How to keep your plants safe from frost in the winter

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How to keep your plants safe from frost in the winter-Farmer Samir

I have lots of my farmer and gardener friends asking me about keeping the plants safe during frosting in the winter months. I am trying to address the challenge through some natural ways in my food forest and the nutrition garden which I am enlisting.

What is Frost: According to Wikipedia, Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in phase change from gas to ice i.e solid as water vapor reaches the freezing point.

Frost damage happens when excessive severe cold kills the roots of plants-especially when growing in very wet or water logged soil or compost. Damage occurs when the water in plant cells begin to freeze and expand- damaging the cell and rupturing the cell wall.Tender young growth may be damaged by frost, causing scorching and pale brown patches to appear between the leaf veins. Hard frost can cause leaves of hardy evergreen plants to be scorched and turn brown, and the plant dies eventually.

Frost generally occurs on clear and calm nights where there are few or no clouds to reflect the warmth back to the ground and little to no wind to disperse warm patches of air.On this type of nights frost can happen even if the temperature is not freezing.

My way of managing:

• High density planting and mixed cropping on Raised Beds: I have seen when we mix the crops and are planted in high density following hexagonal spacing on raised beds making it into a food forest, we can escape frost attack. Raised beds with 70 percent top soil and 30 percent compost are good to escape frost attack. If you are planting in tubs or containers ensure this mix. On to the top layer of the raised beds or the tubs add wood ash and bamboo biochar and plant the seedlings. We also use egg shell powder which also keeps the soil zone warm. Avoid mulching in frost effected areas. You can mulch lightly with dry leaves at night and transfer the wet dry leaf mulch to the compost heap on the day time.Sow seeds and plant seedlings on raised beds.
• Water before Frosting: This I found a good way to escape frost attack by applying water around the plant(not the plant but soil drenching around the plant) in the evening. During the night time the wet soil will release moisture into the air , which will raise the temperature and keep plants warmer.
• Hardening of seedlings: 14 days prior to transplanting the seedlings outside, take out the seedlings in a shady place protected from winds during the day time and place them indoors during night. This will adapt them to the conditions and after two weeks they will be strong to be transplanted.
• Plant on elevated zones on hills: As cold air moves to lower grounds, it will pass by plants located on high ground or slopes. That's why it is best to place seedlings and other plants that are suceptible to frost on these elevated zones. Frost Resistant Crops: Mustard Leaf, Cabbage, Brocolli, carrots, radish, spinach, yams, indigenous seasonal herbs, Peas. Frost affected crops: Tomatoes, pumpkins, egg plant, chillies, sweet potatoes, corns etc.
• Cover Plants before Night Fall: If you have small garden and few plants then you can cover up your plants with hessian cloth and bamboo frame cover. If big you can use 200 micron UV film plastic house or a shade net house.
• Create Food Forest: Mix seeds and plants and plant them on raised beds and make it into a food jungle. Do not pamper the food crops too much and plant them inside the forest mixed with non-food crops.

As this is a persistent challenge in cold places, I am working more on the management and will let you know in the near future. Any queries can also be addressed to samirf2f@gmail.com