It is going to get cold here, cold for here anyway. 4 days of freezing with 2 days the highs around freezing. I have daffodils and tulips in a 30x30 planter and some of them are 12 inches tall already. Last year I lost them all to a late frost in early April and I don't want it to happen again. I also have other tulips and Hyacinth coming up. I hope to be able to move them into the garage along with 3 other flowers and an onion. I buried everything in peat moss last year and all the starts died leaving no early blossoms. What can I do to try and protect the large plants, 3 of which already have flowers stems coming up? All I have is putting a tarp over them to try and keep them from freezing or getting frost damage. Is this even worth a try?
I'd say give it a try. Also, if there's any way to add some heat in there... christmas lights, drop lights, anything that will add a little warmth. Good luck!
How cold? Spring bulbs can take a lot of cold with out damage, but freezing, not. A heavy cover of snow will knock them down, too. Don't cover them with anything dense. Can you gather up leaves or get a bale of straw and make a mound of loose debris over the plants? Maybe even a criss cross of arching wire or even tomato cages anchored into the ground and put a few branches through them to keep the leaves or straw there or to keep the it from getting smashed down by heavy snow (if you are getting snow)... improvise and work with what you have. Stakes and burlap (made into a circle around like trees are protected during the winter) with the debris tossed over the plants until the weather warms up a little...etc. evergreen boughs trimmed from trees where you won't notice the loss....
I saw these at Donna's house when we were there last year. Designed to protect tender plants from cold, I don't remember the details and I think she is on vacation. Perhaps milk jugs with the bottom cut out. A garden center may help. In a pinch a tarp and a drop light with an appropriate wattage bulb may help. Jerry Cones at Donna's ( photo / image / picture from Jerry Sullivan's Garden )
Can you put them all in the garage ? You can rig a temporary greenhouse with a sawhorse and a clear shower liner from the dollar store. Looks like a little A-frame. Put two sawhorses side by side and will hold quite a few plants. Hubby`s drop light has a hook you can hang it on the sawhorse for heat with a 60 or 75 watt bulb.
I put as lot of the small planters in the garage. Covered the other 2 planters with straw and gonna hope for the best. If the bulbs so messed up by this cooky weather I have been having it wouldn't be so bad but 12 inch high daffodils and 10 inch high tulips with flower stems coming up in January, good grief. Lows next 4 days: 22,18,18,26 (F) Highs next 4 days: 38,31,30,34 (F)
