My Green House, Shelter from the Cold
Submitted by My Garden Spot Blog
Ahhhh, cool weather.
Winter is on its way. Now I know, most of you are saying “Winter? Nancy, you don’t even have a proper FALL!
Okay, so most of you aren’t saying that. Still, I know some of you will be surprised to know that I have to Take Steps to insure that the tender tropicals I’m growing don’t become some expensive and heartbreaking compost.
A lot of of my plants are in pots, especially in the shade. They’re in pots because the soil there is heavy with clay, and full of rocks from a previous use of the area as a drainage field for an above ground pool. It’s a lot like some seriously mucky and sticky and heavy modeling clay. If you dig down far enough, you will, in fact, hit a serious layer of some rather nice clay….I’ve considered trying to make some ceramics…
So, what measures can I take? I can’t bring them all inside. When you reach a certain point, there just isn’t enough room in a small house for people, pets AND a hundred or so potted plants. I don’t have a basement. See, if I dug a couple of feet lower, and got through that layer of clay, I’d hit the water table.
Houston doesn’t do basements.
I couldn’t bring the plants in during Ike, and I sure can’t bring them inside for the winter. Besides the floor space problem, there’s the problem of enough light, and enough humidity inside a heated (okay–WARMED) house.
After a lot of years of trial and error (oh tragic error!), I’ve come up with a design that lets me protect everything and not have to worry about running out at the last minute when the weather man goes “Ooops…that cold front’s a little colder than we thought and looks like we’re going to have a hard freeze! Y’all protect plants, pets, pipes and people!”
That kind of statement from a weatherman in Houston tends to create a run on frost cloth, pipe protectors and blankets. The reactions of the gardeners of the area (the newbies) is kinda like the run on water we get when there’s a storm in the Gulf. Shelves start. to. clear….
For me, the statement has created a different kind of panic. See, I’ve got the materials to protect everything, but, more and more, I have a harder and harder time of actually being able to cover things quickly and without a lot of pain on my part.
Thus, as need often does, my fevered brain and aching back caused a solution to brew in my head.
A greenhouse. I needed a greenhouse. Problem… I can’t AFFORD a greenhouse. Dang.
But I can MAKE one!! Yes, I can.
This year, I found some stakes that are used for making electrified fences. They come with clips up and down one side, they were light weight and have a spike at one end to hold them in the ground.
After putting the stakes (I used 14, enough for one every 2 to 2 1/2 feet.) I opened some contractor grade trash bags. They’re thicker and a bit larger than a household grade. I opened them by tearing down the seam on one side of the bag and then the “bottom”. Opened fully, I had a piece of black plastic about 5 feet long and 4 feet high when laid on its side.
The good Sr. Medina was there, along with his youngest son–who is about a foot and a half taller than his dad. In fact, he looks a lot like my nephew, except for hair and eye color.
So, after putting the stakes into the ground, we started to attach the black plastic to the posts. This is where the clips came in very handy. I think this IS, by far, the easiest surround we’ve made. You’ll note, I’ve made this plant corral around the pond and a half barrel of water. The water will absorb heat, keep things at a fairly stable temperature, and supply the needed humidity during dry cold fronts. The black plastic will help absorb heat.
It went up easily and fairly quickly, almost as fast as I could open the bags, Sr. Medina and son had them attached to the stakes.
we weighted the bottoms with some odd chunks of wood, broken pavers, ect.
This is basil perpetuo… if you can find this variety, I recommend it. It came through the hottest part of the summer AND a hurricane. It’s looking a little worse for wear right now, but a trim and a rest, and it might make it through the winter. We’ll see. I do like taking annuals into the next year, when I can.
Then, over everything inside the black plastic, went a frost blanket. It also keeps the foliage of the plants away from the black plastic.
We wrapped up the tomatoes and a new vine I got recently….and a pot where I’ve planted a small banana plant. This has a double, sometimes triple layer of the frost cloth.
I will admit to a few recent purchases…. they’re snuggled in there to for a bit, until I have the areas ready to plant them.
The tomatoes could stay under there, as the frost cloth lets light through. It will be pulled off during very sunny and warm days though.
We even threw a double layer over the trellis with the hyacinth vine, with some canna and other potted plants snuggled in as well.
The last step to this process will/would be the addition of a layer of clear plastic drop cloth. If I put it over the pond enclosure, it will be a real greenhouse, and I’d probably leave everything under there, with some forays in to water the plants. I’ve done this before and I can see the condensation on the clear plastic drop cloth. In effect, I’ve created a gigantic terrarium. In the spring, it gets taken down and everyone released and spread over the whole yard.
This is probably a bit extreme for most people. They can run out and throw frost cloths over what they need to protect. I used to do that. I can’t any more. So…. we over prepare so that I don’t have to worry about the majority…just the occasional odd plant.. and the citrus in the front. THOSE will have to get a frost cloth.
There’s a big difference between protecting a few potted plants and almost a hundred, especially if you just can’t do things you used to do.
Now, I don’t have to worry, I can do this winter.
You might say: I’ve got it covered.
