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Re: In case you missed this . . .

Message from Jim Wilmington DE 7a

> I was surprised that he had protected already. <

This question was also raised by others in my original protection thread. I feel a greater "flushing out" of my thought process is in order.

I protected at Thanksgiving because it was pleasant enough outside to spend a couple hours there without freezing my butt off. And at that time, I was not confident that there were too many nice weekends left on the calendar.

Additionally, even on "mild" periods, it's still cooler than summer, and that means the soil is still losing warmth. Why not put the mulch down early to preserve what warmth there is?

Even the two plants in the trashcans aren't sealed up. I've only had the lids on during all-day rain events. Otherwise, they are still getting sunshine and fresh air. Even the Minor in the burlap wrap. It's only like 2-ply of burlap. If you hold that up to the sun, you can see plenty of light gets through.

The way I see it, I haven't locked up my plants at all. I am simply making their transition into winter (whenever it comes, and it WILL come) easier and softer than it would be if I waited until right before a serious Arctic blast.

HAVING SAID ALL THAT...

Everyone's got to take care of their plants the way they feel. I can't tell people what to do. I can only say, "I do it this way. If that stimulates you to copy how I do it, great. If you take away one or two of my ideas and incorporate it into your own way, great. If you think I'm bonkers and reject all of my methods, that's great, too." To each his own!


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