Last week we experienced two mornings of frost which is very unusual for this time of year in our part of the country. The average frost free date for our area is April 15.
We had already planted our sweet potatoes so in an effort to save them from the frost I mulched them heavily with straw the evening before the predicted frost. (Sweet potatoes are very susceptible to cold weather.)
This isn’t a very good picture but I took this late the evening before the frost as I finished up mulching.
Then each of the two mornings I sprayed much of the garden off water from the garden hose. A couple days later I pulled back the straw to see if it had worked. In spite of these precautions some of the sweet potatoes still died,
but some of them survived. Hooray!
The sweet potatoes that survived the frost were the ones that I had mulched the most with the straw. For future reference I now know to make sure that each plant is covered by at least 6 inches of straw.
I am hopeful that despite the frost we will still have a nice crop of sweet potatoes, but only time will tell.
Were you effected by the late frosts? What precautions do you take to protect tender plants from frost?
Have a blessed day!
Jennifer
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