412 Plant Frost Protection Tips

Show Transcript

412 Frost Protection Tips for Plants TRANSCRIPT

Farmer Fred

It’s October, and it’s starting to get a little chillier in the morning. Maybe freezing temperatures will be a reality where you live at some point this month or next. Today, America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture professor, Debbie Flower, has tips for protecting in-ground plants as well as potted plants. We cover frost and freeze protection strategies such as covering, relocation, watering, mulching, frost cloth alternatives, and if you decide to move the plants indoors, tips for managing indoor conditions for plant health through winter.

It’s Episode 412 Frost Protection Tips for Your Plants.

We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios, here in the beautiful abutilon jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Let’s go!

FROST - FREEZE PLANT PROTECTION TIPS

Farmer Fred:

 We're at that time of year where if you're growing any plants that, well, may need some protection in the wintertime, you may be wanting to move them indoors. Citrus is a great example. People growing citrus outside of USDA Zone 9, if you're in zones 8 or 7 or below, and you have a citrus tree in a pot, you might want to bring it indoors for the winter. But can you leave it in the garage? Where do you put it in the house? How do you take care of it? How do you take care of any plants that you're overwintering indoors? It could be sensitive houseplants that are outdoors in the summertime that you're bringing back in. It could be a succulent collection you want to give some protection to. There's a lot of variables when it comes to overwintering plants, It's a lot of options available. Here running the option play for us is our favorite quarterback, America's favorite retired college horticultural professor, Debbie Flower, is here. And you mentioned that you now are in the process of overwintering things.

Debbie Flower:

 I am. Yes, I always think I'm not going to have plants in pots outside. I'm going to plant them all. They're all going to get in the ground and get established and do well. And I never reached that point. So I always have a whole collection of stuff in pots outside. But some of it can stay over winter, and some of it needs a little more protection than that.

Farmer Fred:

In a lot of cases, at least here in USDA Zone 9 for sensitive plants, sometimes all you need to do is move them, if they're in a pot, closer to the house when very cold weather is expected, move them to the south or west side of the house, especially if there's a reflective hard surface beneath it.

Debbie Flower:

Right. Sun will warm up during the day. We get very bright, sunny days in winter. And that reflected heat will last a while over the winter. And we can do things like group them together so that they insulate each other. We can put things around the pot, like mulch of some sort, get a bale of straw and spread that around the pot to insulate a little bit to keep it from changing temperature. The thing, we can't prevent it from getting cold. Mulching around a pot will not prevent it from getting cold, but it will prevent it from getting cold. Water in it and then freezing overnight. And if you go through that process, water and freezing, water and freezing, eventually it pushes the plant out of the pot. That's not good.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, let's take this one step at a time. Maybe people have sensitive plants that are in really big pots and they don't look forward to the idea of moving it closer to the house or even moving it indoors. And actually, I think the first line of defense in overwintering a plant is offer it protection in its place. And that could be as simple as a frost cloth.

Debbie Flower:

 A frost cloth, right. So if you're going to use a frost cloth, you can purchase them at your local garden center and you want to drape it over the plant completely and all the way to the ground. What it's going to do is trap the heat that it leaves the ground and rises up above the plant at night. And if you have a frost cloth over, it's like having a porch roof, it will trap that heat. But you want it all the way around the plant and all the way down to touching whatever the plant is sitting on, over the pot, down to the sidewalk, or the patio, or the deck, or the whatever. If it's a deck, that's unfortunate because you're still going to get some air movement around that and the heat could go away. but you're still going to provide it some protection. In addition to that, then you could add light bulbs. Light bulbs give off heat, not LEDs, they don't give off a lot of heat, but old-fashioned Christmas lights, you've talked about this, and something my dad used to call the trouble light, which was on the end of an orange extension cord, and it had a little cage over it so that when you're working somewhere in the attic or basement or whatever, and you drop stuff, it doesn't break the light bulb with an incandescent bulb in there. So save those incandescent bulbs. They're hard to find in stores these days, but save the ones you have for that purpose.

