Prairie Hawk Farm: Frost Protection - Garden Cloche Jars

This is a quick post that I put up for my business' blog over at Prairie Hawk Farm.  It's a short word on my quick and dirty method for providing frost protection for young plants.

Prairie Hawk Farm: Frost Protection - Garden Cloche Jars: I really should have snapped a photo of our garden today.  It's full of mason jars, glass storage containers, plastic storage containers...

Beautiful Blossoms and Frosty Weather

Do you notice all the beautiful blossoms on that tree?  Those are our plum blossoms!  It looks like it could be another bumper crop – except for the fact that the weather shows lows of 31° over this coming weekend.  Houston, we have a problem!  Since I’m not ready to lose our crop over a couple of cold nights (at least not without a fight), I’ve been looking online for ideas.  Our two plum trees probably don’t warrant a smudge pot, so what to do...  

Here is a website that describes several ideas that the kids and I might try:

http://www.gardenguides.com/77972-save-fruit-trees-spring-freeze.html

I like the idea of Christmas lights and regular old incandescent light bulbs the best.   My husband has suggested getting the space heaters out and plugging them in near the trees too.  I don’t know how much that will help with the upper branches, but I guess it won’t hurt.  Buckets of water and a sprinkling the lawn are also on the list.  

Doing all of these things for a temperature that is barely below freezing might seem like overkill, but I don’t trust the weatherman 100%.  It might get a little colder than forecast.  Of course it might not either, but we like plums fresh off the tree and look forward to the jelly we make from these plums all year long.  We also use them to barter with our buddies for their delicious spring crops!  All in all, I’d rather hedge my bets as best I can rather than risk losing the crop to old man winter.

If you’ve got things in bloom too, good luck!

The First Irises of Spring

I know I’ve written about irises before, but couldn’t resist sharing this picture with you.  They are our first ones to bloom this year!  As a matter of fact, the rest of our irises aren’t even close to opening up.  This batch was here when we moved into the house ten years ago and is set off by itself in a tangle of trees and bushes near the back of the property.  The kids and I have transplanted bulbs from this area closer to the house and they are flourishing – just not quite as much as these guys.  What a beautiful reminder of spring!