Kim...not sure what size your gh is, but when it gets really cold....we use the halogen work lights to supplement the heater. We bought a double one at HD a few yrs ago. This fall, we saw the smaller single ones for only $5., so we bought a few. Haven't had a cold enough night to use them yet. I think HD still has them....
Fireside chat... Part 3 ... toasting our toes!
Thanks bubbles, that's an idea. I have another small heater, but I don't want to be blowing any fuses. Gotta figure something out though.
I also have a hibicus gh (hoophouse) that stays warm enough with only Xmas lights strung. It's only about 4' high tho. If you haven't put your lights away yet...it's worth a try. Good luck. I think this next freeze might be cause for a new landscape plan for us......
Poor Santa ~ I thought either he was dizzy or drunk! LOL Did you put up your greenhouse plant shelter this year BigBubbles?
Kim ~ I am totally sympathetic on the mystery of the shrinking lounge pants! I hate that, I am not that tall but can't stand exposed hide when it is cool. I have resorted to buying mens sweats and sleep pants and will still have them draw up some. Those shorter ones I donate to Goodwill.
Really not looking forward to these low temps. Stay warm everyone...
We did put up the gh along the fence and the one on the patio. Then we deided to cover the ginger and fern pots. And finally the hibiscus! Didn't cover the palms behine the pond, and now I wish we had. Last winter was so mild, we got spoiled! DH just went out to turn on the heat. Supposed to be in the mid to low 30s tonight. We get the really cold weather Wed night and Thurs...into the 20s.
I think they've changed the forecast for next week...we might not get the worst of it after all. But it's still early.
I use the clear twinkle Christmas lights in my GH. I also use a small Mr. Heater Buddy propane heater that is attached to a 20lb tank. I use the heater when the temps outside are going to be below 32°. The GH runs 2° to 4°s cooler than outside. The coldest it has been in the GH is 28°. I had the lights on the plants. I haven't lost a one. No freeze burn, nothing. I just water them to be sure the roots are protected. It has been that cold three times. I'm thinking the lights put off enough heat to protect the leaves and flowers.
I just know that the plants are hardier than I thought. I will be running the heater tonight as they are calling for a low of 28°.
Charlene, my hubby says he will pass on the onions but says thanks for the offer.
Yep, the weather forecast changes practically daily. It seems no one can get it right. I just try to observe the birds and squirrels. if they are frantic about eating it will be cold. If they aren't around the feeders much or in and out, then the weather will be milder. They all were frantic eaters today. So I'm thinking it will be freezing at least tonight.
I agree. The birds were hungry today.
You figure when the usually shy cardinal starts bogarting the goldfinch for seed, somethings going on. The birds were hitting on all three of the suet cakes too.
Yep.
Well we had a light frost on everything this morning, but this morning the news said we would warm to 62 by afternoon and only be 34 tonight. So hopefully the plants weathered the freezing temps last night.
But.....Any of you that have been to the SW Livestock show (formally Fat Stock Show) know that when they come to town, so does the bad weather! They are moving in now, first show on the 17th so winter isn't over yet by any means!
The temperature is 27 here right now, pretty low I would say, I had plans to work outside today, we shall see how it goes later.
Josephine.
Glad to see all y'all are staying warm. I haven't lost any plants yet, not even singed, but I don't think it's gotten below the mid to high 30's here. So far all the plants, even th eplumeria that's in ground, still looks good. It hasn't even lost it's leaves. I've got stuff blooming like crazy in the front beds. Strange weather, up and down. This is a perfect example of the old saying of Texas weather, if you don't like it, give it a few hours and it'll change. We could use some rain. I don't remember the last rain we had. I'm still having to run the sprinkler system.
The birds are not as frantic at the feeders today as yesterday. Maybe it's not going to get as cold as we thought. Hope y'all all have a great day.
Was about 10 degrees warmer at 8am this morning - in Willis, Josephine.
I'm concerned about the forecasted possibility of temps in the 20's later this week....only because I'll have to cover some things that I don't think will fare well. I can keep my plants in the greenhouse
safe enough, when in the 20's,.. by adding a propane - fueled heater to the existing 2 small space heaters I use (along with a fan to circulate the air) . The 2 small heaters can keep the inside temp 8-10 degrees above outside temp....but I like to keep the inside temp above 40F.
Charlene - I think you'll find that it would be best if you are careful to let your inner greenhouse ventilate regularly, when able,...in order to keep down the moisture-related problems that you mentioned.
Lee
Lee, I do occasionally open it on very sunny afternoons. So far it has been just fine with no problems.
My DH fixed it up so I can just plug in the heater from inside the house and not even have to go out in the cold when the temps hit the low 20's. So far haven't needed any heat added. I am thinking Wed will be the time I will start to use the heater. I just have a small electric heater for it but also have a large propane one to use if needed.
