How do I protect my plants from the snow?

[gardennoob]

Im relatively new to gardening. I've been doing a lot of planting this year, but I have no experience protecting my plants from the snow. We get a lot of snow during the winter and it stays around for a lot time. What would be the best way for me to be able to see my plants flourish when the snow melts? Is there some cheap solutions?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

If you have perennials that work in your zone, they should be fine through winter without really any help. Sometimes plants just won't make it, though. To help the odds, I copy mother nature's method and use leaves as a natural mulch to help give the plants just a little more protection. Leaves are great for that, plus they break down over time and give the soil nutrients, and they're free!

 

[Chuck]

Keep the roots from freezing by adding mulch. Plant hardy plants. Do not use plastic. If you do not have plants adaptable to your climate shame on you. Snow will actually insulate, up to a point, your plants if they are cold hardy

 

[Rachel L Helberg]

Im relatively new to gardening. I've been doing a lot of planting this year, but I have no experience protecting my plants from the snow. We get a lot of snow during the winter and it stays around for a lot time. What would be the best way for me to be able to see my plants flourish when the snow melts? Is there some cheap solutions?

What type of plants are we talking about? And how low do your temps get to, snow wont hurt as much as low temps?

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Living in New England we get lot of snow and I just cover the plants with leaves each fall and the do well or most of them some times no matter what I do some just don't make it.

 

[gardennoob]

What type of plants are we talking about? And how low do your temps get to, snow wont hurt as much as low temps?

It stays below freezing from December to April. The temperature fluctuates every year but the lowest possible temperature is 34 degrees celsius. I've planted a variety of difforent plants in difforent locations, a tomato vine, fig tree, raspberry bush, cat mint. I planted some strawberries as well but I don't expect them to last the winter.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Don't worry about your strawberries it takes a lot to kill them, They might look dead come spring but when it starts to warm up they will start to grow.

 

[Rachel L Helberg]

What type of plants are we talking about? And how low do your temps get to, snow wont hurt as much as low temps?

Leaves are ok but we use clean straw. If you have someone you trust to get some from - works great! We use our leaf blower in reverse (sucks up the straw and chops it into smaller pieces) then cover what ever beds we need to protect. (They also use straw for great base and walls because it is excellent insulation in eco houses) My/our fear with leaves is you may not know what bugs they are hiding. We only use them with compost so everything has time to "cook" down. There are also some plants that do not like others, so even the dead leaves may end up killing something you like. (Hint - NEVER compost your tomato vines into anything but their own plot - we burn ours, or you can throw them in the trash. They are organic material, however their leaves and vines are bad news.) I have to use long sleeves and gloves when cleaning out/up our rows because i will get a burning rash from them - nasty!
With the straw you get a great protector for any deep freezes, plus the ground loves it. You can just work it in, in the spring, and it will help to keep moisture in your plot(s). We don't pull up any bulbs in the fall, we just make sure we have a good straw cover. We have tried newspaper, flat and shredded, but the winds we get here are terrible, so the minute it was dry it was blowing everywhere.

 

[Rachel L Helberg]

What type of plants are we talking about? And how low do your temps get to, snow wont hurt as much as low temps?

You should also check out what grows naturally in your state/area. In Wisconsin (where i grew up) tulips were one of the first things that popped up there for us. Here in Colorado it is the Iris's then the tulips. The Iris will plow through even our roughest winters here. They do spread out quick, so make sure to separate them from anyone else. Look around again, you may get lucky and find a neighbor that has them, most owners of them (like us) are willing to share the tubors (that is the root of the iris - you can be rough with them when putting them in the ground, pretty hardy!).

 

[JBtheExplorer]

My/our fear with leaves is you may not know what bugs they are hiding.

That's another reason why I use leaves. It helps native insects get through winter.

 

[gardennoob]

That's another reason why I use leaves. It helps native insects get through winter.

That's good that your looking out for the little guys. The bugs here clearly don't need our help. We live near the water so we get plenty of bugs already. Most of them think our house is pretty nice and come in for an uninvited visit. We have a lot of leaves avalible, do the bugs in the leaves damage the plant when put on the soil?

 

[Rachel L Helberg]

Some bugs can harm some plants. You should learn what your good bugs vs your bad bugs are in your area. Our good bugs include the Praying Mantis, Lace Wing, Ladybug, among others. We have learned to watch out not just for them but for their offspring. (never saw a Mantis cocoon until we moved out here). We have a ton of bad bugs too - most like to hide themselves and do so very well. The pill bug (or rolly-polly as my daughter calls them) loves decaying plant matter - however - we caught them munching on our strawberries in the greenhouse. We then learned to place ground level containers with beer in them. The pill bugs and slugs go in, drink and dont make it back out alive. Saved our strawberries. We also learned that if you mulch something like leaves and wood chips right up to your trees (especially saplings) you will kill them from bad bugs and sometimes fungus. Our iris beds, peonies, and salvia all do just fine with leaf mulch. The strawberry bed outside loves leaves but not coconut husk - killed them within 1 year. The tomatoes loved the cornhusk, just not a ton of it. So it just takes time, trial and error, and get to know the look of your good vs bad bugs. Its also really fun watching a praying mantis move across grass/plants vs. a porch or sidewalk. Never knew those funny things could move that fast till this year - WOW!

 

[JBtheExplorer]

We have a lot of leaves avalible, do the bugs in the leaves damage the plant when put on the soil?

The simple answer is no. I think most gardeners over-think things like that and forget that plants are nature, and they've formed to work with insects and animals. I've personally never seen anything negative coming from using leaves as mulch.

The not-so-simple answer comes when talking about non-native species, both plants and insects. Having either plants or insects that aren't from here often causes imbalances that lead to more plant damage or higher populations of insects that don't have natural predators to keep their populations controlled.

It's best not to put all bugs in one category. There are good ones, bad ones, great ones, awful ones, and of course the ones that seem bad but aren't - the ones that do visual damage but don't harm the plant at all. Far more often than not, insects and plants go hand in hand.

 

[KimmyMarkks]

Im relatively new to gardening. I've been doing a lot of planting this year, but I have no experience protecting my plants from the snow. We get a lot of snow during the winter and it stays around for a lot time. What would be the best way for me to be able to see my plants flourish when the snow melts? Is there some cheap solutions?

Using extra soil is a good way to protect your plants from the snow, unfortunately it doesn't always work. I have a fig tree in my yard and every winter we wrap it up to protect it until spring. I always try to make an effort to remove snow from my plants (obviously depending on how much you get), so it doesn't disfigure them. Leaves also really help protect, but they eventually disintegrate, so I would recommend buying additional bags of soil to put over the base of your plants.

Let me know how this works for you! Good luck.

 

[Corzhens]

I'm just watching this thread because we do not have snow here. But sometimes the very cold temperature in January that dips down to 15 degrees C affects our plants. With those planted in the garden, we cannot do anything except to sprinkle water at 6 am to lessen the cold. Those planted in pots are taken inside the house or the terrace for the night to at least give them a little protection from the excessive cold at dawn.