Frost is happening in the Northeast

It is getting down to temps low enough to create frost now in the northeast at night. If you have plants you want to be able to enjoy for a few more weeks you really need to cover them at night. You can use any light material and something as simple as a few small rocks on the edges of the material to hold it from blowing away in case a breeze comes up during the night. A lot of people don't realize that frost actually falls down and lands on the plants. It isn't always the temperature that kills the plant it can be the icy frost landing on the leaves. Some plants actually thrive with very cool temps at night and rebounding warm temps in the daytime. We use old saved bed sheets or curtains to cover all our vegetation that we want to keep until the temps drop to the point of freezing and kill the plants for the season. Now is a good time to get building the permanent plant covers.



Any perennials you have deserve to be protected so they will be here for many years to come. You can find sources for cover making material at many construction sites like a new home being built. If you go there and ask the contractor, he will usually have waste pieces left over from sheet goods that they wind up tossing in the dumpster that are quite often large enough to make great plant covers. Grab a couple of old barn door style hinges from the hardware store for a couple dollars and a couple of bolts and nuts too. Drill a few holes and hinge two pieces of material together and you have a cover you can use for several years for less than $5.00. Give your plants a fighting chance against the snow loads and the cold and save money at the same time by not having to replace plants unnecessarily.

Covering your plants.

When it comes time to put your plants to bed for the winter please do them a favor and do not cover them with plastic. If you forget in the spring to remove it in ample time you will kill your plants or seriously stunt the growth of your plants. Use instead something like burlap or natures own leaves or you can even use landscape fabric. Try not to use bows from near by trees as you will alter the shape and looks of those trees permanently. Plants need to breath and plastic would smother them and does not allow any moisture to reach the plants. People are tempted to use what ever is available but it will be well worth your time and effort to find and use the right products to keep your plants safe and healthy.

Ready Your Garden Tools for Winter

In the northern part of the country it is rapidly approaching time to button things down for the winter. You invest good hard earned money in all of your garden tools and lawn tools too. It does not take a lot of time to protect those tools for the winter months but in those short few months those same tools can rust at an alarming pace. A short amount of time with a piece of sandpaper can ready those tools for some well deserved oil or paint to protect the metal parts for the winter. While you are at it why not sharpen any tools that require sharpening before applying oil or paint to their surfaces.

One more trick we use here in the northeast is an old trick my Grandfather taught me when I was very young and I still use it today. Almost all tools have wooden handles. Wood does have a tendency to dry out naturally over time. It is just the nature of it's construction. Without the tree roots to supply moisture to any piece of wood it will dry out. You can treat the outside to help it retain some of it's moisture but eventually it will lose some of that protection and the wood will do what it knows best once again, dry out. Well here is a very easy solution that will only take you minutes to do and it only needs to be repeated a couple times a year and will extend the life of your tools by many years.

Take an extra long drill bit, usually about a 1/4" bit will be good enough. Go straight to the very end of the handle and drill in the very center parallel to the length of the handle as far into the handle as the bit will allow. The deeper the better and you will understand that better in a few seconds. You now have a 1/4" hole directly in the center of the handle down about 5 inches or so. You will also need some 1/4" furniture plugs like they use in wooden furniture to cover the screw holes to plug the end of the tool handle. Fill the hole you just drilled with some Linseed oil and cap off the hole with the furniture plug. Stand the tool on end so gravity can do it's job and naturally let the oil work down through the handle. The oil will keep the handle from drying out and keep it somewhat flexible. More good tools have been tossed in the dumpster because of a simple broken handle.

People have gotten used to the inexpensive tools and the ease of just replacing them when the break a handle. My tools are good and trusted friends to me and I like to take as good care of them as the do me. They make my gardening easy and enjoyable so I feel I owe it to them to take a few minutes out of my time and keep them clean and well oiled and sharp. Clean sharp tools will make a job go smoothly and it is also easier on the tools if they are in good working order. Try this out on the next rainy weekend and you will see next spring that your efforts will have rewarded you.