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February 2008
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When Ilona and Tom told me Austin would see temperatures below freezing at the start of the new year, I started scheming. And what I came up with just has to be horrifying my neighbors. I've mentioned before that my Mexican lime tree was recently moved from a container to a sunny location in the yard. I've also mentioned that citrus trees are not a fan of frigid temperatures. So what to do? Trust a frost blanket? Not likely. Limey has already suffered from cold damage, even with the frost blanket. I decided more drastic action was needed. I could order a fancy little greenhouse from one of those garden catalogs, but frankly, I don't have the money for that. My husband and I could build one, but we also don't have a lot of time to plan for that... the freeze was only days away! So we ran out to one of those home improvement stores and got a huge sheet of plastic and some really strong clamps. We clamped one end of the plastic to the gutter above the tree and wrapped the plastic down around Limey and the rain barrel, using cinder blocks to hold the plastic in place. For Christmas, I received one of those home weather stations, and we placed the outside sensor inside the greenhouse. Then, we waited. And crossed our fingers. The wind whipped the plastic like crazy last night, and it pulled loose -- so it wasn't ideal... but the thermometer told us our idea was working. The minimum temperature never dropped below freezing, and Limey warmed up a lot during the day -- to about 93 degrees. So it helped... it would be better if the plastic kept the wind out, so we have to work on that... but all in all, the makeshift greenhouse seems to be helping. My goal today is to make a frost blanket tent over the chard and lettuce since another hard freeze is expected -- and secure Limey's greenhouse of course. |
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