you want to put into to protecting your plants from the cold. Let’s dig in!
Resources and References:
2023 Frost Dates: First and Last Frost Dates by ZIP Code | The Old Farmer's Almanac | Almanac.com
Five Crops to Plant in Fall for Winter Harvest, Zone by Zone - Ep. 163
Crops to Plant in Fall and Harvest in Spring - Ep. 164
Get Magic Mind: Use code JustGrow20 at checkout
Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group
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This is positively farming media.
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It's been an unusually warm start to fall in many areas of
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North America. My home in West Central Missouri
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is no exception, where we're still seeing temperatures up
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into the 90s Fahrenheit the past few days.
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But I know we're inching closer to our usual first frost date,
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and I'm most certainly going to be prepared because our weather
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is notorious for changing practically overnight and then
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changing back again. If you're somewhere that
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experiences frost, which is basically anywhere up through
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USDA Hardiness Zone 10, it pays to be prepared for the
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unexpected. Sometimes you may only have a
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few hours warning that a frost is coming overnight, and
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scrambling to find everything you need at the last minute and
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then covering plants up in the dark is no fun, especially when
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the forecast shows a two week warm up after one single night
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of frost. Ask me how I know this.
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I dare you. On today's episode of Just Grow
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Something, we'll review what the USDA hardiness zone map actually
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means, what temperatures differentiate a frost from a
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freeze, which crops can survive an initial frost, and then
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different options for frost and freeze protection in the garden.
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By the end, you should have a pretty good idea of what you'll
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need to have on hand based on your hardiness zone, what you're
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growing in the garden, and how much work you want to put into
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protecting your plants from the cold.
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Let's dig in. Hey, I'm Karen and I started
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gardening 18 years ago in a small corner of my suburban
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backyard when we moved to A5 acre Homestead.
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I expanded that garden to half an acre and I found such joy and
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purpose in feeding my family and friends.
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This newfound love for digging in the dirt and providing for
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others prompted my husband and I to grow our small homestead into
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a 40 acre market farm. When I went back to school to
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get my degree in horticulture, I discovered there is so much
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power in food and I want to share everything I've learned
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with as many people as possible. On this podcast we explore crop
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information, soil health, pests and diseases, plant nutrition,
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our own nutrition, and so much more in the world of food and
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gardening. So grab your garden journal and
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a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.
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In the US and Canada, most gardeners rely on the USDA
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Hardiness Zone map to determine their growing zone.
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This map is how gardeners can determine which plants are most
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likely to survive year round at their location.
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The map is based on the average annual minimum winter
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temperature divided into 10 degree Fahrenheit zones, which
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were then translated to Celsius. The current map that we're using
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was updated in 2012 and it was jointly developed by the USDA's
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Agricultural Research Service and my alma mater, Oregon State
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University Go Beavers. Now, prior to the 2012 update,
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the most recent version was from 1990 and the first one was done
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way back in 1960. Now in that first version, my
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area of Missouri was listed as Zone 6A.
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In 1990, we were redesignated as zone 5B, and then in the 2012
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version we were pushed back into zone 6A.
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But if you're not sitting and looking at a hardiness zone map,
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this isn't going to make any sense.
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What does all of that mean? Plant hardiness zones represent
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the average extreme minimum temperature in your area.
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They do not reflect the coldest it has ever gotten in that area.
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It's just the average of the lowest winter temperature for
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that location in the 30 year period from 1976 to 2005.
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Now the reason that many areas shifted is because in the new
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version there were two zones that were added and the new map
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is generally 1/2 zone warmer than the previous map because
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the old map was only based on temperature data from a 13 year
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period of 1974 to 1986. So this most recent update is
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more accurate, but I think we all recognize that many of our
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areas are getting warmer and our extreme low temperatures in the
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winter may not be what they used to be.
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So we'll see what happens the next time they update this map,
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but for now it seems to be pretty accurate.
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That being said, this simply shows us what vegetation will
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generally survive year round in your area.
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So if something says it's Hardy to zone 4, so that means it can
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survive temperatures down to the usual lowest winter temperature
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of -30 Fahrenheit or -34.4 Celsius.