I don't think I will need anything on the inner gh other than the small heater. The larger outside one may need the propane heater if it stays below freezing for several consecutive days.
It is my yard shrubs that I hate to have to fuss over. I am thinking maybe, I will just let nature have it's way and only keep what survives. Then on the other hand, I may cover at least a few things that always brown out and return much later than I like. This is the first year I have had an oleander that is of a nice size. I noticed that others who have them in the area suffer the brown now and return later on them, so I will cover that for sure.
I hate going to Houston and seeing so many things in bloom that are still slowing recovering here. Amazing what one zone difference makes on the plants. Just a two hour drive shows off the luxury of the next higher zone. By the time I make it to Orange where my mother lives, everything looks like a whole 'nother world compared to here. Hibiscus are in full bloom along with just about everything else when they haven't even began to recover here.
If I could just pick up my 54 acres and put them in Orange....then of course I have to remember the trees they lost during the hurricanes. Then Ike even brought worse devastation with the salt water flooding everyone's yard and even many homes. My friends told of the awful stench of the fish dying everywhere.
I guess I'll just have to stay here and try to put everything in pots and into the greenhouse next year. Life is good, you just have to figure it out sometimes. Next year.....I'll be ready for winter.....maybe.
I am getting ready to plant potatoes, but think I'll wait until after this blast of arctic weather is past. Maybe I should do like dh says and wait until Feb. What do you think?
Charlene
pondering the same question right now. Since our ground doesn't freeze or even get really cold, I don't think it will make any real difference.
It's fun to gamble a little and get lucky enough to have potatoes (or tomatoes) before anyone else. You could plant a portion now and a little more later,...I usually plant a few things early anyway....sometimes I have to cover the young things if a late cold snap sneaks in but,....nothin' ventured....nothin' gained. The way our weather has changed in the past several years,....anything can happen to disrupt or
damage the planned garden....I just go with it and sulk a little bit when things go wrong....then start again!
This past year marks the 3rd time I've rebuilt my greenhouse...thanks to Rita, Ike and a tornadic spring storm a couple of years ago......but it's worth it.....(at least , in my opinion!)....part of gardening/living!
I'm blessed to have all that I have and be able to do the things I do!
Gotta keep things in perspective, huh?
We only got down to 37° last night. Way warmer than predicted. I lit my heater at 11pm because I wanted to go to bed and if it was going down to 28° then the GH would be 26° or colder. Waste of gas. If I hadn't lit it though, it would have gone down to 28°. The plants do okay at 28° in the GH but I don't want to push it. I will say I didn't need a flashlight to get to the GH because the moon was so bright. I could see everything. It was nice. Sometimes I go out there in the dark of night and here noises in the woods. I know it's probably deer or a cat or possum or such. But the memories of all the old horror movies I used to watch flood my mind. So I try not to think and just focus on lighting the pilot and getting the heck out of there. ☺
Tonight they say 32°. I'm tired of the weather people not getting it right. The only good weatherman I have seen is Mike Morgan of CH4 in Oklahoma City. He was usually right on. Maybe 2°s off. I miss him.
It's 60° here now, but still windy. Feels colder than that. I can't wait for Spring to come. I will start sowing some seed indoors here in about two weeks. I have to move some of the bigger cuttings and seedlings out to make room for more.
I know what your saying about zones Charlene. I lived in zone 9b in Florida for so long I had to rethink on when to grow and what to grow in the ground. Florida spoiled me. But I'd rather be in Texas. Having the same weather year round gets old. I like the change in seasons here. Now I'm not saying I like the yoyo stuff we've been having this year. It does keep me on my toes though.
What bothers me most when I go out with a flashlight at night on my property is mainly the large birds....I'll be walking along and suddenly a bird cries out and flaps its huge wings in a tree near me...those nearly scare the living daylights out of me. I scare it by getting too near and making any little noise and it scares the whatnot out of me by making such a big ruckus!
The weatherman that was right-on the most here was Harold Taft....but we lost him a very long time ago. The ones we have now usually guess and then cover theirselves by saying ...may...might...could...chance...etc.
Charlene ~ a potato planting rule of thumb here is by Valentines Day. You might take a peek at this potato thread. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/937306/
Linda that is too funny. I have only scared up one bird and it was actually lying on the ground. I'm surprised I didn't drop the flashlight and go screaming into the night.
You'd think with all the new technology the weathermen could do better than..."may..might...could...chance". Yeesh
This was taken yesterday morning in my back garden. I can't believe how confused the plants are. It's unbelievable that the brug is blooming itself silly. This pic makes that bloom look like a goldfinch unbrella!
Crow, I love your picture! I'm afraid that last nights' below freezing weather got my inground brugs at least at the tops. Win some, lose some.
