Preparing for a Freeze

        For those of you who are shoveling snow today, I know this will seem a tad silly, but it is supposed to freeze here Thursday evening.  

        Temperatures in the 30’s may seem almost tropical to most of you, but in the Rio Grande Valley, that is really cold.

        So this afternoon my husband and I did a few things to prepare.

         After picking the tangerines and the navel oranges (have you ever had a tree-ripened navel orange? amazing) that my husband could reach ( we no longer jump on ladders with great abandon), I picked the grapefruit off the tree we have in our front yard.

        We then covered the crotons with plastic bags.

        The photo above makes me really nervous, because I know a few gardeners right now are shaking their heads saying, “No, no, no. You shouldn’t have used plastic bags.” 

        I didn’t realize this until a friend told me this this afternoon , but plastic bags will burn plants during a freeze.

        Swell.

        Then I did some artful draping.  The plants that didn’t get draped? I ran out of sheets, and I didn’t want to strip the beds.

        We are also going to run a few faucets at a slow drizzle, and we will probably turn on the heater.    

        We moved my potted plants into the garage. That created the need for a muscle relaxer.

        Again, I know that those of you who are dealing with blizzards are probably saying,

        “What is she talking about?”

          Just another crazy, glorious day in paradise at my house.

        I am off to eat some tangerines.