Have just completed wrapping up my garden during the past few days which now looks like an old Indian Camp with white frost fleece tepees dotted about the place. I would like to hear how other gardeners protect their more tender plants while resisting putting them under glass or plastic frames and such?
My tepees are made from 10' bamboo poles with either triangle or square bases, I find them very useful for preserving young borderline hardy plants which have yet to properly establish themselves. In my experience the tepee shape shrugs off the worst of the high winds (60-80mph) we have here and much of the rain. During the winter of 2001 for example, we had 150 consecutive days of rain. It's this wet that causes havoc particularly when coupled with the wind chill factor during January/February winds which can blast into the garden and then do several highly damaging laps inside it. The primary reason the Victorians enclosed their gardens with high walls was never to provide weather protection - they were too pragmatic for that - the walls were primarily built to keep out the light-fingered.
I live at 600' altitude in SW England. Lowest winter temp is -5C/22F which generally only lasts around 5 days out of 365. Generally night winter lows are about 4C/39F but not yet! Currently around 7C/44F. All this is ostensibly USDA Zone 9A!!!
Regards, Mike Gilmore, Winsford Walled Garden