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But if it says it's Hardy to zone eight, well, it's not
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surviving temperatures colder than 10 Fahrenheit or -12.2
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Celsius. And anytime something says not
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frost tolerant, it means that anything below 32 Fahrenheit or
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0 Celsius is going to kill that plant.
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But this all depends on the level of protection you can
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provide. So if you're interested in
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extending your season, you just need to know whether or not the
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plants you have in your garden can survive a frost or a
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moderate freeze, and then whether they can survive a
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severe freeze with a little bit of help.
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And know that if you buy something that says it's a
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perennial, be sure it's a perennial in your zone.
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First things first, When we're preparing to go into fall and
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winter, we need to know our area's average first frost date.
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This is the average date of that first light freeze in the fall.
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I will leave a link in the episode Show Notes to a page
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that will help you find both your first average frost date
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and your last average frost date if you're in the US or Canada.
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For the rest of the world, you should have some sort of an
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Almanac you can reference through your local government or
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local university. These dates are probably about a
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30% probability based on historical data, so don't rely
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on these dates. They just give you a good
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guideline and I would recommend having your frost protection at
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the ready at least two weeks prior in most cases this year.
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The Almanac says that my first fraud state is likely to be here
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October 20th, but you can bet I already have my frost clots
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ready right now, even though it was 90 degrees here today.
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So what type of materials we choose for frost protection is
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going to depend on how much protection the plant needs and
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what kind of weather we're protecting it from.
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The classification of freeze temperatures is based on the
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temperatures effect on the plants.
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So a light freeze, or what we might call a frost, is 32
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degrees Fahrenheit down to 29 Fahrenheit or 0 Celsius to -1.7.
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These are the temperatures where most tender plants are killed
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and larger plants can get significantly damaged.
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But we certainly can pretty easily protect our tender
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annuals at this stage of the game with enough frost cover,
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and our more Hardy annuals will survive these temperatures
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Without a cover. We'll go over which ones.
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Those are here in a minute. Now, a moderate freeze is 28
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degrees Fahrenheit down to 25 Fahrenheit, or -2.2 down to -3.9
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Celsius. We often refer to this as a hard
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freeze. This is widely destructive to
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most of your vegetation, but again, your frost Hardy plants
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will likely do OK here with some additional protection, and then
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a severe freeze is 24 degrees Fahrenheit or -4.4 Celsius and
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colder. This is heavy damage to most of
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our garden plants, but this does not mean that we can't
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overwinter some plants in these colder conditions with the right
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preparations. I'll refer you back to the
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episodes where we've talked about overwintering plants and I
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will link to those in the show notes.
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So what plants are we talking about that need this protection?
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Anything that's an annual in most areas, meaning plants that
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grow, produce a crop, go to seed and then die all in one season
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are generally susceptible to frost.
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These plants are referred to as annuals because they complete
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their life cycle in one season. This is versus like a perennial
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that grows vegetatively one year, dies back, but then roots
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will remain in the ground and that will store energy for it to
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sprout again the following season.
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Then it completes its reproduction, you know in the
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second year by flowering and going to seed.
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So not all perennials will survive winters in all
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locations, and that's why we say plants are Hardy to a specific
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zone, and this is all based on that extreme coldest temperature
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for each region. Some annuals are hard enough to
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survive some pretty cold temperatures though.
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So things like tomatoes, Peppers, Basil, eggplants,
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summer squashes, anything that is native to a warmer or more
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Mediterranean climate are really not good at surviving a frost.
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If you have plants that are still productive and you have
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fruit on the plant that you're waiting to get to the right size
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in order to get them to ripen, and you see you have a frost
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coming but it's followed up by like 2 weeks of really beautiful
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weather, it might be worth it to you to protect those plants and
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allow them to continue doing their thing.
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I have done this with late tomatoes and Peppers for sure,
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but as the day length gets shorter these plants naturally
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become less productive, so it's they're likely not going to
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produce new fruits as the season goes on.
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So these season extension measures are usually only going
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to be short lived just to get already existing fruit to
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maturity and then be able to get them to ripen.
