Hard frost in the forecast?

Well, the next few days should prove interesting.

How can I protect my beautiful blooming haven making tulips from freezing?

What low temps will they survive? I remember the icy rain that covered all those blooms one spring. They survived. Hail storm, check. But everything is soooo far along right now. Easily a solid month ‘early’. It’s the same on the sagebrush steppe, the same once you hit tree line…everything has jump started. Flowers are blooming far earlier (and less abundantly) then they would with more moisture (snow melt) and lower temperatures.

It was the year the robins never left…2026.

It’s April 13, my tulips are in glorious full bloom. I planted a deep crimson + purple Negrita + Princess Irene (orange flair), coupled with Sweetness daffodils = a really lovely kitchen bed. It’s been three, maybe four days now, and I’m in love. Swooning over these tulips! Sure, I could have been ‘practical’ and saved that prime sunshine real estate for tomatoes, or cucumbers, even pumpkins. Something edible. But these tulips. Ooo la la…they bring a smile with their exuberant hardiness. That joy tonic after a (let’s be real) rather drab colored winter. Beauty is medicine, too.

Also happening now: our wizened crab-apple has just burst into a million luscious pink blossoms. Following demurely behind with pale pink to white blooms, is the sturdy, somewhat amputated heirloom apple tree. The honey bees found them quickly, and their buzzy drone gently vibrates your entire body if you let it.

This ‘predicted’ frost is rather vexing, as it’s the first year that L.’s apple is in flower! This is the apple tree my daughter and I planted from seed from a honey crisp apple she’d eaten, many moons ago. (Of note, apple seeds don’t usually grow ‘true to type’ – this was an experiment). Well, wouldn’t you know it, several seeds sprouted, we planted them and eventually chose one to plant in our 2^nd garden. This was when we still lived in Alaska. It had grown there one full year before we began to pull up roots and transplant ourselves in the lower 48. It was hard to say good bye to all my plant friends. That whippersnapper apple tree included. But it was already established, a good three feet tall by then. And we only had so much space.

A few months later…

“Mom, where’s my apple tree?”

Uff—gut punch. “Well, dear…I left it.”

She was not pleased. Considering I’d just yanked her from her home of 8 years (and this after a year and a half of stringent covid restrictions) …well, I got a hold of the new owners of our home and pretty please requested them to dig up that apple tree in the lower garden and mail it to us.

Fortunately for us, they were super kind and did just that.

It arrived in time to plant that fall, at our new place, The Stepping Stone Home. L.’s apple is about 12’ tall now. And it’s currently blooming with blushing pink to white flowers. Pollinators busy visiting. By golly, this tree will FRUIT! But there’s 3 days of 20F forecast. AHH! Too cold and the developing fruit could be damaged, or die. The blossoms could simply drop off and wither.

There are a lot of fruit trees blooming in these parts right now.

Will I be wrapping this tree? Yep, you betcha. And probably the Evans cherry too. I really like eating those. But the giant, waving in the wind, crab-apple? She’s too big. But perhaps she’ll be just fine. She’s a tough one that tree. You can tell. Maybe all those blossoms will shelter each other? At least some? One can hope!

Now for some practical tips on…

How to help your plants survive an unexpected hard frost.

Leave leaf mulch, other dried leaf matter, in place as long as you can. (Avoid removing all dried material during the first sunny day you see after a long winter.) It might be a good idea to store some leaves or straw (sans seeds!), or those spent stems and dried foliage you cut back, for such an event. (Kicking myself on that one right now.)

Fertilize with a liquid seaweed (I like Maxicrop). Seaweed fertilizers have been known boost cold resistance in plants. I believe it.

Fertilize with an organic liquid fertilizer, next best – do both if you have the time. Give those plants some extra nutrients. Send them sweet wishes to their growing leaves and blooms, let them know you care.

Tell them! Give them a heads up that it might be really cold soon and they need to buckle up. “Hold those buds till next week!” “Keep strong little ones. You can make it!”

Cover.

Sheets. Burlap. Frost protection fabric. Blankets. Buckets. Yogurt containers. Walls of water.

When using heavier items like sheets and blankets, be sure to have extra support – don’t want to smoosh those plants! Tomato cages can be useful here, or peony rings—drape sheets over that. Also, anchor down those cover corners with stones, bricks or heavy sticks. Winds will pick up what’s not battened down. Buckets or plastic containers work well for bigger transplants like cabbage, tomatoes — the size depends on the size of plant of course.

If a heavy rain is coming along with cold temps…that might negate much of your extra insulation garnered from covering. A heavy snow will end up insulating the plants, but if you’ve covered with a sheet, and the snow lands on that…well, it creates a really heavy blanket. Damp material doesn’t insulate nearly as well as dry. Lots of buckets might come in handy here if you’ve already planted tomatoes.

Plant frost tender annuals after the lilacs bloom, at least! Wait for it. Planting frost tender crops like tomatoes, outside, here in Idaho in April, is still a really bad idea.

There’s always nuance.

I plan on covering my garden for about three nights. It’s supposed to be 32F tonight. I’ll leave it off this evening – was super busy until dark anyways. My plants that are up and growing are pretty hardy. Mostly established perennials. No new transplants. They’ve been fertilized, they have good roots. They’ve decided to grow —we’ll see how they handle this. Hoping I can help guide them through this cold snap.

Fingers crossed.

xo

Emily

Heck, if my Skagway Sugar Snap Peas make it through this, they’ve got one heck of a story to pass on to their progeny!