Farmer Fred:

But they give off heat.

Debbie Flower:

 They give off heat. And so that heat under the frost cloth will collect and prevent the plant from freezing. You're only going to buy a few degrees of protection, but a few degrees may be all you need.

Farmer Fred:

 When we were living in the country, there was one winter where it got abominably cold (for us, anyway)  for like a week or so in December. To the point where water pipes in attics were bursting. Wow. And our neighbor across the street out there in the country had a well. We all had wells. And he had one of those shop lights focused right on the pipe that came out of the well that goes back into the ground and into his house. So I guess he was out of insulating wrap for that pipe. So he threw a blanket over it along with that shop light.

Debbie Flower:

And did he save his plumbing?

Farmer Fred:

 I think so.  Yeah, I think everybody suffered some in that freeze. That was a great experience.

Debbie Flower:

I lost a lemon in that. It was an in-the-ground lemon, and it died back to the ground. And I just waited, and it regrew. But yeah, it was in a corner of a block fence, so it had some protection. 

(Note: Meyer Lemon trees are grown on their own root stock, so they will come back true to the species. Other citrus varieties are grafted onto different rootstocks, so, in the case of complete top growth death, they will not come back true to the scion).

Farmer Fred:

If you don't have a frost cloth, what are the pros and cons of using a blanket?

Debbie Flower:

 Well, it needs to be lightweight. I've used sheets, and they get wet overnight because you can have dew, and they get heavy, and so they can damage the plant unless you prop them up. So ideally, you put maybe a tomato cage, around the plant, or you put a whole series of stakes, tall, well-anchored stakes around the plant, and hold that blanket up over the plant, or sheet. I have used sheets as well.

Farmer Fred:

 So it's not resting on the leaves of the plant.

Debbie Flower:

 Right.

Farmer Fred:

And especially if it happened to rain or there was a heavy dew or the sprinklers hit it, that would be a lot of extra weight.

Debbie Flower:

Yes, right. You do not want to use plastic.

Farmer Fred:

 Why is that?

Debbie Flower:

 If any sun gets through, you don't get out there and as soon as the sun comes up to take it off, it will burn. It will get so hot inside there that the plant will burn. If it gets icy, it can freeze to the plant. It doesn't allow air to move outside to inside. You do not want to use plastic.

Farmer Fred:

So...

Debbie Flower:

If you're using plastic.

Farmer Fred:

 I've talked to people who will use a frost cloth, but then they put like plastic on the outside, thinking that's an extra layer of protection.

Debbie Flower:

Have they been successful?

Farmer Fred:

 You know, if it works for you, fine, but keep it open in mind. 

Debbie Flower:

 Right, right. I would not do that. It's creating a greenhouse, but without ventilation. All greenhouses should have 25% of their roof area open for ventilation. And that's hard to find in a small greenhouse, but that's the rule of thumb. And that's so that you do have some airflow and you don't build up moisture. You could cause mold and fungus to grow on that plant. I would not use plastic at all.

Farmer Fred:

Good point mentioning to take it off when the sun comes out the next day.

Debbie Flower:

Yes. 

Farmer Fred:

Now, what about for frost cloth? Should you remove the frost cloth after the threat of freezing temperatures?

Debbie Flower:

Frost cloth is not as critical. Frost cloth breathes. So the plant can get the air it needs. It can get rid of the air. It expels out of its leaves. However, it does reduce the amount of light that the plant gets. Although typically, there's not a lot going on metabolically, biologically in the plant during the winter. Light levels are much lower than they were in the summer. Temperatures are so low that plants don't do a lot below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. So it's not as critical.

Farmer Fred:

 We have had active discussions about whether to mulch in-ground plants in the threat of a frost or a freeze, especially for citrus plants. And frankly, in an urban situation, just leave the mulch. Now, if you have an orchard of citrus trees, you may want to rake back that mulch in order for the soil to heat up during the day and release it at night.

