Freezing Nights

Official winter is almost here, but freezing nights can't seen to wait. Most of my garden plants are annuals, so I don't worry about saving them. But there were two that I felt needed a try this year.

First was my rhubarb root. It's in a medium sized pot on the transition float and I worry about it not having enough soil for protection. The other was my beautiful geraniums in the repurposed BBQ planter. I enjoyed them so much this year I thought maybe they could survive with a little help.

I used the same method for both. First, I hired the local wood rat to trim everything back (just kidding, she did it on her own.) I didn't have any mulch handy, so I used crumpled newspaper to give the surface of the soil an uneven cover, hopefully creating air pockets to keep the surface, roots, and stems from freezing.

I then covered the paper with soil to keep it in place. We get some pretty strong winds this time of year. If it works, great. I will have a head start on flowers next spring. If not, I can start all over again. The nursery always has lots of geraniums even in early spring. -- Margy