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Conversely to this, we have things that like the cooler
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weather like cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, Chard, arugula,
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spinach, carrots, beets, turnips, all of those things
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that do really well in cooler weather.
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A lot of them do really well in a frost or a light freeze as
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well. They generally don't even need
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any added protection when the temperatures are above that 29
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Fahrenheit or -1.7 Celsius. Now after that below those
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temperatures, they can be successfully protected with
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heavy layers of protection down to well below 0 Fahrenheit or
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-17.8 Celsius. Just depends on how determined
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you are to have fresh leafy greens in the winter where you
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are. And even if you don't want to
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actively harvest them during the winter, using some of the
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methods I'll talk about next will help keep them protected
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long enough to bounce back up for a spring harvest.
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Now, before we talk about how to protect our hearty greens from
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frost, I want to talk to you about another type of greens,
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episodes about the neural benefits of lion's mane
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So what types of methods can we use to safeguard our Hardy
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greens and other cool weather plants going into the fall and
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into the winter? The first thing is actually
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mulch. So if we're covering the soil
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around the plants with a layer of organic materials like straw
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or hay or leaves or even wood chips, this is acting as an
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insulating layer. This is going to regulate the
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soil temperature, and it's going to prevent that rapid cooling
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during very cool nights. It helps retain heat and
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moisture, it reduces the stress on the plant roots, and it's
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also of course going to suppress any weed growth that comes up
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first thing in the spring. Plus, conserve that soil
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moisture and enhance the soil fertility.
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So as it's warming the soil or keeping that heat trapped in
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there, it is helping to protect your plant roots.
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The next thing if you see a frost coming is to make sure to
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water your plants. Making sure that your plants are
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well watered prior to a frost can actually make a world of
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difference in the damage that they sustain.
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The higher the volume of water that is in the plants cells, the
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harder it is for them to freeze. So think about a pond.
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The shallower edges of a pond freeze much more quickly in
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those cold temperatures than the deeper center.
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This is the same concept for your plants.
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It took me a while to get my head wrapped around this, but if
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their cells are swollen with water, a light freeze is going
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to have less of a chance of causing those ice crystals to
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form within the cells and puncture the membranes.
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Because if that happens, it disrupts the movement of fluids
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and it damages the tissues, especially when they start to
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thaw out. So we want them to be completely
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swollen with water, we want them well watered, and then that
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moist soil also has an insulating effect and it
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radiates heat upward towards the plant.
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So if you water really well during the warmest part of the
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afternoon before a frost hits, you can actually help prevent
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damage to the plants. Now, the third thing we want to
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look at is frostcloth. OK, these can be called
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frostcloth, frost, blankets, row covers, whatever they're called.
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They're all lightweight, breathable fabrics that provide
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a protective barrier against the frost.
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They trap the heat from the ground around the plants, so
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it's creating a microclimate around the plants that keeps
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them warmer. Now these all come in various
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thickness, OK? Some of them are allowing more
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light to penetrate while still providing coal protection.
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Others of them are more thick. They're really easy to use.
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They can just be draped over top of the plants, or you can
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support them with hoops or stakes.
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Now you can buy frost covers in a very, very lightweight and
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then just double them up when the temperatures threaten to get
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colder. Usually the lightest weight
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stuff is also sometimes called just insect protection or insect
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barrier. This is different than what I
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refer to as insect netting. This is actually a cloth that is
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very thin, it's almost sheer, and it does work well for
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insects, but in my experience it also heats the air up
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underneath. So I really only use this in the
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early spring kind of as a combo insect barrier and frostcloth,
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because in my area the rest of the year it's just too hot to
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use this as an insect protection.
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So this is when I switched to using the netting.
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But the bonus to using this in the spring is that it's doing
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double duty and if I need more protection it can be doubled up
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over on itself to provide more. So I can actually use this again
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in the fall. And as the late fall moves in,
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if I really do still need some insect protection, it also works
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double duty. Them these commercially
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available frost cloths, when you go to buy them, are going to
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indicate the level of protection they provide because they come
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in different weights. There are all the kinds of
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different variations out there from the different companies and
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they all have their different naming conventions, whether they
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call it, you know, insect barrier or lightweight or
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heavyweight, whatever. So really what you want to do is
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look at the description very closely and you want to try to
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find the weight. And usually this is in ounces
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and other areas. It might be in grams, but in my
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area this is Oz, right? The lighter it is, the more that
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I think it's best for like insect control.
