Texas weather is out of control. Saturday I was thinking of going swimming and tonight it is supposed to freeze. Thank god I didn’t put my seeds in the ground this weekend. Who knows what would have happened.
To prepare for the cold nights, not to mention yesterday’s winds, we covered the plants with sheets. Coincidentally, I just read about covering fruiting plants to protect them from winds and low temperatures in the Texas Organic Vegetable Gardening book I bought a couple of weeks ago. To add some extra protection I decided to take some leaves that Amber gave me to mulch the garden. Mulching helps to insulate the ground and the leaves will decompose quickly. The book says to run them through a chipper first, but since I don’t have one I just put them down whole. I would eventually like to get some shredded cedar for my mulch, which they say is “the very best mulch,” but until I’m caught up on some bills leaves work really well.
Later this week I am planning to plant some bush beans that a neighbor gave me, zucchini, nasturtiums, cucumbers, and pole beans. I bought both vermiculite and worm castings to try a few different ways of sowing my seeds. I can’t wait to see more plants come up! Up until now I’ve only put in transplants so this will be a fun experiment.
