My Thanksgiving Cactus has started to bloom again!
The cactus hangs in a north facing window, and gets watered for a count of three twice a week. I do not change its location, nor its watering schedule ever throughout the year. Still it blooms. I’m glad it is happy.
We had a freeze coming in so I set about winterizing outside the house in 40 degree rain. It is a little different setting up for cold temperatures in Texas than up north, but there are still things that need doing. (I would take 32 degrees over forty and raining any day, though. Yuck.)
I cleaned and filled all the chicken water (three hanging, one heated) and put away the foot baths. I closed up the extra vents in the coop to prevent drafts (there are still eave vents to allow air circulation). I drained all the water hoses and put winter caps on all the outdoor faucets. I took the batteries out of the automatic waterers and stored them away in the garage. I harvested all the basil and covered the tank garden (which still has non-producing squash vines).
I washed the basil and picked through it for the nice leaves. The remainder went out to the chickens, who appreciated that I threaded it through the chicken wire in the covered run so they could pull leaves off, and did not hang it out in the rain.
Usually when the temperature dips below 40 my basil hands in its resignation papers. Seeing the upcoming cold snap (for Texas), I attempted to cover my little garden with a clear shower curtain.
It worked! The weather app (oh Dark Sky, how can you leave me?!?), reported 38 degrees in the wee hours of the morning (6am). I took the cover off in the afternoon and the basil was all still green! No dark browning anywhere!
I don’t think this will work when we get a more serious Texas winter (I know my northern friends just laughed), but at least I have some reprieve on harvesting. In case you’re wondering, no fruit have set on the winter squash vines. But at least I have basil.
We have blooms on the squash vine! Now, will we get squash? Hm.
I think it is interesting that the flower is larger than the leaf. There are three different vines, all flowering, so there is a chance of pollination.n
The crossvine we planted at the corner of the chicken runs has come into its own. It has happily spread vines across the welded wire and is in bloom. My eldest even spotted a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower! We chose this location because it gets the most sun of anywhere in the yard, and to provide shade for the chickens in the hot summer. The vine is performing admirably.
Critters and Craft 