Gardening is always a risk. There's no way to predict, with certainty, the weather (unless you live closer to the equator...and even then...monsoons). Early Spring and late Fall growing comes with the risk of freezing temperatures. Temps below freezing means the water in the cells of your young seedlings can expand, bursting the cells and killing (or at least damaging) your crop.

We grow plants for food. We spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears to ensure a healthy garden to ensure the most food we can possibly grow for our family. That means being prepared to take steps to protect our plants from frost.

Luckily, there are a few, easy things to do to protect your investments:

1. Find Out Your Frost Dates

Check out the Farmer's Almanac's Frost Date site. Simply put in your zipcode to find your AVERAGE last frost dates in the Spring and first frost dates in the Fall. This will give you a good idea of when to plant, and for how long you'll have to be on freeze-alert.

Keep in mind, however, that your local topography can effect this - what your elevation is, sunken in a valley or high atop a mountain.

2. Water Your Plants The Day Before

This may seem counter-intuitive, but healthy, perky plants will bounce back quicker from stress than an already stressed plant. Plus, if you have an extended snap of cold weather, you're not going to want to water the plants for a few days.

3. Cover

Covering your plants with plastic sheeting, an old blanket, a milk jug, newspaper, or glass domes creates an area of dead space around the plant and helps the air trapped within act as an insulator. Just make sure not to let the cover actually touch your plants or it could burn them.

4. Mulch

Mulching the base of your plants heavily helps trap heat close to the roots. This is especially useful to protect the roots of your plants, if you're not yet worried about above the ground.

5. Heat

The last trick I recommend is using heat. Mainly because this makes me nervous. You can use heat lamps, or Christmas lights that give off a little heat to counteract the effects of cold. Another, safer, option is plastic gallon jugs full of water. Laid out in the sunlight, the water will warm up and then, placed throughout the garden, will radiate mild heat throughout the night.

Did I miss anything? Are you planting yet? Or do you just wait until after your last frost?