Ann
Did you get below freezing there Ann? I'm not sure we did, but I'm a little closer in than you are. I was worried about the plants I put in the front garden a few weeks ago, but they seem to have made it through fine. If it got to freezing here, it doesn't appear that anything suffered for it. Of course it might not show up for a few days if it is damaged. Here's the front bed. I planted most of this to fill in after digging out a ton of Black & Blue salvia. That stuff should come with a warning label! I just wanted to fill in the holes and this stuff has really done better than I expected. The roses and Spires salvia are permanent, and the petunias and allysum is filling in until my recently planted daylilies can take off. I can't believe it's all doing this well in January! That big pot is one I found this year for half price at HGC. (Pic taken this morning.)
LindaTx, I cracked up at your night time foraging story. Sounds like me the night I fell through a rose bed when trying to find out what was eating the leaves and whatever it was flew up my nightgown. I know if any of the neighbors saw me they must have thought I was a pagan doing some kind of ritual dance in the middle of the night in the front yard! Who knew gardening could be so funny?
It's a gorgeous day out today. I hope y'all all have a good one and that your plants all make it through.
Crow, if your "incident" of the night were filmed it sounds like it could win the grand prize on America's funniest home videos. What a sight that must have been. It makes me giggle just to imagine it. LOL
By the way I love your "statue" in the window in front of your flower bed. The bed of flowers are nice, but the dog gives it an air of warmth that you can't get elsewhere.
Charlene
(smile) You gals still hanging around here yakkin' about the weather? LOL
This morning there was a 1/4" ice in the cat waterer.
I'm still working on the garden fence....This half is ready for the final 6' x 2" x 4" welded wire fence. I got all the 9' post set 2' in the ground with concrete. There are three support wires, one at ground, one at 36" and one at 6'.
Notice the rocks on the ground and the white caliche mounded up around the post. That is what I have to work with here. This year I am going to raised beds and 5-gal grow bags filled with coir utilizing a micro drip/spray irrigation system.
This message was edited Jan 12, 2009 10:16 AM
This half is just about ready. The T-posts need to be extended to 7', three support wires need to be added and then the 6' welded wire. Then in about 3 or 4 weeks I can start preparing the garden for planting without worrying about deer or rabbits or any other varmints.
Still lookin' for the cookies, pies, cakes and home made candy y'all made at Christmas. LOL
Happy Gardening!
Jerry
Thanks Charlene. I've thought about the funniest video thing too. If anyone had videoed that thought, I think I might have had to kill 'em! I was already in one of my giant tee shirt sleeping shirts before I wet outside. I couldn't find out what the bugs were during the day because they disappeard and you could only see the damage. I decided to go out in the middle of the night with a flashlight. We'd just had new steel edging put around the beds. I went poking through all the leaves trying to find the critter responsible for all the holes, and something flew up the tail of my nightshirt. I started beating at the gown, of course the flashlight got thrown 10 feet away when all this started. I decide just to run in the house so I can strip the gown off and find this monster bug that's flapping around under my gown. I forgot the steel edging and tripped over it, falling into the rose bushes, my gown up around my ears and the beam of the flashlight locked in on me like a spotlight. I'm also on the corner of the only two through streets in our entire neighborhood and have a streetlight in the yard. Not a good way to impress the neighbors!
Glad you like my "statue" too. She's a sweetheart and helps keep me moving since she has to be walked daily if you're going to be able to live with her inside.
Jerry ~ I can't believe how gnarly your woods look! Those fence posts freshly cut from those tree limbs? You look like you are encompassing a large area for the garden spot.
Oh, BTW... wish I had sent you some of those Christmas goodies! I am having trouble bending over to pull up an errant bed of honeysuckle!
Our east TX woods...
podster,
East Texas is a favorite of mine for riding my Goldwing. The sunrise or sunset is beautiful..looks like the forest is on fire and is moving toward you.
This garden is an expansion of my old garden. The old garden was fenced with T-posts and the dirt was hauled in with a 16' flatbed trailer which was loaded and unloaded by hand by me. Now that I have retired I decided to essentially doubled it in size and use raised beds and containers for growing veggies. Because I have more time and less money to spend on gardening I decided to use cedar posts I can cut off my place to fence the new part of the garden..
I nearly killed myself in the 80's driving the T-posts in the caliche and rock with a 16 lb sledge hammer...no more of this for me though.
Now, if we can only get some rain to green things up a bit so I can burn the brush piles, I can get to building the raised beds. I still have the dirt I hauled in years ago to fall back on until I get the raised beds in. Getting this new section ready may turn into a two year project.
The plan for this new garden is to plant Brugmansias on the North slope and on the East side of the Garden...we'll see.