Debbie Flower:

Yeah, the thing that holds heat in soil is moisture. If you have very sandy soil, you may want to mulch with organic matter because that will hold more moisture than your sandy soil will. If you have loam, good gardening soil, if you have clay, then yes, you want the sun to hit that soil so that the moisture in the soil can absorb the heat. However, if you have hard frost, if it gets below 32 at night, I would not remove the mulch because that's when you have the freezing-thawing cycle and ice is bigger than water. So you have water on the plant during the day, and then at night it gets really cold, and that water freezes, and it takes up more space, and it can push the plant right out of the ground.

Farmer Fred:

What is the difference between a frost, a freeze, and a hard freeze?

Debbie Flower:

 A frost is when you get ice crystals on plant parts. The air temperature gets to about 32 degrees and you just get some ice crystals. Freeze is when it gets a little colder than that, between 28 and 32. And a hard freeze is 28 degrees or below (for several hours). And the hard freeze is the one that you worry about.

Farmer Fred:

Hard freeze is the one that can kill a citrus tree because it actually affects the cambium layer.

Debbie Flower:

There's not enough self-insulation in that trunk.

Farmer Fred:

Yeah. And frost cloth might offer you, what, two degrees, maybe four degrees of protection if it's really thick frost cloth? Right. Yes.

Debbie Flower:

 Frost cloth does come in gradations, thicknesses, and will protect for different amounts of cold.

Farmer Fred:

 Now, if the upcoming freeze or frost is coming as a surprise to you and it's like four o'clock in the afternoon, you're thinking, well, what am I going to do now? Maybe watering the plant might help.

Debbie Flower:

Well, that goes back to, yes, but you can either water the soil, but it needs to have, that water needs to have enough exposure to the sunlight to absorb heat, like we were talking about with removing the mulch. Or, and this is done in vineyards, you turn on the water when the temperature gets below 32 degrees and you're spraying the top of the plant. But you have to leave that water on until the temperature rises again above 32 degrees. What that does is creates a layer of ice around the plant. The water is warmer than 32. If it wasn't, it wouldn't flow. And it lands on the plant and it freezes and it creates at, it stays at 32 degrees. But you have to keep adding the water for it to stay at 32 degrees. Otherwise, the ice can become colder.

Farmer Fred:

 I would think that would be a very gentle application of water, like almost from some sort of misting system.

Debbie Flower:

No, they use, I have seen it in orchards, and they just use a spray irrigation system.

Farmer Fred:

Seems like a lot of water.

Debbie Flower:

Exactly. I was going to say, it's kind of a horrible waste of water, especially when we're sensitive to it because we live in such a dry environment. But other places have more water to spare.

Farmer Fred:

 Real rich citrus owners will hire some guy to fly overhead in a helicopter.

Debbie Flower:

 Yes, they will. Yes, they will. And that's because at night, the ground loses heat and... And it rises. It's colder above it and heat rises. And so the heat in the ground, the soil, the patio, whatever it's in, starts to rise and it gets above the plant. And so after several hours of this, it's colder down at the ground than it is at helicopter level. And so the helicopter is brought in and it just hovers over the orchard and it pushes the air down. It pushes the warm air down.

Farmer Fred:

 But if your name isn't Elon, you probably can't afford to have a helicopter flying overhead at night.

Debbie Flower:

And your neighbor.

Farmer Fred:

your neighbors would love it.

Debbie Flower:

It's noisy.

Farmer Fred:

Another strategy, too, for protecting in-ground plants from a frost or a freeze is skirting the tree, removing those branches that are touching the ground and allowing that heat to get further up into the canopy.

Debbie Flower:

 I hadn't heard of that one. I'm a big fan of keeping the canopies of plants fairly open to allow air and beneficial insects to get into the canopy and do their job. So airflow is impeded by branches with lots of leaves on them. Right.

