Jack Frost Was Here!

Our first freeze came . . just like they said it would. When I got up Sunday morning, it was 24º.

Saturday afternoon, I did as much gathering as I could . . squash and tomatillos in this box. These plants both came up volunteer and I was happy to have them.

I cut enough loofah to fill three boxes and the green loofah are so heavy that I couldn’t even drag them!  Vince had to carry the boxes to the house for me.

I’m not sure how well these will dry in the house but that was my only option so they’re spread out in an extra bedroom.

I picked all the figs from the fig tree and picked the ripe tomatoes from the greenhouse. The tomatoes will continue to make inside the greenhouse . . I hope.

There was a lot of cilantro in the garden, also volunteer, so I picked a pretty good bunch of that.

There’s also cilantro and a few other herbs growing inside the greenhouse so I should have a good supply of cilantro, basil, parsley, thyme and I can’t remember what else.

Speaking of the greenhouse, we use propane for heat at night and to take advantage of the solar power during the day, we switch to an electric heater but honestly, by the time the sun is up enough to start producing power, the greenhouse is pretty warm.

I guess the electric heater can be a backup for when we run out of propane. I’m surprised how much propane it’s taking to keep the greenhouse warm. Once Vince sees the propane bill, he may decide there’s nothing in the greenhouse worth keeping. I think his plan was to use it to start seedlings in early spring and not to try to keep plants alive all through the winter. 

This is what things looked like early Sunday morning. After a long and miserably hot summer . . winter is creeping in and we had a good frost.

The bowls that we have set out around the yard with water for the wild critters were all full of ice.

The beans that were still blooming on Saturday are now wilted and frost bit.

Winter has made an appearance in central Texas. Lucky for us (or at least those of us who aren’t so crazy about the cold), it never stays cold long. Last night was our last freeze for a while. According to the forecast, it won’t freeze again til December 1. Things slow down a bit around here during the winter . . we need that down time.

The best part about the freeze . . maybe all the grasshoppers died!