Courtesy photo Fine mesh fencing like 1/4" hardware cloth or a similar material can help to exclude snakes from landscapes.

Fine mesh fencing like 1/4" hardware cloth or a similar material can help to exclude snakes from landscapes.

I need some help with my peach tree! It’s started blooming beautifully, but I just saw that it’s supposed to get down to 28 degrees again soon. How can I protect it? Is covering it with tarps good? Or blankets? Should I put a space heater w/extension cord under tarps/blankets? I heard about putting water from a sprinkler on it but am not sure of that either. I lost all my blossoms/peaches a couple years ago and really don’t want to lose them this year!

Some years our fruit trees win the “bud-and-blossom verses frost” contest and some years they lose. Home gardeners have employed many different tricks to protect their trees, with mixed results.

Sprinklers aren’t a good choice for local fruit trees. Relative humidity, dew point, and overnight temperatures are all factors in deciding whether to use sprinklers and you’re more likely to damage the blossoms than protect them. Secondary water isn’t usually available during the blossom season, either.

It can be awkward to put in place, but there are a couple of things a tarp or blanket might do for your tree. First, a tarp can hold in air around your tree and give a bit of protection from frosty air out in your landscape.

There’s a second potential benefit from protecting part of your tree with a tarp. Radiant heat loss from the ground when skies are clear can cause buds and blossoms to drop below the surrounding air temperature. Putting a tarp over a small or medium sized can reduce that heat loss. The tarp should be opaque to work effectively.

Courtesy photo Late frost can damage fruit tree blossoms, depending on the stage of the blossoms and how low the temperature gets.

Late frost can damage fruit tree blossoms, depending on the stage of the blossoms and how low the temperature gets.

Putting a space heater under a tarp isn’t a good practice; it’s not very cost effective and you also have the risk of raising the temperature too high. You want to provide just a few degrees of protection under the tarp, not balmy summertime temperatures.

If you decide to use a tarp or blankets, be aware that gusty winds may be a problem. Make sure your tarp is secured, but without damaging your tree. Not only can the winds slip the tarp off the tree, but the movement of the tarp as it ripples in the wind can damage buds, blossoms, and twigs.

You’ll find information to help you decide about critical temperatures and bud damage on fruit trees and whether or not you need to worry by going to https://extension.usu.edu/productionhort/files-ou/CriticalTemperaturesFruitTrees.pdf.

I kept seeing snakes in my yard last year and sometimes they were in my garden, too! There were even snakes in my strawberry bed. I think they come into my garden from the park behind my yard. I know the snakes are supposed to be good because they eat mice and insects, and I know they’re harmless, but they still terrify me. How can I get rid of them?

The snakes you’re seeing are probably the common garter snakes, and you’re right; they’re harmless and very beneficial. No one wants to be startled by snakes when they’re out working in our garden, though. There are some things you can try, but none of them are both easy and effective.

There are snake repellent granules and other repellent products available that claim to keep snakes out, but these products will break down pretty quickly after they’re applied, and need to be reapplied frequently, especially in irrigated landscapes. These products haven’t been proven effective, either. A friend or neighbor may suggest you spread moth balls or moth granules in your landscape, but you should avoid doing that. Those products create a hazard for pets and children.

I’m afraid the only long-term and effective deterrent for your snakes is securing better fencing along the lower part of your current fence. Use hardware cloth 2-3 feet wide or a similar rigid mesh product with openings no larger that 1/4-inch. Solid sheeting of some kind is another option. Bury the lower edge a few inches down in the ground and make a bend along the upper edge to discourage the snakes from going up and over.

Making your landscape less hospitable for snakes will also help.

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