Farmer Fred:

 And we've talked too in the past about those lower branches. If they're touching the ground, they could be getting infected by disease from splashing soil, disease spores, or the facts that ants and rats use them as a way to get into the tree when it's fruit time. And you may want to avoid that. Another option, too, if you've got plants in containers is to have a greenhouse.

Debbie Flower:

Yes, which is something I have. And I take them in there and...

Farmer Fred:

You have a heater in there?

Debbie Flower:

No, but the greenhouse doesn't have the 25% venting that I would really like it to have. It has one vent that moves automatically based on temperature. So that closes in the winter, and I close the door, and that's it. I have a fan. Just because I believe in fans, in plants moving, and in a greenhouse, you have to have a fan to do that. So I just close it up and hope for the best.

Farmer Fred:

 Okay. I have a heater in mine. It's a 110 (volt), so it just plugs into a regular outlet. It has a fan built into it. It's meant for greenhouses. And with a thermostat, so if I want the indoor temperature to not fall below a certain level, and that usually depends on what I'm growing in there, but it's usually keeping it above 50 degrees for a lot of things. I mean, if I had tropical plants, it might be 60 or 65 degrees.

Debbie Flower:

Yeah, tropical plants don't obey the 45 degree rule.

Farmer Fred:

Yeah, they don't. So that is one option is doing that. All right. So if you don't have the greenhouse, but you have a lot of potted plants and you say, now we're just going to move them indoors. Do you move them indoors or do you move them inside a shed or a garage?

Debbie Flower:

 Well, those are all options. First, you want to look at the plant and if it's been outside for the whole growing season, there's debris on top of the soil in the plant. There may be pests on the plant. There may be pests in the drain holes below the plant. So you want to inspect the whole thing and clean out the extra debris, check the drain holes where slugs might be a problem and they go in there during the day because it's nice and moist and dark and that's a nice environment for them. So you want to check for those things. You could knock the plant out of the pot. I've done that and found slug eggs. And so you want to get rid of those and look in the media. In that case, you know, you may not want to keep the plant. Then when you bring it in, you have a choice. Bringing it in is going to bring it into an environment of lower light, whether it's your house or a shed with a window or without a window and a garage. It's going to be a lower light than you got outside. So the plant is going to go into a stage of quiescence. It's just going to sit still. Quiescence meaning it's not going to grow. It's not going to do much of anything. You're really just preventing it from dying.

Farmer Fred:

Is it dormancy?

Debbie Flower:

Quiescence is before dormancy. Dormancy is not something we can force on a plant. The plant will get into dormancy based on environmental cues like day length and temperature. And  cutting off leaves will not force a rose, for instance, into dormancy by taking its leaves off. We do not have that power. The plant responds in a hormonal way to changes in day length and changes in temperature. But we can take the leaves off that have fungus on them, that have aphids on them, that have other diseases or pests on them. And when we bring it indoors into this lower level of light, it will lose more leaves. So be prepared for that. You want to isolate the plants from any other plants you have in your house, because hopefully you got everything off of it, everything bad and nasty, but maybe you didn't and you don't want that to spread to your other plants. Ideally, you have a place that does have some sun coming in from a window, a south-facing window, would be great. And you just can collect your plants there. I would put them on something, an old tablecloth, old sheet, something where the leaves that decline over time will fall and you have a way to collect them.

Farmer Fred:

I'm surprised the local rosarians aren't out picketing us right now.

Debbie Flower:

 I know. They believe that they can force a plant into dormancy. I'm sorry, buddy, you can't.

Farmer Fred:

So are you wasting your time stripping all the leaves off of a rose bush in December, thinking you're going to put it to sleep?

Debbie Flower:

Well, you're not going to put it to sleep. That's just not going to work. You are, however, removing potential pests… Roses get a lot of pest problems, a lot of fungus especially. So you could remove those sources of reinfestation by doing that. You would also need to rake up what has fallen on the ground, what has already fallen off and landed on the ground, because that's a source of infestation, too, especially of funguses. And funguses is our number one disease problem in plants in general.

