Now harvesting fennel, beets, lettuce, arugula and carrots.  The beets and carrots were really slow developing because of all the cold weather.  Normally, they would all be finished by now.  For the same reason, the sugar snaps are still not blooming; also very late.

The Houston Azaleas Trail kept getting moved forward because the azaleas were finished by mid March.  The trail is this weekend and the azaleas are not even thinking about blooming!

The lettuce, turnips and beets all germinated well and are up and going.

The tomatoes are all in and well mulched.  I can cover the cages if Jack Frost threatens again.

The best mulch I have found is Nature’s Way.  It is well composted and ground to 1″ mesh.  Berings currently has it on sale for $5 for a two cubic foot bag, still rather expensive.  Houston Garden Centers sells a native mulch for $2.40 for the same size bag.  It has some relatively large chunks in it and is not as well composted.  However, it works well for landscape plants or any application that allows it to stay on the top.  A good, low priced and environmentally sound mulch is the Houston Mulch made from tree trimmings that the garbage man picks up.  It is made by Living Earth Technologies and is available in bags at Lowe’s for $2.63 for the two cubic foot bag.  It is better than the HGC mulch but fairly similar with same larger uncomposted chunks.

I have also bought some bulk native mulch from Action Soils, a bulk yard at about TX 288 and Beltway 8.  It is good quality and sells for $22 per yard (equivalent to $1.63 for a 2 cubic foot bag).  They will deliver for 4 yards or more for $30 to the Med Center area.  The bags are more expensive but convenient unless you are mulching all the landscape.  Usually I just need a bag or two at a time. 

Of course, I make my own compost, but it is never enough.

I also planted some turnip, beet, tendergreen and lettuce seed.  These are somewhat experimental because I usually plant these in the fall and not in the spring.  Bugs and worms seem to a problem on these plants in the spring.  This year I am not planting corn so I have a lot of space for experimentation.  I was tempted to plant green beans, but with a cold forecast for next week, I decided to hold off.

A couple of weeks ago I planted some garlic, just supermarket garlic that had sprouted in the kitchen.  It is up and is nice green garlic now.  A rewarding and easy plant to grow.  There is a “garlic guy” in central Texas that sells all kinds of garlic, but he always seems to be sold out.  The supermarket type may not be the best, but fresh garlic is really good in some dishes.  Worth a little space for sure.

Continuing to harvest lettuce, arugula, greens and fennel.  Next week the beets and carrots will finally be ready.  The cold weather really slowed their growth this year.  The sugar snap peas are growing nicely, but are a long way from producing food.

I also planted some Packman broccoli under the lamp.  I normally raise broccoli in the fall but will try in the late winter/spring this year, because I am not going to plant corn since I won’t be here to pick it.  I also planted some super sugar snaps under the lamp to supplement the poor stand I got from direct planting.  The weather the last half of December was just too cold for good germination.

Friday:  27
Saturday:  24.5
Sunday 28

The Friday low was about the same as Hobby, but the Saturday and Sunday (and Monday) temperatures were 3 or 4 degress higher.  This pattern is typical.  When the wind is blowing strongly, my temps are about the same as the airport, but when conditions are still, the TMC area (and probably most of area the inside 610) temperatures are significantly higher. I think this follows from what I learned years ago in ChE 353–convection will equalize the temperatures, but we get conduction warming and less radiation in the areas around big buildings.

The vegetables basically had no freeze damage.  A couple of fronds on the fennel are bend over, but the plants are going to be ok.  Some tips on the mustard and lettuce are “burned” a little.  I could see no real difference between what was covered and uncovered.  The young lettuce I covered with bubble wrap was perhaps helped a bit because it could hold the ground warmth.  Otherwise I think the temperature was the same on both sides of the covering, again following ChE 353. 

The Mexican lime tree status is still undetermined.  I wrapped it with freeze cloth and put a light under it.  It will lose most of its leaves but I am hopeful that the stems are mostly ok. 

Bottom line:  Covering is good for protecting against frost but not so good in protecting against a freeze unless the plants are very small and therefore close to the ground.

It has been so long since I have dealt with a hard freeze, I have forgotten the level of cold hardiness of the various vegetables.  Some quick research, including even Bob Randall’s book, has not helped very much.  Here are my thoughts and plan:

Lettuce:  The leaves will get burnt and ruined; the plant will probably survive.  Pick all the leaves and cover the plants if you can.
Fennel:  I started raising it after last big freeze–no experience.  Plan to havest a couple of young plants and hope for the best.
Carrots:  Should be ok
Beets: Likewise do nothing
Cilantro/Parsley/Chervil:  do nothing
Sugar snaps:  Will cover with frost cloth, but probably ok uncovered.  Plants are very small still.
Mustard/Collard Greens:  will pick and may cover.  Collards should be ok; not sure about Osaka Purple Mustard
Onions:  no problem
Arugula:  not sure; will cover some with pots and leave others uncovered as an experiment since I have too much anyway
Turnips:  think they would be ok but they are ready to pick.  Will leave one or two as a test.
Bok Choi: no experience but I have a lot of it.  All of it needs to be picked anyhow.  Will pick and give away.  Leave one for a test.

Citrus:  Most should be ok, but I will wrap the bud union on all and throw a blanket over a small satsuma planted last year.  The Mexican lime is in real trouble.  I had it in a pot but got tired of fooling with it and planted it outside.  It grew like a weed last year and got nipped by the early December storm.  I put frost cloth over it, wrapped the base with a blanket and put a light bulb near the base.  I doubt that it will be enough, but maybe it will not be killed it to the roots.

Stay tuned for a report next week after thawing!

I picked the golden grapefruit before the freeze.  They had pretty well changed color and after opening one found that they are ready. These grapefruit have a beautiful dark golden flesh.  Newer versions of golden are often much paler.

Lettuce is being picked and the white turnips are ready–the purple tops still have a ways to go.  Beets are just beginning to form bulbs.  We have been eating bok choi and pak choi for a couple of weeks also. (I can’t tell the difference between them; maybe it is just different spelling translations from Chinese)  Mustard greens are also ready to be harvested.  I won’t be buying very much at the Urban Harvest Farmers Market for a while.

My Contessa onion order will be shipped on December 15; the leeks in early January.  I saved plenty of room for them.  Sugar snap peas will be planted in mid December.  I may try to get some “super” sugar snaps.  They are supposed to be more mildew resistant.  I always lose the plants to mildew, but usually they are about through producing anyhow.