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And it's really only adding a degree or two of protection.
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We're talking a weight of less than half an ounce per square
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yard here, a more standard grade for general frost protection.
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Something that's going to protect down to about that 28
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Fahrenheit or -2 Celsius is a .55 to .6 ounces per square
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yard. And then heavier still is going
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to be suitable for overwintering, maybe in a
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moderate climate down to 26 Fahrenheit or -3 Celsius.
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And then we have the absolute heaviest for deep freeze.
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That's going to weigh around 1 1/2 ounces per square yard, and
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that's going to protect down to about 24 Fahrenheit or -4
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Celsius. All of these can be doubled up
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on each other for added layers of protection, but at that point
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you'll likely going to want to use supports of some sort under
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the covers so they're not weighing down on the plants.
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And remember, the heavier the fabric or the more layers that
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you use, the less light is going to be transmitted through it.
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So for temporary covers this isn't really a big deal and you
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can pull them back during the day when it warms up.
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But as you get further into the season, if you plan an
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overwintering, you need to know that light reduction is also
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going to reduce the growth rate of the plants.
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So keep that in mind. Depending on where it is your
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gardening and how cold it stays during the day, the frost covers
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don't need to be specifically the commercially available ones.
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You can use old sheets, fabric shower, curtain liners, any
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lightweight non plastic fabric material so you don't have to go
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out and buy something specific. Hang on to those old worn out
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sheets or stained tablecloths or whatever and use them in the
00:19:02
garden. So for quick frost protection,
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they absolutely work For longer term use during the winter
00:19:09
though, again, pay attention to that light transmission and then
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act accordingly. Another way to protect your
00:19:16
plants is with mini greenhouses or closhes.
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So frost tents, mini greenhouses, closhes, whatever
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you call them, they are protective covers.
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They're usually made out of plastic.
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Some of them are made out of glass or other transparent
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materials. They basically encase either
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individual plants or small groups of plants.
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So they're going to trap the heat in the inside and they're
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going to create, again, a warm sort of microclimate for the
00:19:43
plants. Closures are especially useful
00:19:45
for like really early season plantings and really delicate
00:19:48
stuff. But later on in the season also,
00:19:50
if you have larger specimens or single specimens of things that
00:19:53
you're trying to protect, they work just fine.
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I tend to go for things like the mini greenhouses because I fit
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more things in there. You just want to make sure that
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there's enough ventilation during the day, regardless of
00:20:03
what you're using. Because you don't want them to
00:20:06
overheat and you also don't want a bunch of condensation to be
00:20:09
created inside those containers or inside those covers because
00:20:14
that can lead to mold or disease.
00:20:16
I will link to the little mini greenhouses like the ones that I
00:20:19
have that I use to cover my raised beds.
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They have been super easy to use in the spring and the fall.
00:20:25
They can be zipped open to allow for air flow during the day, and
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they're tall enough that if I need to put extra protection
00:20:32
over top of plants, like some frostcloth in addition to the
00:20:36
greenhouse plastic, there's plenty of room to do that even
00:20:39
with taller plants. I love these things.
00:20:41
I like the idea of closhes and you can make these out of old
00:20:46
plastic milk jugs if you've got them available.
00:20:48
Just cut the bottom off of them and then place them over the
00:20:50
plant and then you can like twist the top off for
00:20:52
ventilation if you need to. But I've not really found an
00:20:56
inexpensive version of these to purchase outright.
00:21:00
And then if you've got them a lot of the time, especially if
00:21:02
they're made out of glass or something, they're very heavy.
00:21:04
You have to worry about sort of storing them and stacking them.
