A few cheap tools stretch your season weeks past its natural end. Most garden losses to weather are preventable with an hour of preparation.
Frost protection
A light frost (32–29°F) damages tender leaves but not the plant. A hard freeze (below 28°F) is more serious. For light frost:
- Row cover (frost blanket, Agribon) — draped loosely, it buys 2–4 degrees of protection. Clip on the night before and remove in the morning.
- Cloches and upturned buckets — for individual plants; remove before sun heats them.
- Water before frost — moist soil holds heat, releasing it overnight. Counterintuitive but it works.
- Mulch — pull loose mulch away from the plant base the day before (so soil warmth radiates up), then re-pile after danger.
Pay attention to forecasts and protect at 36°F — clear calm nights radiate cold down past the air temperature.
Heat protection
Above 90°F, many crops stop setting fruit and bolt (lettuce, cilantro, spinach). Shade cloth at 30–50% over a frame drops the bed 10–15°F and can keep summer lettuce in production. Water deeply the morning of a heat wave; a stressed plant is a bolting plant.
Hail and wind
A cheap set of half-hoops with row cover stowed nearby is your all-purpose armor — open the top in heat, close it for hail, freeze, or harsh wind. A 30-minute setup lasts years.
The long play
Permanent windbreaks (hedges, fences), placement that avoids late-afternoon sun on tender beds, and choosing the right crops for your climate do more than any cloth. But for the surprise frost or the unexpected heat dome, row cover and shade cloth are the difference between a lost crop and an extra month of harvest.