Like everyone and everything else in the south, Mother Nature is polite here. There is talk we'll be experiencing a high of 25 all week long next week. That will mean our first hard freeze of the year. True to form, we've had another beautifully warm start to January. You can see in my other January posts that this has happened every year we've lived here. It'll get cold next week and stay that way until the beginning of March. So today I took advantage of the 60's temps and I did what all good mommies must, when their babies are in danger of frost-bite, I tucked my plants in for bed.
First we put down newspapers. I did as much weeding as I could prior to this, I'm hoping the others die under the weight of everything I laid on top of them. This is the strawberry bed and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of those little plants pop up next year. As you can see, the romaine is still going strong. We love to pick leaves off of that for tacos or burgers or whatever else might need just a few bites. It seems like they're finally coming to maturity and producing hearts, so we'll see if they survive. The fresh salads will be a wonderful winter treat if they do!
This bed was a bit more arduous. Technically, the rosemary should survive even without mulching, butI wrapped some paper around them, too. The broccoli is doing well and will definitely not mind the cold, but I've never done garlic before and those bulbs have to survive till spring, so sleep tight, little garlics!
This box I had to harvest some parsley out of. That is now drying in the oven. Most of the asparagus has given up for the year, but I have a few stubborn shoots. They'll be gone by next week Monday. Aaaand, more romaine because I thought I might need to feed a small army salad.
Next we spread a little organic matter on top of the papers so they will be good and decomposed by spring for the next batch of seedlings. In my perfect world, this would be homemade compost, but alas, when your house is on the market, you don't build compost heaps because they are ugly and no one wants to buy an ugly house. *sigh* soon enough, eh?
And then they all get tucked in with hay. Don't they look so cozy!? This mostly empty box toward the front is elephant garlic. The man we bought the cloves from said they don't get big in our clay Texas soil, but since the soil we made for the boxes is actually very friable, I think they're going to do wonderfully and get massive. I can't wait!
Nigh-night, sleep tight my lovelies!
First we put down newspapers. I did as much weeding as I could prior to this, I'm hoping the others die under the weight of everything I laid on top of them. This is the strawberry bed and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of those little plants pop up next year. As you can see, the romaine is still going strong. We love to pick leaves off of that for tacos or burgers or whatever else might need just a few bites. It seems like they're finally coming to maturity and producing hearts, so we'll see if they survive. The fresh salads will be a wonderful winter treat if they do!
This bed was a bit more arduous. Technically, the rosemary should survive even without mulching, butI wrapped some paper around them, too. The broccoli is doing well and will definitely not mind the cold, but I've never done garlic before and those bulbs have to survive till spring, so sleep tight, little garlics!
This box I had to harvest some parsley out of. That is now drying in the oven. Most of the asparagus has given up for the year, but I have a few stubborn shoots. They'll be gone by next week Monday. Aaaand, more romaine because I thought I might need to feed a small army salad. 
Next we spread a little organic matter on top of the papers so they will be good and decomposed by spring for the next batch of seedlings. In my perfect world, this would be homemade compost, but alas, when your house is on the market, you don't build compost heaps because they are ugly and no one wants to buy an ugly house. *sigh* soon enough, eh?
And then they all get tucked in with hay. Don't they look so cozy!? This mostly empty box toward the front is elephant garlic. The man we bought the cloves from said they don't get big in our clay Texas soil, but since the soil we made for the boxes is actually very friable, I think they're going to do wonderfully and get massive. I can't wait!
Nigh-night, sleep tight my lovelies!
2 comments:
I'm just picking out my seeds for the grow room now. In five months we can't plant outside!! LOL Hope all your gardens survive.
Wow, your asparagus was still producing? Is that normal?? I know I'm weird, but I'm excited for FINALLY some cold weather here, at least it's the first real cold we've had in west Texas. :) Maybe one day I'll live somewhere cold and then I can complain about it being too cold for too long. lol
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