covers

COVERS
a few years ago i was reading in mother earth news
a story about a lady who was growing lettuce spinach
swiss chard and other greens in her garden in the cold
of colorado during the winter

i thought if she can do that we should be able to do that
in central texas
and
pretty much most of the united states

now our winters arent as fierce here as in colorado
well maybe a night or two here and there

since reading that article i have read and listened to
the saturday sunday garden show on klbj590 am
those of you out of the range of their signal can listen
to it online
i do sometimes when im traveling

they have talked about it a lot recently on this program
on how to keep your crops from freezing

here at the country n here is what i do to withstand the cold
eg
the 20 degrees we had on sunday night

here is my version of the keyhole garden
all snuggly under a layer of thick row cover
which keeps the temps about 8 degrees warmer under
there
its permeable so air and water can get through
i leave it in place as long as the temps will be near
freezing

thats maverick our watch dog
he wont let anything on our property even humans

underneath this row cover are
spinach sweet peas carrots beets cilantro lettuces swiss chard
and cabbage

then down in my garden i have these little fellas
my strawberries
here we grow strawberries in the fall through the winter
harvesting them in march and april
we treat them as annuals
save them over to the next year and they dont produce well

they are covered up with two layers of thin row covers
and a lot of pine straw mulch

then under this long row are my new asparagus i planted this winter
i have them covered with a thick layer of your leaves
thank you very much
then i made a hoop of concrete wire
and covered it with thick row cover
since because of the warm weather the asparagus roots i planted
thought it was spring and sent up sprouts

then finally
oh heres how i make this hoop cover
i take rbar of 2 ft and put it in the ground
i take a 10 ft of pvc in this case i use the 1/2 inch grey electrical pvc
bend it from one rbar over the bed to the other
doing these every 4 ft down the bed
then i cover this with the thick row cover
easily purchased at most nurseries
holding it in place with metal clamps i get at home depot
for 99 cents

yesterday morning when i peaked under there
there was a noticeable difference in the temperatures
inside vs outside the tent

so under there growing in this toasty environment are
90+ garlics
broccoli
cabbage
arugula two types one has already flowered and will be used by the bees
the other will be allowed to flower also
4 types of kale
bok choy
all this stuff except for the garlic we have been eating on for a few weeks

so
you can grow stuff in the winter here
even when its cold like now
just cover it up with row cover
open the tent up when the weather is warm
and
you will have veggies until its time to plant the tomatoes egg plants
peppers beans squash etc this spring

dont miss out on the best time to garden in central texas
the fall and winter

the organicgreen doctor