For about a week things we awry. First The devil squirrel came in our yard and ripped up two chair covers.
This is our first year to plant artichokes and the devil squirrel or gang member ate the largest artichoke plant which was rather large here but you cannot see it because it is gone. and ate most of the others.
After I found out that Artichokes are perennials I was excited about adding these to the garden plots.
So I gathered what was left of them with parts missing off each plant and replanted them in one of the wire cages.
This weekend we discovered one of our clothesline posts was rotting so we removed all of the clothesline posts and lines and rebuilt that area (which is a good thing)
It was hard to get a picture but we added an extra clothesline. One goes east to west and one north to south. New cotton lines and we still have to dress up the area just a bit.
Then came the hard freeze warning. Most everything growing in our yard thinks it is spring and so we thought so too so we planted, :(
So we went and got three bales of hay, we do not live rural despite how it looks, we just make our small yard as micro farming as possible because we wish to live out in the country.
So I went out front to our berry garden and put down posts and lines and tarps and sheets and covered the tender baby blueberries that were all over our blueberry bushes. I left it this way for the 48 hours of temperatures bouncing up and down above and below freezing.
I covered the large pots of lemon grass that had tender new shoots coming up... I went through the yard and the secret garden/allotment and covered anything that would be damaged from a freeze.
Today after it warmed passed 45 degrees I started uncovering everything. I had put black pots over the peppers then hay over that and the peppers look like they are undamaged.
The basil which is very sensitive to the cold made it. I put black pots and hay over them too. There is another row behind this one of different types of basil.
I only have six squash plants planted at this time because I knew it was early to plant them when I did. I folded fence wire to form a dome over them and spread hay on top. I uncovered them and they seem to have made it so that is good.
The tomatoes seem to have done well, they were covered completely with hay.
The onions and garlic were not covered and were not affected by the cold and the parsley seems to love the cold as well as the thyme.
I did cover the chrysanthemums with hay because they had put out so much new foliage. They look ok.
The same with the oregano, I covered it because it was putting out new spring foliage.
The coneflowers, I am not sure about. I covered this one with a black plastic bag because of the blooms and it is a perennial but dies back in the winter and this one is over three feet tall. I think it did ok.
We have many types of mint, this one planted in an old toilet that we had in the house and now use for a planter. Thyme is in the top part. The top tank drains through the hole that is in the bottom and Charles busted a hole in the bottom part of the toilet so it would drain. It was either throw it out or recycle it. :)
We have peppermint, chocolate mint and spearmint, growing in different pots around the yard. Mint will spread all over the place so if you don't want that to happen then put it in a large pot, or a small pot but it does like to have space.
One thing we have learned from city gardening is when you grow something and it does not do well in your yard that does not mean you cannot grow it. Most often it means it does not like where you put it. This has happened with many things in our yard such as this lambs ear. We had it in the ground in two places then finally gave up and put it in a pot and that is where it wants to be only it did not like being in a pot in the backyard but the front yard under the eave of the house so it does not get a lot of rain.
We tried to grow pineapple sage over and over then one time we transplanted a pineapple sage that was not doing well and moved it to the front yard to a completely different spot and it has flourished there and it is now emerging after dying back for the winter.
Thyme that was dying in a pot I put out in the secret garden and it loves it there and has grown all winter next to the parsley and is spreading out.
I will do everything I can to keep these lemon grasses from freezing because I am getting anxious to have some fresh lemongrass tea. This year I hope to put some in the freezer so I can have it anytime. :)
We won't know about the blueberries for awhile. some of the outer leaves don't look so well but these blueberries are completely confused anyway. They never lost their summer leaves because we did not have a normal winter then one freeze in January for only one morning then they started losing some then started thinking spring and have put out new baby blueberries.
Well so it seems things turned out ok so far. I know we never know with nature, then there are storms and such but we will hope for the best and enjoy what we have at this time.
Grandma Donna
