Covering my container garden with a sheet of plastic (ok, it is a clear shower curtain) helped keep the basil alive during our cold snap. The plants didn’t go unscathed; there are some brown spots and browning at the tips of some of the leaves. They look hale enough to grow, though.
Another sign of spring, our volunteer grape hyacinth have bloomed! These have established themselves at the base of a cedar elm near the driveway. There was one plant five years ago, now there are several clumps in the area.
I picked up basil, pepper, and oregano plants at a local nursery for my container garden this year. I usually start with seed, but didn’t get the seeds in this year, so went with a short cut. I amended the soil with chicken compost from the bottom of my compost bins, which was nice and dark and crumbly, and used the wheel barrow to mix an equal amount of dirt from the container with the compost. I’ve set up the frog habitat again too.
I’m hoping that I didn’t plant too soon. It has been cold this week, and basil doesn’t care for temps under 40. Hm.
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.
Critters and Craft 