Farmer Fred:

I guess with roses, too, you could do like they do back east and just cover them in straw.

Debbie Flower:

 Right. And they do that. They cut them way back and cover them. Sometimes they dig them up and lay them down and bury them to prevent them from freezing. And they're covering them with mulch so that they don't heave. And the heaving is what I was talking about with the ice and the water going back and forth. Ice, water, water, ice, water, ice, water, ice. And eventually it pushes the plant out of the ground. When you've got exposed roots, they're going to die. Roots are incredibly sensitive to freezing. They are more sensitive than any other part of the plant, except maybe an open flower.

Farmer Fred:

I can only think of one year where I noticed the ground was frozen here. And it was that winter where pipes were bursting in people's attics. And I was amazed that they couldn't put a shovel into the soil. And that's commonplace in most of the country. Yes.

Debbie Flower:

 Places I grew up, places I've lived before, places my sons lived. Yes, I've dealt with that.

Farmer Fred:

So we don't usually have to worry about that thawing and heaving.

Debbie Flower:

We don't.

Farmer Fred:

Too much.

Debbie Flower:

The other thing you use a mulch for around rose canes is to prevent them from drying out. Cold air is very, very dry. It cannot hold as much moisture as warmer air. And so the air in winter is very cold. I can remember moving from New Jersey to Arizona in January and going outside and waiting for my nose hairs to freeze, you know, to dry up and freeze. And it just wasn't happening. I just couldn't understand it. So different sensations in very cold places. And so you're containing the moisture. So when the wind comes, it... At least some of the canes, some portion of the canes are protected and they do not dry out.

Farmer Fred:

 Wow. Where was I going with that? I did a little trip to the nursery this past week, gawking at the overpriced pumpkins on display. $15.

Debbie Flower:

They had all kinds. I saw them, but I didn't buy them. 

Farmer Fred:

  But the other thing that they had potted up, and I found this very interesting, and they look to be about five-gallon containers were marigolds and pepper plants. And I've been told by various nursery people that they are selling a lot of pepper plants these days, this time of year, because people are going to overwinter them. So what tips would you have for somebody who's buying a pepper plant and is going to overwinter them to grow them next year as well? Now, from what I understand, obviously, they're not going to be producing much while they're indoors. But you can at least get a second season out of it. Although some pepper aficionados tell me that the second year's crop isn't as good as the first. But if you want to try, go ahead.

Debbie Flower:

Yeah. I think it's a lot of work for very little reward.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, you don't know pepper heads. Okay.

Debbie Flower:

You're right. And I'm not a great pepper grower. I, in Arizona, I had in the ground tomatoes and peppers and they did overwinter and I had crops the next year, but in the ground, you have much more root zone. If I were going to overwinter a pepper in a container, I would plan to put it in the ground or in a much bigger pot come spring and overwinter, I would want it to be, you want it to be healthy. So you're going to want it in a greenhouse or in a place or using very high quality artificial lighting and a fan to keep it moving and make sure you water stuff in the house. When you bring plants in the house, typically their rate of growth slows down and you want to water them less often. But winter houses are heated and they are heated with often forced air and that's very dry air. And it's heat, you know, if it's, it's heating air that would be cold outside that's already dry. So it's dry, warm air. And so the plants lose a lot of water. And so you have to water them more often. So you really got to watch that. You want to make sure you water correctly so you're not overwatering and causing the pepper to rot, but you're watering enough that the pepper doesn't die.

Farmer Fred:

Yeah. I mean, you're not trying to actively get peppers to grow during the winter.

Debbie Flower:

You're just getting them to sit.

Farmer Fred:

 What was that word you used? Quiescence?

Debbie Flower:

 Quiescence. Yes. One of the people, interiorscapers I know, interiorscapers being people who tend plants inside buildings, like inside big malls, inside the lawyer's office, inside the bank, whatever, you know, where plants are, said all you're trying to do is reduce it. The rate of dying.

