machiem.... I also have the Rat-zapper and yes they really work. I bought mine when I lived in San Diego. We had lots of palm trees where I lived and rats like to live in them. I had a rat making regular trips to my outside patio after the dogs food. I guess the dog would spill a piece or two of small dry food. Anyway I got the Zapper on ebay and put the batteries in and a couple pcs of dogs food in it and set it out on patio....low & behold next morning the red light was flashing , I got the garbage can and turned the Zapper on end and a huge rat fell out. I guess farmers use these around grain bins. Well they work for sure. When I moved (still some boxes to unpack) I brought it along and will have to find it and put in garage so mice don't get into things...like mower , tractor and other things.

My vintage 1973 wheelbarrow (all steel except for a wooden brace that the hubby bolted onto it for extra structural integrity when he first bought it) spent a lot of partial winters outdoors leaned up against the side of the barn, until the hay supply indoors had been depleted enough to make room for it. It's still serviceable although it has a hairline crack in the bottom of the bed. I don't imagine they make wheelbarrows to last today as they did then, though. I think if I were going to cover anything with a tarp, I would place a tarp underneath the items as well as a tarp over the top. It might help keep the moisture from coming up out of the ground. I used to that with my firewood.

If possible, dig up an area (I use an end of my veg garden) and put the plants in the ground in their pots or burlap or bags or containers. Put them in so the roots are below ground level, then water them well and mulch them with leaves, grass clippings or any mulch you have to hand. Put them close together with just a small amount of soil between each plant in the row. You can get lots of them close together. In the spring, pull them out of the ground and take them to their new home. I nursery hundreds of plants each year this way. I grow lots of perennials from seed and like to get at least a couple of years growth on them before they go into their permanent homes. I also do lots of propagating, and want several years growth on most trees and shrubs before they get planted. I rarely lose much by doing this each year, though some loss is inevitable. You can split and wrap the hostas and bury them as above. In fact you can use cardboard boxes or anything that will hold the plant over the winter, as long the roots are covered with soil to protect them from winter conditions, of which drying out can be the most insidious. The garden shed or unheated garage might work, depending on how cold/warm it gets in there, and what zone your plants are rated for. Again you will need to make sure the roots don't completely dry out (or remain too wet). I think I once read something that being out of the ground is the equivalent of 2 growing zones, so if your plant is hardy to zone 5 and you are in zone 7, it can be left in a pot without further protection. In general, in the ground is the best place for a plant. I have several standards in large pots, so I cover the sides of the pots with plastic to protect them, and bung the whole shebang in the ground. Hope this helps. Rosalinda

Did you mean sealing your balcony from top to bottom and end to end? If so, then it basically becomes an extension of your house, especially if you are using material that will keep some heat in. Adeniums will go dormant in the dark but only ish. I've tried storing them in a closet once but since they were warm in there (about 20C when the heat is on during the day), they kept putting out leaves anyway, albeit very slowly. Without water, the leaf buds sometimes dried out. That was five months in the dark for three adult grafted plants. Your balcony will be colder, especially since the floor is concrete. I strongly suggest getting planks of wood and carton on top of that to keep the pots off the concrete. The cold damage that happened to my Jaw Phaya started from the roots--I left it out on the concrete porch long before frost even started. I am betting the substrate was getting significantly colder than ambient temperature. If you can hang a few shop lights in that space, that can only improve their situation. Place them close to the top of the plants (i.e. 5 to 10 cms, if using T5HO fluorescents). Or you can read all the posts here about LED lighting. Also, don't take out the leaves, it will just expose raw spots. Let them drop on their own and clean out the debris. If you are not lighting them, do not water. Do not feed. Your plants will not respond uniformly to stress either and you might lose some. Pagan