Just before Thanksgiving, most gardeners I’ve visited with had their first frost. Historically, our first frost in Angelina County is the middle of November. And we seemed to be right on target with that date.
The first frost brings about an end to the growing season of warm season vegetables and many areas of your landscape. My Bermuda grass, in the pasture and the lawn, is now brown and is done with growing until the late spring when nighttime low temperatures stay in mid-60’s.
Don’t even think of adding a “winter-izer fertilizer” now. Giving nutrients to a warm season lawn in December is akin to serving supper to someone in bed, asleep, at 1 am. It’s not gonna be appreciated!
My cannas are done for the year. Break out the loppers and cut them back and add them to the compost pile. If you had any warm season vegetables still out and bit back, remove them and add to the compost pile.
Yes, some garden plants (think kale, greens and cabbage) are still doing well and can continue to produce without a hard freeze. What can you do to protect your cool season plants that are still thriving?
Irrigate before a freeze. A moist soil can hold four times more heat than a dry soil. It will also conduct heat to the soil surface faster than a dry soil, aiding in frost prevention. In a study performed years ago, the air temperature above a wet soil was 5 degrees F higher than that above a dry soil and the difference was maintained until 6 a.m. the next morning.
Covering plants can with a sheet can give you 2 to 5 degrees F protection. The covers can be laid right over the crop or can be supported on stakes. The difference lies with whether the cover touches the plant. Any material can be used to cover plants; however, woven fabrics are better insulation than plastics or paper.
Finally, if you have a hankering to plant something now, plant onions! Truly a cool season crop that may need to be protected from hard freezes, onions are a cold season crop that do better in cool weather than our late spring when we get too warm.