Oh, man! Under 28° last night...I thought it was going to be a mild freeze 'cause that was the forecast. So I didn't bring anything in. Probably didn't kill the Lion's Ear. I'm beginning to wonder if they will still be going in the spring.
texasrockgardener...on Craigslist, I noticed someone had posted 5 gallon growbags for a $1. each or $7.50 for 10. Posted on Jan 8th and has photo of them. Saw them yesterday. I usually look in farm &garden...search for "plants" and see what's available when I'm bored and too much football is on......
Hope your brugs are growing!
Jerry, I had laugh at what you said about nearly killing yourself with the caliche! Been there, done that! And then there's the rocks....some are more than a foot wide, but you don't know that when you hit rock...you think "Aha! I'll move over a bit! Nope, it's the same rock there..ooh, how far over does it go? Will I have to dig the whole thing up somehow?"
bubbles,
I give the grow bags a looksee.
The Brugs are doing great. Thanks.
Some of the smaller greener tip cuttings should have gone into water instead of straight into potting medium. Now I know!! Duh!! CG and SW I don't think will make it, they were very small tip cuttings and should have gone into water first. Of the 19 cuttings that bunch made, it looks like 4 may not make it. Everything else is good to go.
What it looks like I will end up with is 2 Texas Pink, 2 Pink Beauty, 2 Frosty Pink, 3 Adora, 5 NOIDs, and 1 Creamsickle. I also have 2 Suaveolens Pink and 2 Donna's Monster White (not allowed to be named, but a great blooming fragrant white Brug) from another DG'er.
It looks like I am good to go come Spring so far as Brugs are concerned. It remains to be seen how well I will be able to grow these little fellas out doors.
medina,
I have learned that a post hole digger, an empty tin can to clean out the hole, and a 7' or 8' 1 1/4" steel post hole tamp with a chisel on one end are the best tools for digging post holes around here and this method is by far better than having to drive a steel post thru hard caliche and rock. At least the small rock can be loosened with the chisel and scooped out of the hole with the can. This way takes longer, but save the back and shoulders.
This message was edited Jan 12, 2009 2:08 PM
Lord have mercy! I think I'll go out and dig in the dirt. You just made me feel like I have black gold! LOL
Sunrise in that photo ~ my favorite time of day. Can't see the horizons for true sunsets or sunrises.
Planning a watering system for the Brugs? If not, you will do yourself in keeping them watered.
East TX roads are wonderful on a bike but DH said no more years ago. These winding farm roads will get you killed. You will top a hill and find two farmers stopped in the middle of the road visiting or a cow grazing on the yellow line or.... Now, we just take the top off the jeep and put the windshield down and pretend we are flying! LOL
I've just covered some plants that I can't fit in the gh with sheets. There are so many sheets of different colors and designs, I must have the tackiest backyard in Texas! I have row cover for the front beds, and had to start writing my address on it. The wind would blow so hard, the hooks I'd anchored it with would pull up and the row cloth pieces would fly down the street. Old neighbors would know where it came from and return it , but new neighbors would think it was trash and toss it. Got spoiled by our mild winter last year when we didn't have to cover anything. Not covering front beds again this year, as we're going to re-do when it gets a little warmer. Stay warm tonight....
Jerry...some of those cuttings were Confederate roses....they might look like "sticks" for a while, but will eventually get little nubbies along the sides of the branch. I just pulled a bunch of seed pods off some tall ones and I'm covered in seeds....they stuck to my clothes and hair....yuck.
Pod...I'll sure like to ride in that open-air Jeep!
Not tonight tho ~ Brrrrrr! I always thought motorbikes were fun but as I age, I get nervous about healing slower.
Youngest stepdaughter and I would go to the lake swimming and on the way home, wet with the jeep top off, we would have to run the heater and still shivered. It was only in the 80s...
This message was edited Jan 12, 2009 4:56 PM
Jerry, you have made me appreciate my clay soil. Caliche....ooooh, bad stuff.
We got down to 31° last night. I had the big pots covered with sheets. They are fine. The GH heater was on and the brugs were safe and warm in the workshop. Now the rest of the week looks real bad for us. Tyler weathermen (if you can believe them) are calling for 40's for highs Thursday and Friday. Lows in the low to mid 20's. Hubby is going to fill my propane tank tomorrow to get me through the rest of the week. At least the days will be sunny and the GH will warm up quickly once the sun starts to shine on it.
I love the yellow brug with the goldfinch. What a shot. Yellow is one of my favorite floral colors. I have two different yellow brugs to plant in the spring. I can't wait to see them bloom.
Hubby has a bike. I won't ride it. It scares me. When I was in my 20's and thought I would live forever, nothing scared me. Now that I'm 54 and see the idiots on the road, I want something around me besides air. Although I might consider a trike. At least I wouldn't have to balance.