Here, there’s a chill in the air. The season is turning a corner, and even though fall comes relatively late this year, it definitely feels like the season is changing.
For those of you who live in apartments or simply have a lot of container plants, fall is a season to think about cold weather care strategies for your plants.
Plants that live in the ground have a few advantages over plants that live in containers. In places where it rains a lot, the rain will trickle down into the soil. Rainwater will become groundwater or river water. Not so for the rain that goes into your containers. These containers aren’t directly connected to the water cycle in the way that your garden soil is connected. Rainwater seeps out of the pot and overflows the bottom of the container. If your soil is compacted and drainage is poor, rainwater can also overflow over the top of your container. Before the winter freezing sets in, make sure that your plant has well-drained soil. Make sure that the bottom of the pot provides an escape route for water that is not blocked by a rock or a root.
If the ground often freezes where you are, create a small opening between the pot and the container at the bottom of the pot. Placing a pot on small ceramic stilts will allow water to flow out of the bottom of the pot when it rains, even if the ground is still frozen. This prevents root rot on days when the temperatue hovers around freezing.
Plants that live in the ground also have the benefit of winter mulch. Autumn provides natural mulch for plants in the form of leaves, or you can add leaves and straw around your tender plants to give them a winter blanket. Sometimes we forget about this need in container plants. However, container plants have an advantage here too. They are often smaller than other garden plants, so they can go under an upended jar, a glass bell jar or under a makeshift plastic greenhouse. If you must keep plants outside, this gives them an edge against the cold.
Large container plants that are not hardy can be wrapped in burlap to prevent them from freezing. Place a tube of mesh around the plant and wrap burlap around it to protect the plant from the winter winds. Smaller plants that are quite tender can come inside, or you can move them to a sheltered location in a well-lit garage, sunroom, or south-facing wall. Plants left outside should be hardy to two zones below the USDA zone in your area. This compensates a little for the fact that containers are a more challenging place for plants to grow.
Do you garden in containers throughout the winter? What are your strategies?
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