Grab some fabric, protect your garden from first hard freeze
MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- It's time to find some fabric and protect your garden from the season's first hard freeze. A freeze warning is in effect for all of southeast Wisconsin until early Tuesday morning, October 22nd.
Bill Minor, owner of Minor's Garden Center in Milwaukee, says we should be grateful we made it this far.
"I think this season has been prolonged, we've been very fortunate not to have a killing frost at this point, usually it's a bit earlier," said Minor.
But with temperatures set to dip below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, most flowers and garden plants need to be covered in order to keep a crippling layer of frost from forming on the leaves.
"You should probably use a rock or bricks, something on the edges to keep it down, or clothespins would work too," said Minor.
Minor says you can use a fabric sheet designed specifically for plants to do the job. But just about any lightweight fabric, like a bed sheet, will work. DO NOT use plastic.
"It's an airflow thing; the leaves actually kind of smother and where the plastic touches the leaves of the plants, the frost goes right through it," said Minor.
While it's possible to shield your garden from frost, Minor says if we get a hard freeze, there isn't much you can do.
"When they're saying frost, you can protect your plants and some of it's very simple, but it is a chore sometimes. If it would happen to be a freeze, where it would go below 30 for example, protection is hard to do," said Minor.
As for potted plants, Minor recommends just moving them indoors.