Farmer Fred:

I would think one way maybe to counteract the dry forced air problem would be to have that pot resting in another pot that has gravel on the bottom, and your pot is resting in that tray that has the gravel in it, and there's water in that tray to raise the humidity.

Debbie Flower:

 Yes, yes. The tray, it's called a humidity tray, needs to be substantially bigger than the pot because the humidity is just going to rise up around the plant. And you want the pepper pot standing on top of the gravel, not nestled into it, because that would create too much moisture at the bottom of the pot. And you're going to have to fill it real regularly. So you could try with, I'm a big fan of litter, cat litter boxes, plastic cat litter boxes, and get some, you want the gravel to be fairly large, and round because then it won't nestle together too much and it'll leave spaces for water. And then you fill it with water and the water's gonna come up around the plant and help to keep it moist. But you're gonna have to check that daily and maybe fill it daily depending on how deep it is and how dry your air is.

Farmer Fred:

You have no financial interest in kitty litter boxes. 

Debbie Flower:

 This is true. I just have had cats all my life. And so it's like, oh, I know what I can do with that.

Farmer Fred:

We didn't talk about protecting outdoor plants and nurseries would like to sell you a bottle of cloud cover (aka Wilt-Pruf) or whatever that antitranspirant stuff is.

Debbie Flower:

Antitranspirant, yes. So that's a spray that you put on the plant. You need to put it on all surfaces, top, back. And...

Debbie Flower:

There are directions on the pot. And it's kind of a, I don't know exactly what it's made of. When I started graduate school at UC Davis, Department of Horticulture, we did an experiment with cloud cover and sprayed the plants. And then we measured their ability to let moisture and air out of the back of the leaf so that plants have stoma on the backs of the leaves, typically the back, some plants it's the top. And they open them during the day to allow air into the plants. They can do photosynthesis because you need air to do photosynthesis. And then they close them when they run out of moisture. But it's where air and moisture move in and out of the plant. And there are ways to test what gases are coming out of those leaves. And we did that. And without the cloud cover, there was great movement. With the cloud cover, there was no movement.

Debbie Flower:

In fact, sometimes there was, I'm sorry, with the cloud cover, there was excess movement because it created an osmotic difference. And so the plant osmosis is when something from a lower concentration moves into a higher concentration. And so the plant perceived a higher concentration in the leaf and tried to push the air out and push the water out. And that's what you're trying to preserve with the cloud cover. So if you did excess spray, that stopped, but you clogged up the stoma and the plant couldn't do anything.

Farmer Fred:

 I think in some of those protecting products that you spray on a plant, the active ingredient, if you want to call it an active ingredient, is pine resin.

Debbie Flower:

 Sticky icky.

Farmer Fred:

 Sticky icky. And yeah, it would suffocate the plant. Right.

Debbie Flower:

 It just closes the stoma. If it's used heavy enough. If it's used, we did it according to directions on the label, and it just increased the loss of water out of the stoma.

Farmer Fred:

Read and follow all label directions, as we're fond of saying. And it's very, very true. So anyway. All right. Going back to moving plants in the house for protecting your crops during the wintertime, your plants. Succulents. Maybe you have some sensitive tropical succulents. Maybe you have some tropical plants that are in movable containers that you can bring indoors. And you made a very good point earlier about clean them off real good.

Debbie Flower:

Clean them off and isolate them. at first.

Farmer Fred:

 You don't want a whitefly infestation in your house.

Debbie Flower:

 Right, right, right. When people say, can I grow tomatoes in the house? That's what you're going to get, is a whitefly infestation.

Farmer Fred:

But, I mean, if you have enough yellow sticky traps, it's a very decorative ornament.

Debbie Flower:

 Right, right. There you go.

Farmer Fred:

You probably could, and if you had enough light. I mean, obviously, there are people growing vegetables indoors and flowering plants, too, if they have enough light. Right.

