by Janette Peel

Created on: March 08, 2009

Winterize you garden and take the edge off winter when you shelter your plants with simple protective covers. There are a variety of covers to protect your plants from winter damage.

Cover protection involves applying insulating materials such as mulch, hessian or plastic cones, over the roots and foliage of plants during the coldest part of the year. This is generally only necessary in cool or cold climates, or in areas that experience strong winter winds.

Mulch can insulate soil to prevent moisture loss from winter winds. Mulch can also be used to keep the ground from getting too cold, which can harm the roots or sensitive plants. Foliage is covered to protect it against sudden frost and night-time cold.

Cover protection will significantly increase a plant's chance or survival during cold weather. It will not, however, allow you to grow warm-climate plants in cold-weather regions.

Apply mulch layers around evergreens, shrubs, roses, perennials, vegetables, vines and bulbs. Evergreens benefit from root protection only when extreme cold threatens.

Dormant plants, including deciduous shrubs, perennials and roses, all benefit from protection over the soil when the cold sets in. Add a layer of insulating mulch to the ground above bulbs and cover young vegetables with plastic cones.

You can determine the material you need by the type and part of plant to be protected.

Use organic materials to protect plant roots. Apply layers of compost, straw, leaves or evergreen branches after the ground starts to cool.

For your evergreens, apply several centimeters of mulch beneath the branches, but do not cover the base of the plant, as too much mulch can smother foliage.

In more temperate climates, roses are better left unmulched, so that the daytime sun can help warm up the soil.

To protect tender foliage of buds, use inorganic covers such as plastic tents, hessian and boxes. Place over plants at night to minimize frost damage. Some shrubs only need protection for the first year, by which time they will have acclimatized.

One of the great benefits of container gardening is that you can grow tender plants outdoors in sum, then move them under cover in winter. Container plants are more vulnerable to the cold than those in open ground because the roots and soil mix are insulated only by the container. Some plants may need no more than moving to the shelter of a warm house wall, while some will survive with minimal protection; others need a warmer spot, such as a well lit room indoors

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