Frost Gardening Tips: How to Protect Your Vegetable Garden from Snow

Reader Contribution by Bryan Traficante and Garden In Minutes
Published on February 2, 2021


Winter is always a challenging season for home gardeners. Many choose to sit out the growing season for fear of losing their crops to frost damage. However, if you experience mild winters, you can still have a productive growing season in winter as long as you take proper care of your crops. There are various techniques to keep your plants alive through winter helping to ensure a bountiful harvest by the end of the season.

Follow these tips to give yourself the best chance at an abundant and healthy winter crop.

Water Plants at the Right Time

Be cautious with watering during winter. Choose a warm day for watering your plants and make sure the soil isn’t frozen. The temperature shouldn’t be below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If you oversaturate your crops when the temperature is too low, it might result in a frost heave that damages plant roots.

As a rule, soak your garden a day or two before the frost arrives. This helps keep your plants hydrated and moist soil retains temperature better than dry soil, reducing the chance of your garden soil from freezing. A full-coverage, ground-level watering system, such as the Garden Grid™ watering system, made by Garden In Minutes, the company I co-founded, is an ideal irrigation solution, especially for winter gardening.

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