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Here's how to prepare your garden for the first frost

We know it's coming, we just don't know when. Now's the time to prepare your plants for the first frost.

DENVER — We know it's coming, we just don't know when.

Prepare for the first frost by taking inventory of your sheets, towels and tablecloths. Cotton fabric or spun row covers can protect plants down to about 25 degrees, depending on the duration of below freezing temperatures.

Many tropical plants can be moved inside to sunny windows to keep them over winter.

In addition, it's easy to take cuttings of coleus, bloodleaf, plectranthus, geraniums, sweet potato vine, and even petunias. I root coleus, plectranthus and bloodleaf in jars of water on the windowsill. To do this, take cuttings about six inches long. Strip off all the lower leaves. New roots will form at these leaf nodes. They will form roots in a few weeks and can be potted up whenever you find time.

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Geraniums, sweet potato and petunia cuttings can be started directly in soil. Strip off the lower leaves and brush the stems with a rooting powder. Insert the stems in soil and gently firm the soil around them. Water from the bottom and put them in a bright, warm place. They should root within a few weeks. As the grow, move them up to bigger pots.

You can create hundreds of dollars worth of new plants for your 2022 garden. Growing plants from cuttings just takes patience.

More Proctor's Garden:

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