Protect your plants from upcoming freeze

If you’ve planted your spring garden already, you’re going to want to take some precautions.

Low temperatures are going to hover around freezing the next several days, and that means your plants could be killed. But you can do a few things to prepare.

You can cover your plants in blankets or special plant protection bags, and if you don’t think that’ll be enough, you can go the chemical route.

“If you’re worried about your plants not being hardy enough, you can give them some silica,” Green Leaf Garden Center’s Joel Rico said Wednesday. “Either in a granular form or in a liquid form. That’s going to strengthen the cell walls and make them a little bit more resistant to that frost.”

It helps a lot to have plants that are suited to unpredictable weather on the High Desert.

“When you’re planting your plants for the season, try to pick hardier varieties,” Rico said. “Ones that are going to withstand our temperature fluctuations we have in Central Oregon.”

You also want to be sure to water your plants well before the freeze.