*winters triumphant return?

We have only had a few below freezing temps this winter, which one might think is normal for Florida. Not so much on the Gulf Coast, in fact the area we are located at is considered the coldest spot of Florida. When my dear husband found this out, he laughed. He does not like cold weather and was thrilled when we left NC in April's cold temps last year.  It seemed to have been a record cold winter for many states last year, this year is just the opposite - much milder. This, my dear is the kind of weather my dear husband loves! He is always saying, always summer, that is the theme of his Florida license plate, "Endless Summer". Smh

Tonight we are to have 24 degrees, um... that is cold.  This means our baby chicks will have to come back in doors along with their heat lamp in order to keep the temps warm enough for them.  It also means that some of our flowers, plants, and bushes that are sprouting or blooming may get set back with a freeze. There are a few preparations and precautionary measures we can take in order to protect our plants. Just this past week I transplanted over one hundred strawberry plants.

We started with 16 strawberry plants last spring.  When growing strawberries you can choose to do one of two things when your strawberry plants put out runners.  If you trim them your plant will produce more hearty fruit harvest, but if you let them grown you can increase the number of plants in your strawberry patch next year for zero dollars!  We now have over one hundred and fifty strawberry plants in our "strawberry patch".  We chose to let the runners grow after last years small harvest and put a bit of soil over the runner as it got rooted nicely, then we clipped it from the main plant.  This year, I transplanted all of the MANY runners that are now beautiful strawberry plants.

Today we spent time covering strawberry plants with hay.   Our neighbor told us we should wet the plants. Water the plants, wet them?  Um, did you hear that it was going to be below freezing tonight and tomorrow ? Interesting, because my best friend and I were talking just yesterday about preparations and she said she had read where farmers water their plants before a freeze.  We both commented on how we didn't understand how this would help.  After reading this, I have a better understanding of this method.

Hopefully the goats, chickens, baby chicks, rabbits, tender new growth of plants, and pipes are all safe and sound from winters' triumphant return! 




linked to The Country Garden Showcase
Barn Hop #49