Telegraph

Snippets: cold comfort (Filed: 10/11/2001)

Rory Dusoir on shielding your plants from the frost

Protecting plants

IF you are short of greenhouse space, or grow tender plants that are too big to dig up, you should protect them in the ground. This is easily done with herbaceous plants that die down to below ground level in winter.

You can simply cover their crowns with a heavy mulch, either of straw held in place by a circle of short canes, or of a bulky organic fertiliser, such as manure. Old fern fronds are a superior alternative to straw, because they are less liable to rot. With the giant-leaved Gunnera manicata, whose huge, protuberant buds are vulnerable to heavy frost, it is traditional to use the plant's ample leaves for swaddling.

Evergreen plants are more difficult to accommodate. They are never completely dormant and will not tolerate being kept in the dark. You can protect them by building a wooden frame with a layer or two of bubble wrap for walls.

When the weather is mild, this protection should be removed during the day. The technique can be used for quite sizeable evergreen shrubs. You may, in this case, want to construct your frame in such a way as to leave a flap, which can be pulled back when you want to give the shrub some air in mild weather. This is preferable to grappling with the whole frame, if it is awkward.

If you have a precious plant, it is best to bring it indoors. But, if you can afford to take a risk by leaving the plant outside, with or without protection, it is always worth doing so. By experimenting in this way, you will often come to discover that certain plants are hardier than we are generally led to believe.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 2001