How to Make a Garden Frost Bag

In northern climates, growing long-season plants that aren't tolerant to frost can be challenging. Plants such as tomatoes and peppers require many days of warmth to flourish. You can grow most vegetables throughout the contiguous 48 states; but to take full advantage of the summer heat many vegetable plants love, it's important to get a head start on the season. You can germinate plants indoors, but you must establish the seedlings' roots in a permanent soil early in order to get the plants to grow their best fruits. One way to extend the season is to use a garden frost bag to protect the young plants and plant outdoors earlier. Make effective frost bags yourself, cheaply and fast, with waxed paper.

Waxed paper
Staples

Instructions

- 1
  Determine how large a tent you will need to create. Tomatoes need large tents, 10 inches tall, while 6-inch-tall tents are big enough for squashes.
- 2
  Cut a sheet of waxed paper from the roll at least 12 inches long for a large cone.
- 3
  Create a tube from the waxed paper, overlapping 1 inch. Secure the bottom of the tube between the finger and thumb of the left hand. Grasp the inner corner of the waxed paper -- at the top of the inside of the tube -- with your right hand and pull the top into a smaller and smaller circle. Release the left-hand pressure slightly to allow the angle to change but don't let go of the bottom.
- 4
  When the top gets small enough for your purposes, bend the top down and put a staple near the fold. Put several staples in the overlapping area of the bottom of the cone, 1 inch or more up from the bottom.
- 5
  Make two to five 1-inch cuts around the bottom of the cone. Fold the bottom flaps you create outward.
- 6
  Place hairpins through the flaps and into the ground to hold the frost bag in place. You can also cover the flaps with soil or rocks.

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