As if the hard freeze starting tonight wasn’t enough, now we have a significant chance of snow and ice. What’s a North Texas gardener to do?
First, tonight, Sunday night, deeply water everything you can. The liquid water helps protect the plant and roots from the freezing cold air. The freezing nights are expected to last through Friday, and current forecasts have a good chance of ice and / or snow for most of North Texas. What does that mean for our gardens?
Hopefully by now you’ve moved all of your potted plants inside. The cold weather will get to them first as they don’t have the advantage of warmth from the earth itself to keep the roots and bulbs from freezing. Any other cold sensitive plants in the ground should be covered with frost cloth. This helps protect from the freezing winds and traps heat from the ground to keep the plants just a little bit warmer.
Now onto the snow and ice: By and large, snow and ice are fine for most gardens. The snow provides a protective blanket for most plants, shielding them from the bitter cold in the air above. Ice, if it falls in the form of sleet, does mostly the same thing. The primary concern is freezing rain and wet heavy snow on tree limbs. The additional weight of ice and snow on trees and bushes can cause significant damage. In the case of freezing rain, there’s not much to be done except to be prepared to trim off the damaged limbs once it’s melted. If it’s snow you can clear the weight off of low shrubs and bushes to help protect them, and attempt to shake it off of the trees. But like freezing rain, the weight of a heavy wet snow can cause significant limb damage, so it’s best to simply be prepared to clean up the broken branches in the aftermath.
No matter the time of year there is always something to do in a North Texas garden. Winter doesn’t mean that your garden is done. Gardens in our area can remain very active year round even in the depths of winter.
Happy gardening and, as always, take time to play in the dirt!
