Cold Weather Is Not Our Friend

When freezing temperatures threaten we have to do things that might save plants or minimize damage. Checking multiple WX sites and applications does not change the reality of freezing and subfreezing temperatures happening for about five nights. When cold comes plants go . . . inside or get covered. It’s plant judgment night(s). And we had five nights to anticipate.

There’re numerous plants thriving here that don’t like cold one damn bit! Not at all. Just, “No!” Being on the northern edge of semi-tropical means semi-tropical and tropical plants can survive and thrive in pots and in the ground. Until they can’t.

For a couple of hours before darkness on the day before the coldness was expected to arrive we did the Cold Night Backyard Contemporary Dance. Using boxes and tarps and sheets and blankets and a badly torn parachute we did enveloped vulnerable plants as much as possible and probably not enough for the Peppers.

We are in Plant Hardiness Zone 9 which says temperatures in the 20°F to 25°F range can happen here. Because it’s sub-tropical we don’t have truly cold temperatures regularly or even often, but we can. There’s also this; our most productive backyard growing season runs Fall through Spring. We take a chance and plant things that are borderline hardy and hope for cold but not frigid. Peas, for instance, are probably going to survive. The beans I, fortunately, did not plant recently would not have. The greens, the leafy stuff, lettuce, cilantro, Swiss chard, spinach, dill, mustard and kohlrabi will do fine.

I harvested all the ripe Peppers; Datil, Tabasco, a few Caribbean Reds and Lemon Drops. We have never had such large Lemon Drops. There are many more very green ones still on the bushes and all we can do is hope that the covering we did makes a difference.

We also have a lot of potted plants — citrus, date, fig, banana — and other very vulnerable things like some cherry/grape tomatoes and Banana Palm that has the potential to bear fruit.

Those trees fill much of the double driveway, garage access and they have to be moved into the garage that requires annual rearrangement so it can handle the great outdoors inside. You know how empty horizontal spaces attract clutter; it acts to fill the “vacuum”. Citrus trees have thorns and our Key Lime is especially vicious and the pot is not suitable for lifting and it’s a physical challenge, but it’s always a source of some scratches, a little blood and a few good stories after it’s all over.