Charlotte’s weekend weather could kill your plants. Here’s what you should do.
Anyone who planted a garden to while away the time during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, beware:
Temperatures in metro Charlotte and surrounding counties late Saturday and early Sunday could kill your young plants, National Weather Service meteorologists warned in a frost advisory.
Plant-crippling frost could form as temperatures are expected to drop to as low as 35 degrees, according to the NWS alert.
“Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered,” according to the advisory.
The frost advisory is in effect from midnight until 10 a.m. Sunday for the Charlotte metro area, surrounding counties, Upstate South Carolina and the southern foothills of North Carolina. Counties north of Charlotte are under a freeze warning, with temperatures falling as low as 30 degrees.
To save your plants, don’t wait until nightfall to water them, Donna Teasley, agriculture-horticulture agent with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service in Burke County, posted online Friday.
Never cover the plants with plastic when trying to protect them from frost, she said.
“Use sheets, light blankets, cardboard or paper,” she said. “Cardboard boxes work great.”
Weigh down the edges of whatever you cover the plants with so the wind won’t blow the covering away, she advised.
And remember to remove the covering on Sunday before the sun gets too high, Teasley cautions.