00:21:07
And they all seem kind of, I don't know, really pricey for
00:21:10
protecting just one plant. So if you have closures that you
00:21:14
use in your garden that you've found for a reasonable price,
00:21:17
please feel free to share a link with me and I will share them
00:21:19
with everybody. I generally just tend to lean
00:21:22
towards the little mean mini greenhouses and then finally you
00:21:26
can use heat sources, incandescent light bulbs, even
00:21:30
Christmas lights. Not the LED ones, the old school
00:21:33
ones, the ones that actually give off some heat.
00:21:35
Well, they will heat up an area to prevent a frost.
00:21:38
You can string them up low overhead, top of your over top
00:21:42
of your plants. Just make sure they're not
00:21:44
touching anything that's flammable.
00:21:45
No frost coverings or anything. There's those 100 Watt outdoor
00:21:49
lamps that you can hang over top of a small garden area to kind
00:21:52
of give off some radiant heat. Depending on how large your
00:21:55
garden area is, this is actually often just enough to raise the
00:21:59
temperature of the few degrees that we need to to keep it from
00:22:03
frosting over. Especially if you're on a porch
00:22:05
or a balcony or you've got a container garden.
00:22:08
Just put the heat source right near the plants or put them
00:22:12
inside one of the little mini greenhouses and that will help
00:22:15
maintain a higher temperature during those really cold nights.
00:22:17
Just make sure again, these are giving off heat, so don't have
00:22:21
them touching anything. You don't want any fire hazards
00:22:23
and you don't want to damage the plants.
00:22:26
And of course, if you have plants in containers and it's
00:22:30
going to dip in temperature for just a night or two, you can
00:22:34
bring in those susceptible plants indoors temporarily if
00:22:37
the container allows for it to be moved.
00:22:40
Just be sure that you put it somewhere that's not too warm
00:22:43
compared to what your outside daytime temperatures have been.
00:22:47
Anytime you do sudden changes in temperatures, it's going to
00:22:50
cause problems for your plant. So a garage or an unheated
00:22:54
basement would be just fine. If the containers aren't able to
00:22:57
be moved inside, try to insulate around the base of the container
00:23:02
as well as covering the plants that are in there and covering
00:23:05
the tops. Smaller containers expose more
00:23:09
of the soil to colder temperatures and that's going to
00:23:11
increase the possibility of getting damage at the root zones
00:23:14
of the plants. So wrap blankets around the base
00:23:17
of the containers or use straw, mulch or something up against
00:23:20
them to insulate them as well as covering the plants.
00:23:23
If you can kind of judge them all together and just cluster
00:23:26
the pots and the containers together, this is going to help
00:23:28
them insulate each other too. And then there are pop up little
00:23:33
mini greenhouses that look like really big cloches.
00:23:36
Actually you can put them right over top of a cluster of pots
00:23:40
for extra protection, kind of like the ones that I use in my
00:23:43
raised beds. I will link to an example of
00:23:45
that in the show notes. Now, in most instances, our
00:23:52
weather report or our weather app or whatever is going to give
00:23:55
us a heads up that a frost is coming if we're paying
00:23:58
attention. But we can also pay attention to
00:24:01
the daytime conditions too. And that's going to give us an
00:24:04
idea of whether we might need some frost protection measures
00:24:07
in the garden that night. Anytime we have clear skies,
00:24:11
it's going to have a cooling effect that's going to allow the
00:24:13
heat to escape up into the atmosphere.
00:24:15
Conversely to that, clouds help to insulate from those sudden
00:24:19
swings and temperatures. So if it's a beautifully cool
00:24:23
fall day and there's not a cloud in the sky, yeah, just be aware
00:24:27
of the possibility that a frost may hit that night.
00:24:30
Calm conditions too, with very little wind.
00:24:32
Those are also more likely to allow for frost, because that
00:24:36
lack of air movement also means that those warmer air currents
00:24:41
are not being distributed over the ground in our gardens.
00:24:44
So if you notice any of these conditions on a beautiful fall
00:24:47
day, heads up. You may get a Frost.
00:24:50
I hope that gets you prepared for what is to come this fall
00:24:53
season, my gardening friends. Until next time, keep on
00:24:56
cultivating that dream garden and we'll talk again soon.
00:24:59
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00:25:01
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00:25:03
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00:25:07
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00:25:20
friends keep learning and keep growing.