Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: What does “hard frost” mean?
It’s not Winter yet, but it’s on the way and some have already experienced some temperatures dipping into the 30’s. Some folks “Up North” have covered tomatoes or just given up!
We’ve traded out the summer annuals for mums…
We’ve brought the tropicals inside or bid them adieu into the compost pile and are working on getting those spring bulbs in the ground before our fingers freeze.
There’s also digging OUT bulbs such as cannas and dahlias which I talked about last week. That’s gotta happen before the ground freezes.
We’ve had light frosts but what’s a HARD frost? Technically speaking, that’s when our temperature dips to at least 28 degrees for at least four consecutive hours or if we hit 24 degrees.
Some hardy annual plants can handle a light frost (mums are a perfect example), but a hard freeze will generally kill ‘em off. The photo below was one year ago!
For those of us in zones 3 and 4, some have already entered frost territory.
As for when the ground itself freezes, that’s usually early December but with changing weather patterns, check with your local county extension or soil and water district.
For most, lawn mowing is over but you can sure mow over those fallen leaves and leave them on the ground. So long as they’re chopped up well, they will break down and go into the soil providing a bit of nitrogen. Plus it keeps you from raking! You can also bag the mowed leaves and put them in your compost pile or layer them on your garden beds!
