The days are getting shorter, and you feel a distinct temperature change in the air. April is the month to start thinking about how to protect vegetable gardens from wind, rain, cold, and frost.

In the words of  Benjamin Franklin. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

One of the best methods for protecting your vegetables is to grow them according to the season. Certain vegetable varieties are more frost-hardier than others. Sun-loving plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash will never survive winter.  Root crops like carrots, beetroot, radish and onions are all sweeter when grown in winter.  Cabbage can withstand heavier frosts, surviving at temperatures as low as minus 10 °C, with Brocolli able to handle temperatures of minus 2°C.  Brusselspourts, cauliflower and kale, are all light frost tolerant and prefer growing in the cooler months.

Parsley, rosemary, thyme, and mint are the best herbs to grow during cold spells. Read here for more details on growing herbs in winter.

Mulch in the form of compost, grass clippings, newspapers and straw is a great way to insulate the ground and protect the plants from frost. Mulch helps to keep moisture in the soil, reducing evaporation. This moist soil will hold up to four times the heat than dry soil. The moist soil will conduct heat upwards to the surface, making the soil warmer and keeping your plant protected against cold weather. Ensure to water well before your first frost.

Take advantage of radiant heat. Rocks, bricks, pavements, and gravel produce radiant heat. During the day, they absorb heat from the sun and release it at night. They can increase the temperature around your vegetable bed.  When growing in containers, consider moving them closer to the house walls to use the heat radiating from the house walls.

When temperatures reach 5 – 7°C, it is time to cover all the frost-sensitive plants. Use a non-plastic covering like a frost cloth, large blanket, bed sheets, burlap, or hessian. The covering should go all the way to the ground, and bricks should be used to support it. When the weather warms, be sure to uncover the plants, as it might get too warm under the covering, and the plants might wilt.

For a quick covering for trees and scrubs, you can place several stakes around the plant and cover it with your chosen material to create a tent-like structure.  A circle wire netting filled with leaves will also offer good protection for tender plants. If leaves and branches of shrubs have been damaged by frost, leave them on the plant.  The damaged leaves and branches will protect the rest of the plant until the frost has passed.

When gardening in a winter rainfall area, ensure that all your plants and garden beds have good drainage.  Poor drainage means the soil will hold an extra amount of water, which will displace the oxygen, suffocating the plant’s roots.  Adding organic matter like compost or well-rotted manure is key to improving soil drainage. Organic matter improves soil structure, which results in increased water infiltration following rains.

If you have shade netting over your beds, keep it up. Shade netting can protect your plants against wind, hail and light rains. Waterproof shade netting might be needed when staying in an area with prolonged heavy rains.  Follow this link to see how we made the structures for bird netting and shade cloth.

Move potted plants indoors or under the roof’s overhang. This will protect the plants from too much rain and heat radiating from the house walls, which will keep the containers warm.

Winter vegetable gardens are not as exciting as spring and summer gardens, but you can still grow many varieties of food you can harvest throughout winter. My top ten winter crops are

1. Carrots
2. Beet
3. Turnips
4. Cabbage
5. Broccoli
6. Cauliflower
7. Kale
8. Spinach
9. Lettuce
10. Spinach

Use the next couple of weeks to get the garden winter-ready. As the summer sun changes, the sun in your garden will change.  Keep an eye on the movement of the sun and see if all your garden beds are getting enough sun. I have beds that are in full shade in wintertime, and I will put these to bed for winter.  Leaving soil bare is never a good idea.  I will add a thick layer of organic matter to these beds, then cover the bed with cardboard and mulch over the bed. This will keep the microbial life happy and keep the soil warm.

Enjoy the last few warm days, friends.

Happy gardening

Tash