Debbie Flower:

 Probably primarily hydroponically, not in soil. And it's a chemically balanced liquid media that moves and is aerated and is clean. And you have to dedicate yourself to that if that's what you want to do.

Farmer Fred:

Yeah. Speaking of dedication, how long can you leave the plants in the house or should you move them back outside when the threat of frost or freeze is gone, even if it is just for eight hours or so?

Debbie Flower:

I wouldn't move them in and out because, the leaves that form in sun are sun leaves. And when they're moved indoors, the plant will lose them because they're inefficient. They have too many cells that the plant has to maintain with, and it doesn't have enough light to do that. And then it will make new leaves, and they're shade leaves. And when you move them out into greater light, they will burn and they will fall off. So I wouldn't move them in and out. I would keep them indoors until temperatures are such, have settled outdoors at the rate that the plant will survive.

Farmer Fred:

 But eventually, they do have to go back outside.

Debbie Flower:

Well, or you can keep them in. You can adapt them to staying in.

Debbie Flower:

 But like succulents, you can keep them in. Succulents really dislike cold and wet, by the way. So if you have them outside and you're protecting them or they seem to be hardy enough that they can stay outside, don't overwater them in winter. Don't let them sit in water.

Farmer Fred:

Very good point because we have here. it's a common rule of thumb among gardeners that one of the primary methods of protecting an in-ground plant from the effects of a freeze is to water it the day before. But with succulents, actually, that is a negative.

Debbie Flower:

Yes. Succulents are an exception.

Farmer Fred:

 They can take it dry.

Debbie Flower:

Yes. They prefer it dry. They need some oxygen around their roots and around the base of their stem.

Farmer Fred:

Then the good news is winter will pass, spring will come, and we can all live happily ever after.

Debbie Flower:

 Hopefully, yes.

Farmer Fred:

Yes, with your plants outside where they belong and not taking up your spare bedroom or wherever. Yep. Yeah. All right. Debbie Flower, America's favorite retired college horticultural professor with the advice on winterizing your plants and keeping them safe when the weather gets a little too chilly. Thank you, Debbie.

Debbie Flower:

 You're welcome, Fred.

GOODBYE, GARDEN BASICS PODCAST. HELLO, BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER

Farmer Fred

Well, it’s time to wrap things up here. And truly, I mean wrap things up. This episode, number 412, will be the last episode of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. It’s time to move on. But the Garden Basics episodes will remain for awhile at our home page, GardenBasics.Net, or wherever you get your podcasts, in case you want to listen or download our advice on a particular garden topic. And with over 400 episodes to choose from over the last five and a half years, I think we covered the basics fairly thoroughly.

Thank you for listening to the Garden Basics podcast, and supporting us with your kind thoughts. It’s been fun.

Now what? The good news is the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast will continue. It will be coming out every Friday. The newsletter format allows me to offer up pictures of what we are talking about, along with links for more information about the topic. And, if a podcast appears in a newsletter edition, there will be a transcript available.

You can find the newsletter and any attached podcast at substack dot com. That’s GardenBasics dot Substack dot com. And for the vast majority of you listeners who have been tuning in to the show using Apple podcasts, you can find the Beyond the Garden Basics podcast there, on Apple. What you’ll be missing though, is all the information, pictures, and links that you can find at garden basics dot substack dot com.

And because there will be no paid ads in the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast, your financial support is encouraged and needed for that newsletter to continue. So, when you go to garden basics dot substack dot com, please become a paid subscriber. Free subscribers are welcome, too…but you’ll get a shortened version of the newsletter and the podcast. Plus, if you are a paid subcriber, you’ll have access to the entire library of past Beyond the Garden Basics newsletters and podcasts, of which there are now over 200 editions. And, paid subscribers also get to leave their thoughts and comments, which are greatly appreciated.

So, it’s time to move on. Hope to see you at the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast in the future. either do an internet search for the link to beyond the garden basics, or visit us at substack dot com. Again, thank you for your support and kind thoughts for all the past episodes of the garden basics with farmer fred podcast.