You may remember that Vince put in some corner posts and then put boards around the top of them so I could put blankets over the 4 x 4 raised beds of broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.
This is how I had them covered with moving blankets. On sunny days, if the temps are above about 35 degrees, I will take the top blanket off so they can get sun, I will water them, then before the temps drop down below 30 degrees, usually about 4 p.m., I’ll go out and put the top blankets back on them. When rain or snow was predicted, I covered them with tarps. Two big tarps covered the tops and sides of the three raised beds.
Smart idea I had about the blankets and tarps until . . it rained and the tarps began holding water and sagging farther and farther down. All the clamps I had holding the tarps down popped off and the tarps were sitting on my plants – with a heavy load of water right on top of the plants. Then the water froze solid, it snowed, and we had sleet and then it rained a bit and then it froze and stayed frozen for days and days!
Today our temps got up around 55 degrees – sunny and beautiful – a great respite from this cold, snowy, icy weather. Vince went out with me to help me get the tarps off the plants so I could rebuild their cozy little home.
This may not look big but even Vince couldn’t pick it up. We totally dismantled the tarps from around the beds, drug the tarps out in the yard and let them melt enough in the sun that they came loose from the tarps. Then we lifted the tarps enough to dump three big hunks of ice.
I truly figured the plants were all dead – frozen and crushed, but they all looked fine. I had harvested most of the broccoli but couldn’t get to some of it. I was surprised to see how much was still there and looking good.
The Brussels sprouts look fine. I didn’t take pictures of the cabbage but it looks great so far.
I’m sure they were happy to get some sun but there’s two weeks coming up with highs in the low 20’s, lows in the low teens and single digits so we’ll see if any of them make it. They’re all covered up with the blankets again. I’ll add the tarps back tomorrow and they’ll probably stay covered for at least two weeks.
The question I know you’re all asking (and I’ve asked myself several times) . . why don’t you just buy cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts? I do but it’s so fun to grow it. It’s very hard to grow things like that here because it stays hot until it gets too cold. We really went from highs in the 90’s to lows in the 20’s this year. I start my seeds for these plants way before I know what kind of late Fall weather we’ll have. Planted the seedlings when it was still in the upper 90’s, they would have shriveled or bugs would have eaten them. Waiting til the weather was more suitable for these cold weather crops gave them about a month to grow before we had miserably cold weather. It’s a chance I take. If I had a high tunnel or something like that, I’d have a better chance at getting a good crop but I don’t and I won’t so, for me, the garden is something I love doing and not so much something I count on to feed the family.
Kat in Tamale Land says
I really had to do a double-take at the “stems” behind the Brussels sprouts! I thought, “What an interesting stem! That almost looks like a really neat fabric print! ??????? And then it hit me. Lol.
KATIE M PETERSON says
Me too, took a minute. What kind of plant is that??
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I’m so ditzy. I knew what it was but now that I look at the picture, I see what you’re seeing. There is some fabric (orange piece and a piece with green and burgundy) that I use to tie the stem up. That’s one of last year’s brussels sprouts plants and it’s pretty tall and the weight of the sprouts was causing it to bend over. I was leaning over the blanket to get a picture and wasn’t even sure how it was going to turn out.
Amy Kollasch says
Could you (or let’s be honest, talk Vince into) jeryrigging something so that there is a slanted removable “roof” on top
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Next year we’ll put something tall in the middle (like a pole with a frisbee but maybe something more “permanent”). The corner posts are there for my wires for growing pole beans so I never thought, until this year, about adding a cover to keep the center of each of the three beds raised.